Larry King’s Widow Reportedly Plans to Contest His Secret Handwritten Will in Court
Shawn King, the estranged wife of Larry King, thinks there’s something suspicious going on after it was revealed the late broadcaster made a secret amendment to his will. She reportedly plans to fight the legitimacy of that document in court.
Last Thursday, TMZ revealed that in 2019 King had made a handwritten amendment to his will that requested his roughly $2 million estate be distributed equally amongst his five children, and to the exclusion of Shawn. King died last month at age 87 from sepsis caused by two underlying conditions, according to the death certificate obtained by People. Shawn explained her confusion over the updated will to Page Six, saying, “We had a very watertight family estate plan,” that they wrote together “as a couple” in 2015. “It still exists, and it is the legitimate will. Period. And I fully believe it will hold up, and my attorneys are going to be filing a response, probably by the end of the day.”
Adding to the difficulties of this legal situation is that two months prior to writing the addition to his will, King filed for divorce from Shawn, his seventh wife, but died before they were able to come to any resolution. He also named all five of his children in the amendment, but two of them—Andy and Chiara, his children with Alene Akins—both died in 2020. However, King apparently told Page Six before his death that, after filing for divorce, he and Shawn had become close friends again and she insists that they spoke every day, but he never mentioned this update to his will.
Shawn adds that she and her two children with King, Cannon and Chance, were “shocked” to learn of the existence of this amendment and support her in taking her case to court as “they are not happy about this.” When asked why Larry would’ve made such a change without her knowledge, she said, “It beats me,” adding that she believes someone influenced him to write it, but refused to elaborate further. Shawn also said that she doesn’t think this secret will was a direct response to their divorce filing as “Based on the timeline, it just doesn’t make sense.” And while the $2 million fortune won’t amount to much once it’s split between Shawn and all of King’s surviving children, “It’s the principle,” she says.
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