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Robin Williams' wife and children in court battle over late actor's estate

Wife Susan Schneider has filed court papers

Helen Nianias
Tuesday 03 February 2015 09:22 EST
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Robin Williams and his wife Susan Schneider at the premiere of "Old Dogs" in Los Angeles on 9 November 2009
Robin Williams and his wife Susan Schneider at the premiere of "Old Dogs" in Los Angeles on 9 November 2009

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Robin Williams' wife and children are locked in a dispute over his estate.

Susan Schneider and his children have gone to court in a dispute over money and property from the late actor's estate.

In papers filed to the San Francisco superior court, Schneider has said that his children from two previous marriages should not be given access to items that the children claim Williams said they should have.

His adult children, Zachary, Zelda and Cody, have said that Schneider had added "insult to terrible injury".

Lawyers for his offspring said in legal documents: "The Williams children are heartbroken that [the] petitioner, Mr Williams’s wife of less than three years, has acted against his wishes by challenging the plans he so carefully made for his estate."

Williams and Schneider married in Napa Valley, California, in 2011.

Much of the dispute relates to how the estate should distribute Williams’s personal property, and what should happen to memorabilia from his days as an entertainer such as his Oscar for Good Will Hunting, and his personal effects including jewellery and photographs.

Schneider maintains that Williams wanted her to remain at their shared home, and argues that they should not have access to the items in that house. However the children say there were no limitations placed on where the items were located in the original trust agreement.

Williams committed suicide in August 2014.

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