A battle is going on over the estate of the award-winning actress Anne Heche, who died due to a car crash in August.
The actress died unexpectedly, and had not prepared a will. Her son, 20-year-old Homer Laffoon, filed in court to assume control over his mother’s estate.
Laffoon is Heche’s son with her former husband, Coleman “Coley” Laffoon. He is said to be one of the two heirs to the estate, according to court documents. He has a half-brother, 13-year-old Atlas Heche Tupper, the son of James Tupper, a former boyfriend of Anne Heche.
Laffoon has been involved in a legal struggle with James Tupper. Tupper is hoping to get control of the estate and has allegedly been making personal attacks against Heche’s son.
Laffoon says that Tupper prevented him from contacting his brother, Atlas. When Laffoon tried to reach out to his brother, Tupper was checking Atlas’ messages and has been responding to the messages, pretending to be Atlas.
Tupper was described by Laffoon as being “irrationally aggressive and threatening” towards him after his mother’s death.
“My brother Atlas and I lost our mom. After six days of almost unbelievable emotional swings, I am left with a deep, wordless sadness,” Laffoon said.
According to Laffoon, Tupper has a 2011 email, allegedly from Heche, which states that Heche would hand over her estate to Tupper. Laffoon argued that the email failed to meet criteria to be legally recognized as a final will and testament.
For one thing, there were no formal witnesses, as required by law. Another issue is that the “will” is not in the deceased’s handwriting. A will is needed to legally appoint someone as an executor to assume control over the estate.
Laffoon and Tupper have been fighting over Heche’s estate for weeks. Tupper insists that Laffoon was estranged from his mother and is an unsuitable candidate for administrator of the estate. Laffoon disagrees.
Update as of Wednesday, October 12: A judge has given control of the approximately $400K estate to Heche’s son Homer Laffoon, for the time being.
