Girlfriend -- or golddigger?
Amy Pinto-Walsh was with painter Thomas Kinkade when he died April 6. But before succumbing to a lethal combination of alcohol and Valium, Kinkade, 54, jotted down sloppy notes that will to Pinto-Walsh the painter's Monte Sereno estate as well as $10 million with which to build a museum.
Or so Pinto-Walsh claims, claims countered by Nanette Kinkade, Kinkade's wife of 30 years, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Nanette Kinkade, mother of Thomas's four daughters, says that Pinto-Walsh was intent on "fleecing" the estate from the start, the newspaper reported. Pinto-Walsh countered, saying that she was in love with the painter and the two planned to wed in Fiji as soon as his divorce was final.
Pinto-Walsh had been living in Kinkade's mansion for 18 months, the newspaper reported.
Kinkade achieved fame for pastoral scenes of cottages and Christian situations, the newspaper reported. He also acquired a notorious reputation as a falling-down drunk in nearby Los Gatos's drinking establishments.
The handwritten notes, first created in November, purport to leave to Pinto-Walsh the mansion as well as $10 million to set up the "Thomas Kinkade Museum," Pinto-Walsh's lawyers claim.
Local
"Scrawled on notepaper complete with scratch outs," the note says that "I, Thomas Kinkade, being of sound mind and body do hereby bequeath to Amy Pinto Walsh $10,000,000 in cash from my corporate policy and I give her the house at 16324 and 16342 Ridgecrest Avenue for her security," the newspaper reported.
A court hearing on the matter was heard in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Tuesday, but the judge did not make a ruling.
