What’s the Latest with Tom Petty’s Estate ?

The late Tom Petty’s wife, Dana Petty, has asked a Los Angeles judge for permission to fund the LLC Tom Petty Legacy with the singer's assets. However, his two daughters object.

Billboard reports in a recent article, “Tom Petty's Widow Files New Appeals Against Daughters in Escalating Battle Over Late Rocker's Trust” that Dana asked the court to deny a previous petition filed by daughter Adria demanding that Dana immediately fund Petty Unlimited. This is an LLC created to receive assets (a.k.a. “artistic property”) from Petty’s trust. Instead, Dana wants to fund and execute an operating agreement for Tom Petty Legacy, a separate LLC that she created by herself.

Adria's petition accused Dana of withholding Petty’s assets from Petty Unlimited to keep her and sister Annakim from "participat[ing] equally” in the management of those assets, as directed in the trust. Adria also said that under the terms of the trust, Dana was required to fund Petty Unlimited within six months of Petty’s death. However, she failed to meet that deadline.

Dana claims that she’s the “sole successor trustee” of Petty’s trust and she’s “exclusively authorized” to form any entity of her choosing to be the beneficiary of her husband’s assets—provided all three women are given equal participation in its management. She claims that the trust doesn’t specify Petty Unlimited as the only entity that can receive the assets. As such, the LLC has no legal rights to them.

Dana claims there’s been “foul behavior” on Adria’s part, stating that the 44-year-old has “caused enormous damage to many of Tom’s professional relationships” via a series of letters (allegedly sent by Adria’s lawyer Alex Weingarten) that “threaten[ed] everyone whom Tom worked with for decades: his record labels, his music lawyer David Altschul…even Tom’s longtime accountant.” Dana says the threats led the attorney, who was then representing her, to resign. She also claims Adria has been “abusive” and “slander[ous]” towards several others, including his longtime business manager Bernie Gudvi, his estate planning attorney Burton Mitchell and members of his band the Heartbreakers.

Dana accused the daughters of interfering in and, in some cases, delaying the release of several posthumous releases of Petty’s music. She says that as trustee of Petty’s trust, she is sole owner of Petty Unlimited, and that Adria and Annakim (and by extension their lawyers) have been “masquerading” as its rightful representatives. The petition notes that Dana has since signed documents to remove Adria and Annakim as managers of the LLC and “fired” a law firm as its representative.

The petition acknowledged that equal participation in the management of Petty’s assets between the three is required under the terms of the trust, but that Dana has sole power to decide on a governing structure for the entity that’s eventually funded with those assets. Now that negotiations with Adria and Annakim have broken down, Dana is trying to assert her “broad discretion” in deciding that structure without their input.

In response to Dana’s claims, Adria and Annakim’s lawyer Alex Weingarten told Billboard, “Dana and her lawyer are basing their case on smoke and mirrors. Every claim they make is demonstrably false. Adria and Annakim are laser focused on one thing—honoring and protecting their father’s legacy and enforcing the terms of his trust, as written.”

Petty died of an accidental drug overdose in October 2017, at the age of 66.

Reference: Billboard (May 30, 2019) “Tom Petty's Widow Files New Appeals Against Daughters in Escalating Battle Over Late Rocker's Trust”