Rocker Tom Petty was wise enough to execute a revocable living trust before his unexpected death in 2017, but his heirs are now arguing over some of the wording in the trust.
Tom Petty’s widow and sole successor trustee of his trust, Dana York Petty, planned to include unreleased tracks from her late husband’s celebrated 1994 solo album, Wildflowers, as part of a 25th anniversary edition box set.
However, Tom’s daughters Adria and Annakim, his children from a previous marriage, have blocked the release, according to iHeartRadio’s article, “Tom Petty’s Widow, Daughters Battling Over His Estate.”
Dana says the daughters are interfering with her ability to manage Tom’s legacy. She’s reportedly requested that a judge name a day-to-day manager for the estate.
Adria argues that she and her sister were promised an equal share of control in their father’s estate, according to his will. She says her father’s “artistic property” was supposed to be placed into a separate company to be jointly administered by the three women. However, Dana disagrees with Adria’s interpretation of the term “equal representation.”
Annakim seems to reference the battle in a recent Instagram post. She displayed a photo of her father with the caption, “We don’t sell out. No Vampires 2019.”
A subsequent reply in the comments section mentions Petty’s will.
Wildflowers was initially designed to be a double album, with Petty completing more than 25 songs in the initial sessions. However, he was convinced by his record label to take some some songs off for the final version.
Throughout the years, a few of the extra songs were released on various collections. However, Tom never relinquished his idea of releasing the set as a double LP.
Petty was reportedly planning a Wildflowers tour, before his death in October of 2017, to showcase all the leftover material.
Reference: iHeartRadio (April 3, 2019) “Tom Petty’s Widow, Daughters Battling Over His Estate”
