Alan Thicke’s two oldest sons, Brennan and Robin Thicke, filed a petition in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, May 16, to resolve a dispute with the Growing Pains actor’s third wife, Tanya Callau.
The actor died suddenly at age 69 in December after suffering a heart attack while playing hockey with his 19-year-old son, Carter, whom he shared with his second wife, Gina Tolleson.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Brennan and pop star Robin, who are co-executors of their dad’s living trust, are asking for court intervention in order to “honor the memory of their father, protect his legacy, and prevent his testamentary intentions from being undermined by avarice and overreaching of his third wife, Tanya Callau.”
Brennan and Robin — whose mother is Alan’s first wife Gloria Loring — reportedly claim in the petition that Callau says her 2005 prenup is invalid. The petition also alleges that Callau “threatened to make her claims fodder for ‘tabloid publicity’ unless the Co-Trustees agreed to participate in a mediation and succumb to her demands.”
One of the main issues is Alan’s $3.5 million Carpinteria, California, ranch. In the trust, Alan left each of his three kids equal shares of the ranch, 75 percent of his personal effects and 60 percent of his remaining estate, THR reports. He left Callau the ranch’s furnishings, 25 percent of his personal effects, a $500,000 life insurance policy, all of his death benefits from pensions and union memberships and 40 percent of his remaining estate, THR says. While he didn’t leave any portion of the ranch to Callau, Alan stated that she could continue to live there, provided she pays for any expenses and maintains the property, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Now that Alan is dead, Tanya claims there are numerous problems with the Trust and the Prenuptial Agreement,” the petition says, per THR. “Tanya asserts that there is no chance the ‘Prenup’ could withstand legal challenge and that she has very significant community rights in the Trust’s assets and rights of reimbursement with respect to improvements to the Ranch. Tanya also claims ‘Marvin rights’ asserting that she had to forgo opportunities to pursue and advance her own career in order to support Alan and be his companion and partner, including raising Carter.”
The “Blurred Lines” singer, 40, and his brother, 42, are seeking instructions as to whether the trust’s property is separate property, and whether Callau’s challenge to the prenup is valid.
Callau’s attorney Adam Streisand defended the widow in a statement to Us on Tuesday. “Tanya Thicke has never threatened to take private family matters public and she never has,” the statement read. “It is clear that Alan’s sons have chosen this distasteful public smear tactic to bully Tanya, by stirring up the tabloid media, filing a bogus lawsuit, and refusing family mediation. Tanya is still grieving the death of her beloved husband and out of respect for Alan’s memory intends to handle his sons’ false statements privately.”
