Thomas Kinkade's Estranged Wife and Girlfriend Settle Estate Amicably

After months of high-profile courtroom battles, lawyers for the estranged wife of late Los Gatos artist Thomas Kinkade and his live-in girlfriend have struck a deal in the multimillion dollar estate.

However, The San Jose Mercury News reports that it’s unclear who will inherit Kinkade’s Monte Serrano mansion and his warehouse of paintings.

The quarrel between Kinkade’s girlfriend Amy Pinto and his wife Nanette Kinkade began shortly after the 54-year-old artist’s death in April. Kinkade began dating Pinto after a legal separation from his wife of 28 years.

At the heart of the dispute were two disputed handwritten wills produced by Pinto that said Kinkade would leave her $10 million and his Monte Sereno home.

San Jose Mercury News: Anyone expecting a dramatic courtroom showdown between Thomas Kinkade's estranged wife and his live-in girlfriend over the late artist's multimillion dollar Monte Sereno estate will be sorely disappointed.

After months of name-calling and finger-pointing, lawyers for Nanette Kinkade and Amy Pinto announced Wednesday they have reached a secret settlement. And despite Pinto's vow months ago to clear her name and explain how she was no gold-digger but rather Kinkade's soul mate, she has accepted a deal in return for her silence.

Lawyers would make no comment about the details of the settlement or the legitimacy of two tantalizing, barely legible handwritten wills that Pinto claimed Kinkade wrote to her, leaving her $10 million and the keys to his hillside mansion.

Instead, they issued this brief yet strangely sentimental statement:

"Putting Mr. Kinkade's message of love, spirituality, and optimism at the forefront, the parties are pleased that they have honored Mr. Kinkade by resolving their differences amicably."

So who gets the 7,000 square-foot house on Ridgecrest Avenue, the studio next door, his warehouse of paintings, copies of which are said to hang in one of every 20 American homes? Nobody is saying. How much the estate is worth also hasn't been made public but adding millions of dollars in value are the licensing of his bucolic images on coffee cups and calendars, china plates and tote bags, many of which will surely be wrapped under Christmas trees next week.

It wasn't clear Wednesday whether Pinto, 48, was still living in the house she had shared with Kinkade, 54. After the artist's April 6 death of a lethal mix of alcohol and Valium, Pinto refused to leave the house. Estate lawyers posted a security guard within the gates of the estate to make sure Pinto didn't steal anything. In a recent court hearing, she had agreed to pay $11,000 a month to continue living there, without the intrusive security ...

http://www.mercurynews.com/los-gatos/ci_22226164/secret-deal-ends-girlfriend-wife-feud-over-painter