After a fight for several weeks, actress Anne Heche’s oldest son, Homer Laffoon, has been granted the management of Heche’s estate.
James Tupper, Anne Heche’s ex-boyfriend, who has a child birthed by Heche, argued for the appointment of an impartial administrator for Heche’s estate and assets. However, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lee Bogdanoff granted the management to Heche’s adult son Homer Laffoon instead. In addition, the judge dismissed Tupper’s suit, which claimed that Laffoon was ineligible to manage the estate since he was too young, jobless, and distant from his mother at the time of her passing.
The judge also rejected Tupper’s attorney’s request for a hearing to investigate his client’s claim that Heche’s $200,000 jewelry collection had gone missing. When Judge Bogdanoff questioned whether he was saying that Laffoon took the jewels or whether “fraud or embezzlement” was involved, the lawyer said it was because of poor management. He said that after Heche passed away, Laffoon took too long to secure his mother’s property. The judge denied the request for a hearing because he felt the claim was unreasonable.
Tupper and Laffoon have also argued over Tupper’s contention that Heche named him as her executor in an email she sent him in 2011. The email says that Tupper has control of all of Heche’s assets to be used to raise the children, and her two boys will get an equal share of her assets when they reach 25. Despite this, no documentation was ever submitted. Laffoon said that since Heche failed to sign the email, it could not be considered a valid will under the law. Laffoon claims that his mother sadly passed away without leaving a will, and because of that, there cannot be an executor named. He stated that he was “legally entitled to appointment as administrator.”
Anne Heche crashed her Mini Cooper into a Los Angeles home, igniting a fire, after which she went into a coma and died.
One of the concerns Laffoon will have to handle as the executor of his mother’s estate is demands from creditors. Actor Thomas Jane filed a claim that he loaned Heche $157,000, and she still owed $149,000 with interest and late penalties. In addition, Lynne Mishele, the tenant of the home Heche drove into, sued the estate for at least $2 million, asserting “negligence, infliction of mental distress, and trespass.”
To determine the collateral Laffoon must deposit to protect the rights of creditors and estate heirs, a second hearing was set for March 15 by Judge Bogdanoff. He placed the bond at $800,000 until the hearing.