EXCLUSIVE: Gary Coleman's New Will Invalid; Ex-Wife Gets Nothing Says Lawyer
June 7 2010, Published 8:30 a.m. ET
Even though Gary Coleman wrote a new will — a year before his divorce from ex-wife Shannon Price — it could be invalid, according to an independent Utah legal expert.
As RadarOnline.com revealed, the Diff’rent Strokes star left behind two wills: an original he authored in 1999 and a second, leaving everything to Shannon Price, the 24-year-old who is weathering a storm of controversy in the wake of her ex-husband’s death. The second will is actually a hand-written codicil.
Utah attorney Kent Alderman — who represents Dion Mial, the man named as the executor of Coleman’s estate — has claimed the hand-written codicil, written in 2007, is invalid because Price and Coleman later divorced.
“The act of getting divorced would revoke that will,” Utah attorney Stephen J. Buhler told RadarOnline.com.
“Unless she Shannon could show something that stated he Gary intended to leave everything to her even after the divorce, the will is null and void.”
“If they just had something handwritten, they probably did not think about the consequences later if they should get divorced.”
Mial is named as executor of Coleman’s 1999 will and stands to benefit substantially because of a trust provision, which his lawyer Kent Alderman tells RadarOnline.com stands as the valid will.
“It’s at least a presumption that once you get divorced you don’t intend on leaving everything to that person anymore,” Buhler concluded.
AUDIO: Hear Gary Coleman’s 911 Tape
Shannon appeared on Good Morning America Monday saying her and Gary had intended to remarry, but never did.
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