Famed rock singer, Tom Petty, passed away in 2017. Nearly two years later his widow, Dana York Petty, and his daughters from a previous marriage, Adria and Annakim Petty, remain embroiled in a legal dispute over the musician’s estate. In the petition filed with the probate court in Los Angeles, California, Dana asserts her authority as the sole trustee of Petty’s trust. This issue does not appear to be in dispute; however, Petty’s daughters contend they have full authority to manage Petty’s catalogue of music recordings.
Despite Petty’s efforts to avoid such a dispute by creating a trust with directives for managing its assets, Petty’s widow and daughters disagree over the interpretation of the daughters’ right to participate equally in the management of Petty’s catalogue. Dana wishes to nominate a professional music manager to assist in operating the catalogue, while Adria and Annakim believe they should jointly manage the catalogue without interference from other individuals. Given the vastness of Petty’s catalogue, whose career spanned almost fifty (50) years, the court’s determination on this question is likely to have significant ramifications.
With both sides firmly entrenched, this dispute appears to be free fallin’ toward protracted litigation.
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