LOS ANGELES -- The teenage widow of late Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson filed Superior Court petitions Wednesday to include herself and her young son among the heirs to the musician's estimated $2 million estate.
'This is a tragic situation which must be resolved as soon as humanly possible,' said James Davis, attorney for Wilson's fourth wife, Shawn Love Wilson.
'Through an unfortunate sequence of events -- including Wilson's death -- this woman and child have segued from a happy family life and financial security to a state of physical, emotional and financial despair,' he said.
Wilson, a founding member of the surf-rock band, drowned Dec. 28, 1983, in Los Angeles at age 39 after diving from a dock into shallow water. The coroner's office said his blood alcohol level was found to be .26 percent at the time of his death, more than twice the level to be declared legally drunk in California.
His will, drawn up in March 1977, more than six years before he married Shawn Love, established trusts for his three children by earlier marriages, but excluded his ex-wives as heirs. The will was not modified after he remarried.
Davis said Mrs. Wilson, 19, suffers from stomach cancer and has struggled with drug addiction. She is seeking to have herself and the couple's 2-year-old son, Gage, retroactively named as heirs to the fortune.
A probate hearing was scheduled in Superior Court for Oct. 11.
In a separate action, Mrs. Wilson filed a $20 million lawsuit against Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Co., claiming the company has refused to pay $400,000 in claims owed on Wilson's $1 million life insurance policy.
Davis said the company has responded that Wilson's death was attributed to alcohol abuse, and it would never have written the policy if it had known he was a heavy drinker and drug user.
He said the decision to file suit against the company was made last week after Transamerica offered to settle the claims for only 15 cents to the dollar.
Attorneys for the insurance company could not be reached for comment.
