Thomas Kinkade’s girlfriend to pay $11,000 a month to stay in artist’s mansion (CA)

SAN JOSE — Despite a security guard posted around-the-clock inside the gates of the late Thomas Kinkade’s Monte Sereno home, his live-in girlfriend who claims half the artist’s fortune believes she is anything but safe, her lawyers said in court Monday.

Amy Pinto’s lawyers say her car and those of two friends have been recently vandalized, the home’s French doors have been tampered with and the attic of the home broken into, with the intruder leaving footprints on the dusty floor and a ladder against the house.

“That coincidence could never happen on Earth,” said lawyer Doug Dal Cielo, who said that Kinkade’s widow, Nanette, and four daughters apparently know the alarm code and password for the house.

The security claims came during a Santa Clara County Probate Court hearing at which Pinto’s rent was set at $11,000 a month and Nanette Kinkade asked to remove from the house every piece of furniture, art — worth millions of dollars — and other family possessions that were there before Pinto moved into the 6,000-square-foot home.

Dan Casas, lawyer for the Kinkade estate, said the security accusations are ridiculous and he would be happy to share alarm company records showing who has come and gone, but he had no intention of giving Pinto sole control of the house alarm as she requested.

Pinto had sought to pay $8,500 a month for the house on two acres in the exclusive village of Monte Sereno. Judge Thomas Cain rejected her request for a $2,000 discount because of the intrusiveness of the security guard kept on the property by the estate to make sure she doesn’t steal Kinkade’s paintings or possessions. The judge also rejected her request to fix the pool, which because of a leak was drained and locked tight.

He told both sides that he wants to see on Dec. 3 a list of possessions each claims.

Dal Cielo says Pinto, a consultant before she met Kinkade, can afford to pay the rent with her own money, which does not include what Kinkade’s lawyer says is $1 million he gave her before he died.

At the heart of the dispute are two barely legible handwritten wills that Pinto contends Kinkade wrote in the months before his death, giving her his house and $10 million to establish a museum of his work at his studio next door.

In court papers, Pinto’s lawyers say for the first time that Kinkade had a hand tremor that could be the result of alcohol withdrawal and that his personal family lawyer advised him to handwrite his wills instead of going through traditional estate planning.

Monday’s developments darkened the shadow over Kinkade, a 54-year-old alcoholic who died at the home in April from a lethal mix of alcohol and Valium. Known as the “Painter of Light,” he made a fortune selling reproductions of his romantic realism paintings that depict charming candlelit cottages and licensing those images for calendars, coffee mugs and other merchandise.

Kinkade separated from his wife in 2010 and began dating Pinto six months later.

Although Pinto has said in court filings that she and Kinkade were soul mates who planned to wed in Fiji as soon as a divorce was final, Casas said outside of court Monday that Kinkade was clearly dragging his feet on signing divorce papers.

He also suggested that Kinkade had a premonition of death and was moving to limit Pinto’s stay in the house and the money he would leave to her.

“He didn’t tell me, but my sense is he had some concerns she was going to do exactly what she’s doing now,” Casas said.

Attribution:

Thomas Kinkade’s girlfriend to pay $11,000 a month to stay in artist’s mansion
Julia Prodis Sulek
September 18, 2012
San Jose Mercury News
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_21563180/kinkade-girlfriend-seeks-rent-discount-at-late-artists

Additional coverage:

Kinkade girlfriend to pay $11,000 a month to stay in artist’s mansion
Julia Prodis Sulek/San Jose Mercury News
September 17, 2012
Contra Costa Times
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_21563180/kinkade-girlfriend-seeks-rent-discount-at-late-artists

SAN JOSE — The live-in girlfriend of the late Thomas Kinkade agreed Wednesday to pay $11,000 a month rent to continue living in the Monte Sereno mansion she shared with the famed “Painter of Light,” but Kinkade’s widow wants to take out every piece of furniture, art and other family possessions that was there before Amy Pinto moved in.

Judge Thomas Cain asked each side to bring their lists of possessions to court on Dec. 3.

The new twist in the continuing struggle over Kinkade’s estate — including millions of dollars worth of paintings and the 6,000-square-foot home — came out in a Probate Court hearing Monday on the fair market rental for the sprawling home and Pinto’s request for a speedy trial to determine the legitimacy of the two barely legible handwritten wills.

Lawyers for the estate had wanted Pinto out of the house, but she refused to move. In court filings, they asked for $12,500 a month as the fair market rent for the nearly 6,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath, house called “Ivy Gate.” Pinto’s lawyer, however, said the fair market rate was closer to $8,500 — and wanted that discounted because of the security guards who sit under a tree in front of the house around the clock.

The wills purportedly written by Kinkade give her his house and $10 million to establish a museum of his work.

Pinto has interpreted this to also include some $66 million worth of Kinkade’s paintings — what she considers to be half the estate. The other half, her lawyers say, would be considered community property belonging to Kinkade’s wife of 30 years, Nanette, from whom Kinkade was separated for two years but not divorced. The Kinkades have four daughters who range in age from their teens to 20s.

Kinkade, a 54-year-old alcoholic, died at the home in April from a lethal mix of alcohol and Valium. Known as the “Painter of Light,” he made a fortune selling reproductions of his romantic realism paintings that depict charming candlelit cottages, as well as licensing those images for calendars, coffee mugs and other merchandise.

After Kinkade and his wife separated in 2010, the artist was often seen drunk in bars in downtown Los Gatos, accompanied by Pinto and a bodyguard who also acted as a driver.

Tensions between Pinto, 48, and the Kinkade estate mounted from the day of his death, with close family friends accusing her of violating a confidentiality agreement by talking briefly with reporters. The estate filed a restraining order against her. She hasn’t spoken publicly since, but filed a declaration with the court saying that although she and Kinkade had their troubles, they were “soul mates” who planned to wed in Fiji when Kinkade’s divorce was final.

Judge Cain will hear those arguments during the 1:30 hearing today.