The widow of former Atlanta actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, best known for his role as Theo Huxtable in the 1980s sitcom “The Cosby Show,” is suing his mother to recover at least $1.2 million from a family trust, saying he failed to honor their prenuptial agreement.
Warner drowned last July in Costa Rica while on vacation. He was 54.
On Monday, the anniversary of Warner’s death, his widow, Tenisha Warner, filed a lawsuit in DeKalb County Superior Court against his mother, Pamela Warner, who is the successor trustee of the Warner Family Trust the actor set up in 1996.
Tenisha Warner, 48, claimed she is entitled to more than $1.2 million from the trust because that’s the equivalent of what Malcolm-Jamal Warner promised her as part of their May 2022 premarital agreement. She said he failed to deliver while alive, making her a creditor of his estate.
The actor’s estate is currently unrepresented and “will be inadequate to satisfy” his obligations to Tenisha Warner under the agreement, she said in her complaint.
She alleged the property of a California-based family trust is liable for his debt to her and that her rights are particularly vulnerable while the administration of his estate is contested.
“Plaintiff performed all obligations required of her under the agreement, including entering into and remaining in the marriage until the decedent’s death,” the lawsuit says. “The decedent died without having satisfied his obligations under the agreement, and no person or entity has paid or provided the sums due to plaintiff under the agreement.”
Attempts to contact Pamela Warner, a California resident, were not successful Monday.
Tenisha Warner’s attorneys did not respond Monday to an inquiry about the case.
The lawsuit seeks in part to block Pamela Warner from distributing trust property while the dispute is litigated.
The complaint includes a copy of the prenuptial agreement, signed about a week before the couple’s marriage in May 2022.
At the time, Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s annual earnings were an estimated $680,000 and his net worth was around $3.4 million, according to the agreement. Tenisha Warner, formerly Tenisha Hancock, was an unemployed graduate student pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology. She was pregnant with their second child and had a net worth of $0, per the agreement.
It states the couple had been dating for about five years and living together during that time at Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s properties in Atlanta and Los Angeles. It further says they had a daughter in May 2017 and no other biological children.
Under the agreement, Malcolm-Jamal Warner was to buy and maintain a $1 million life insurance policy on his life, naming his wife the sole beneficiary. He also agreed to get a $1 million life insurance policy on Tenisha Warner’s life, naming her preferred beneficiary.
Tenisha Warner claimed in her lawsuit that her husband failed to secure either insurance policy. In addition, she said he failed to pay her $5,000 a month as his “chief of staff” and give her $16,000 a year on their anniversary, in further breach of the agreement.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner also broke his promise under the agreement to fund a tax-free retirement account for his wife and maintain college funds for their children, she alleged.
Tenisha Warner claimed she’s owed at least $1,276,042 plus interest and attorney fees.
She simultaneously filed a creditor’s claim in the DeKalb County Probate Court against Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s estate, seeking the same amount. The couple were living in DeKalb County at the time of his death, records show.
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