Jay Leno Granted Conservatorship of Estate of Wife with Dementia; In Very 'Difficult Period'
Veteran comedian Jay Leno has been granted a conservatorship of the joint estate he shares with his wife, Mavis, because she is suffering from dementia.
Ronald Ostrin, the attorney for Mavis Leno, said his 77-year-old client is “receiving excellent care with Mr. Leno” and that she agreed with the arrangement, according to “Entertainment Tonight.”
“She is very blessed. [H]aving had a mother of my own with dementia, Mrs. Leno is living in the least restrictive environment and being very well taken care of. They have a good plan of strategy,” he said, “ET” reported.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny agreed that a conservatorship of the joint estate was the right move, according to the report.
Penny said “everything seems totally appropriate for the care” of Mavis Leno.
“I know this is a hard time when this needs to happen, and I thank you,” she said to Leno.
“Thank you, your honor,” Leno replied.
Penny said Mavis Leno is “in the least restrictive environment. I think she’s in very good care with Mr. Leno,” according to People.
She told Leno, “Everything you’re doing is right,” adding, “I totally understand this is a difficult period.”
People reported that Leno brought Mavis to a stand-up show at the Hollywood Improv last week.
Earlier this month, Ostrin filed a report saying Mavis Leno had “advanced dementia,” according to People.
The report said that she “sometimes does not know her husband, Jay, nor her date of birth.”
Mavis Leno, who married her husband in 1980, “has a lot of disorientation, will ruminate about her parents who have both passed and her mother who died about 20 years ago,” the report said.
Ostrin called Mavis Leno a “delightful person” with a “charming personality,” while adding it “was clear she had cognitive impairment.”
Ostrin said the relationship between the Lenos was “long-term, loving and supportive,” and that Mavis Leno perceives her husband as “her protector and she trusts him.”
In January, Leno cited dementia as the reason he was seeking a conservatorship of his wife’s estate, according to NBC.
“Unfortunately, Mavis has been progressively losing capacity and orientation to space and time for several years,” the petition for the conservatorship states.
The petition wants the court’s permission for Leno to develop a plan for her will that Leno believes his wife would want done if she could.
“As Mavis’s current condition renders her incapable of executing the estate plan, Jay has petitioned the Court to be appointed conservator of Mavis’s estate for the sole purpose of filing a petition for substituted judgment on her behalf in order to ensure her desires concerning the disposition of her assets upon her death are realized,” the petition said.
The petition noted that in their 43 years of marriage, Leno always handled the finances.
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