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Tony Bennett’s inheritance confronts his four children | People

Tony Bennett on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards on February 12, 2012 in Los Angeles.

A death is always bad news for family and friends, but there are also times when the process that begins and ends up separating children, siblings and other family members due to inheritance is worse, which ends up confronting those who until that moment They had been inseparable and whose relationship was broken for economic reasons. There have been very high-profile disputes over the legacy of a star, this is the case of Alain Delon’s childrenMichael Jackson and the withdrawal of his father from his willthe battle for the money of the owner of L’Oréal Liliane Bettencourt, the confrontation between George Michael’s partner and family… Now they are the singer’s four children Tony Bennett, died July 2023 at 96 years old, who are faced. In fact, his two daughters accuse their older brother of mismanaging their late father’s funds for years and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the family trust.

Considered as one of the great singers of the 20th century and the last great classical voice, Tony Bennett died away from the stage for a couple of years, as he had suffered from Alzheimer’s since at least 2016. Today his children have been divided into two sides in a judicial war over the inheritance: on the one hand they are Danny, 70, and Dae, 69, born during the artist’s first marriage to Patricia Beech; on the other, Johanna, 55, and Antonia, 50, the result of his second marriage to Sandra Grant. The artist married a third time with Susan Crow, but had no more children.

The judicial process began in June, but nothing was known about the case until now, when the magazine People has had exclusive access to judicial documents. It all goes back to last summer, when Antonia and Johanna filed a lawsuit against their older brother Danny over assets from their father’s estate that were unaccounted for after his death and that they claim they did not receive. The will made it clear how the family trust had been divided: Dae, Johanna and Antonia were beneficiaries, while Danny was the sole trustee and, therefore, responsible for the family fund created in 1994. Months later, Danny submitted an application for transfer the court case to probate court or dismiss it. And on January 3, his two sisters responded with another lawsuit asking the court to reject said request, ensuring that they had “serious concerns” about the “mismanagement” of Danny and his role as trustee, ensuring that he has been left with thousands of dollars from the fund. “Danny acted in multiple and conflicting fiduciary roles for an extended period prior to Tony’s death and took (for himself and his children) significant funds,” the document notes. They allege that he wrote checks “as he saw fit” and that he made “multiple gifts to himself” in 2022.

Antonia and Johanna claim to be entitled to an accounting of Danny’s actions both before and after their father’s death, as he was acting essentially unsupervised and they feel there has been a “lack of transparency.” “[Tony] expressed a clear intention and direction in his estate plans that his four children be treated equally,” they also state in the legal documents.

Tony Bennett on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards on February 12, 2012 in Los Angeles. Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez (ZUMAPRESS.com / Cordon Press)

For more than four decades, Danny was the singer’s right-hand man and even became his manager. His father trusted him and his work, delegating important functions of his career and his assets. A position that he held even more heavily after the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, when he became its manager. “Danny has always acted in Tony’s best interests and has worked diligently to ensure that his father’s plans were respected and carried out. “It is unfortunate and sad that some choose to question his decisions instead of honoring Tony’s legacy,” a source close to the family told People.

The documents specify an event that occurred in 2022, a year before Bennett’s death, when a portion of the assets of the company were sold. crooner New Yorker for the “financial problems” he was supposedly suffering. However, the young daughters now claim that in the records “he still had millions of dollars.” In addition, they point out that if he had been running out of money, Danny continued “giving gifts to himself and his children with said assets.” Danny’s company received, always according to the complainants’ version, almost 2.6 million dollars (about 2.5 million euros, at the current exchange rate) in commissions, while they only received 245,000 dollars (238,000 euros). Both Dae and Tony’s third wife, Susan Crow, are also named in the lawsuit and are accused of “avoiding accountability for Danny’s actions.”

Dae and Danny Bennet, at a benefit concert organized at Lincoln Center, New York, on April 17, 2024.
Dae and Danny Bennet, at a benefit concert organized at Lincoln Center, New York, on April 17, 2024.Nancy Kaszerman (ZUMAPRESS.com / Cordon Press)

The singer’s first-born was the one who managed, in the 1980s, to redefine his professional career and bring it closer to younger audiences. It was at this time that he became his manager, forced him to return to New York and managed to get Columbia to hire him again to record The Art of Excellencewhich would be his first step in an artistic resurgence that would no longer abandon him. From this moment on, he would continue the artistic line that had characterized his music, but reaching out to emerging artists and great stars of the time. In fact, in the last years of his life he managed to forge a great friendship with Lady Gagawith whom he participated in numerous events and recordings, even winning two Grammy Awards in 2015 as a musical couple. The last time he went on stage was in 2021very weakened by the illness, with the help of the interpreter of Bad Romance.

But not everything was idyllic in his career. In the midst of a whirlwind of money, fame and success in the eighties, dazed by alcohol and drugs, the artist fell unconscious in a bathtub due to an overdose. Sandra Grant rescued him, but it would be the beginning of the end of his second marriage. Years later he would meet his third wife, Susan Crow, a teacher and great admirer of the musician who acted as his caregiver at the end of his life.

‘This article may contain information published by third parties, some details of this article were extracted from the following source: elpais.com’

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