When Monkee's member Davy Jones passed away earlier this year, his surviving children which includes a daughter who was named as the personal representative, petitioned the court to keep his estate probate records sealed. They argued that making the records public could have an impact on his copyrights and royalties. The request was subsequently granted.
Many people have speculated that the real reason the records were sealed was because of the negative relationship his surviving children have with their step-mother. However, the widow is not even mentioned in the will because the will was written prior to their marriage and had not been changed to reflect this new relationship.
While the step-mother may have something to do with it, it could also be entirely about the financial situation of the estate. Even though the probate records are sealed the court dockets are actually still open to the public. And they reveal the estate has received over a dozen claims for unpaid bills for thousands and thousands of dollars. Even from his own widow.
Of course if Davy had used a professional estate litigation Attorney to help set up trusts to handle the estate, a lot of this unwanted attention could have been avoided in the first place. He should also have updated his estate documents to include his new wife. Now it will be up to the law to decided what portion of the estate she is entitled to receive.
*This blog entry was not written by an Attorney and should not be constituted as professional legal advice.