UPDATE (Monday, Mar. 30, 7:21 p.m.): Robin Williams’ wife and adult children have chosen to settle their personal property dispute out of court. Attorneys for both parties agreed to the arrangement in San Francisco’s Superior Court on Monday.
The comedian’s children claim Robin’s trust granted them the majority of his clothing, jewelry, and personal photos. That said, lawyers for Robin’s widow, Susan Williams, have confirmed she hopes to maintain possession of her wedding presents, photos from his 60th birthday, and the tuxedo he wore at their wedding.
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UPDATE (Monday, Mar. 30, 9:41 a.m.): The widow of Robin Williams is heading to court today to face off with the late actor’s children — Zelda, Zachary and Cody — as they squabble over belongings that each side believes were left to them in Williams’ will.
This fight over the Good Will Hunting Oscar winner’s estate will see attorneys for both parties in a San Francisco courtroom later today, reports Us Weekly. Williams’ wife, Susan Schneider, is taking the position that the items within the home she shared with Williams before he took his life last year should remain hers, and alleges that some items were removed without her permission.
Williams’ children don’t see it that way, and point to a clause in his will that grants them his memorabilia and awards, which they feel includes particular items that remain at Schneider’s home.
In their court filing, the children say they are “heartbroken”; and claim that Schneider has “acted against [their father’s] wishes by challenging the plans he so carefully made for his estate.”
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UPDATE Tuesday February 3, 2015 (11:26 a.m. ET): After the details of Robin Williams’ will were revealed in November, stating that the actor’s three children – Zak, 31, Zelda, 25 and Cody, 22 would be the recipients of his full estate, new papers filed by wife Susan in December of 2014 are pitting the family against one another in court.
The actor’s widow filed papers in San Francisco Superior Court that accuse his children of taking some of the late actor’s personal items without her permission.
Susan also requested the court exclude the contents of the Tiburon home – jewelry, memorabilia and other items Williams stated in his will his children should have.
“Adding insult to terribly injury,”; the children argue that Susan is trying to rob them of their father’s clothing and other personal items which were granted to them in his will. Some of the items in question include the actor’s collection of watches and the Oscar statuette he won in 1998 for Good Will Hunting.
Susan Williams says that because he wanted her to continue to live at the Tiburon home, it makes sense that he intended only for his children to have the specific personal items he delineated that were kept at another home he owned in Napa. “Any other interpretation would lead to Mrs. Williams’ home being stripped while Mrs. Williams still lives there,”; her attorneys wrote.
“The Williams’ children are heartbroken that Petitioner, Mr. Williams’ wife of less than three years, has acted against his wishes by challenging the plans he so carefully made for his estate,”; attorneys for the children said in court papers.
Meanwhile, James Wagstaffe, an attorney for Susan Williams, said that his client was only seeking guidance from the court about the meaning of certain terms in the trust.
“This is not ugly,”; he said in a statement. “I would not say this is anticipated to be a highly contested proceeding.”;
An attorney for the children, Allan Mayer, declined to comment.
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UPDATE Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014 (12:50 p.m. ET): Details of the late Robin Williams’ will have been revealed, an People is reporting the Oscar-winner left his estate to a trust for his three children , as well as stipulating that wife Susan Schneider be provided for according to the terms of the couple’s prenuptial agreement.
Williams reportedly signed the will on Jan. 31, 2011, and directed his executors to “give my entire estate, in trust”; to the Robin Williams Trust, which he established for children Zak, 31, Zelda, 25, and Cody, 22.
“Documents from 2009 show that at the time, the trust was set up to disburse funds to each of the children in stages,”; reports People. “Each child would receive a third of his or her share at age 21, half the remaining share at 25, and the rest at 30. “
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UPDATE Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014 (2:12 p.m. ET): Following yesterday’s TMZ report that being diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia was a “key factor”; in driving Robin Williams to suicide, longtime friend Whoopi Goldberg commented on today’s edition of The View.
Whoopi is no stranger to Lewy Body Dementia; earlier this year she appeared in a series of public service announcements to draw awareness to this devastating disease that is, following Alzheimer’s, the second most common cause of progressive dimension.
“You know there’s been a lot of speculation about why Robin William’s took his own life,”; said Whoopi. “People are trying to find all kinds of reasons because people want information; they want to pin it on something. And now folks are reporting that he was driven to this because he suffered from Lewy Body Dementia. I don’t think that’s what it is, and I know people want to know something, but Lewy Body could have contributed to it, but it is not the cause of it. And the bottom line, that nobody wants to hear, is we’re never gonna know. We’re never gonna know what it was and so, you know, I send love to my friend and I hope he’s in a better place. But don’t believe what you hear.”;
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UPDATE Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014 (9:45 a.m. ET): A shocking report indicates that Robin Williams was suffering from paranoia, hallucinations and deep depression after being diagnosed with a devastating form of dementia when he took his own life in August.
According to TMZ, sources claim the late star was suffering from a condition known as Lewy Body Dementia, a condition that is typically associated with Parkinson’s (the late Casey Kasem suffered from Lewy Body Dementia in his final years).
This disease disrupts the normal function of the brain, and those afflicted often suffer with severe side effects of the medication used to treat Parkinson’s. “Hallucinations are common,”; states TMZ, “where patients see phantom objects, people of animals,”; with patients often trying to have conversations with their own delusions.
“Sources connected with the Williams family”; have reportedly told TMZ that they believe Lewy Body Dementia to be the “key factor”; that led Williams to commit suicide.
This video from the Alzheimer’s society explains the biology behind this horrific disease:
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An autopsy performed on Robin Williams confirms his death was a suicide.
The Coroner’s office reported that the comedian died from asphyxia due to hanging.
The report also concluded that at the time of his death he was not under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs, they did say that “therapeutic concentrations,”; of prescription drugs were found in his system.
The actor had been struggling with depression and anxiety around the time of his death. According to a statement made by his wife, Williams was in the early stages of Parkinson’s Disease.
The actor’s body was found by his assistant in his California home on August 11.