Tom Petty’s Family Members Are No Longer Fighting Over His Estate

December 12, 2019 / Posted by:

After Tom Petty died suddenly of an accidental drug overdose back in October 2017, his family did what many families of legendary entertainers have done after their loved one dies: they started fighting. It didn’t get full-blown messy – there were no allegations of Scientology murder plots. But it was more involved than a fight over who gets dad’s collection of sunglasses. The Pettys have been fighting over Tom’s legacy since May. But the good news is that Tom’s spirit is no longer saying, “Don’t do me like that” every time he checks in on his family.

This all started after Tom’s second wife Dana Petty filed papers accusing Tom’s adult daughter Adria Petty (from his first marriage) of attempting to “sell out” her father’s image. Dana claimed Adria was planning on pimping out her dad’s image to anyone with a check. Dana, Adria, and Adria’s younger sister Annakim Petty, were all given equal management votes over his estate. But Adria filed a petition asking for full control over Tom’s music catalogue. Dana asked a judge to remove Adria and Annakim from Tom’s trust, and requested a manager come in and professionally manage it. Adria responded by accusing Dana of messing up business deals she already had in place, because she’s a power-hungry stepmonster.

Dana sued Adria and Annakim. Adria and Annakim sued Dana for $5 million. The Blast is now reporting that both lawsuits have been dropped. Documents recently filed state that, “The parties to the foregoing matters have entered into a settlement.”

The Blast doesn’t say what exactly has been settled, but it’s anyone’s guess, and there’s plenty to pick from. Adria was reportedly working on releasing a greatest hits box set of her father’s work, but only her father, and that allegedly pissed off the rest of The Heartbreakers. At one point, Adria allegedly implied Dana might have had something to do with Tom’s death, texting Dana, “You know what’s not cool or legal is street fentanyl.” Tom died of an accidental overdose of drugs, including fentanyl. The daughters also accused Dana of sneaking around behind their back, and cutting them out of important decisions related to their father’s legacy. Dana accused her stepdaughters of bullying.

So we can’t know for sure right now who came out of this situation the happiest. But if you suddenly see a greatest hits box set featuring Tom Petty with no mention of The Heartbreakers, that might be a clue. It also kind of makes me wish I didn’t put the idea out there up top about fighting over Tom’s sunglasses. If not-subtle accusations of suspicious drug use is on the table, fighting tooth and nail over accessories can’t be too far down the road. And really, I don’t know how safe it is to have people that hate each other that much fighting over something that can be shattered and used as a shiv.

Pic: Wenn.com

Our commenting rules: Don't be racist or bigoted, or post comments like "Who cares?", or have multiple accounts, or repost a comment that was deleted by a mod, or post NSFW pics/videos/GIFs, or go off topic when not in an Open Post, or post paparazzi/event/red carpet pics from photo agencies due to copyright infringement issues. Also, promoting adblockers, your website, or your forum is not allowed. Breaking a rule may result in your Disqus account getting permanently or temporarily banned. New commenters must go through a period of pre-moderation. And some posts may be pre-moderated so it could take a minute for your comment to appear if it's approved. If you have a question or an issue with comments, email: michaelk@dlisted.com

src="https://c.statcounter.com/922697/0/f674ac4a/1/"
alt="drupal analytics" >