REGION: Another Ike Turner ex wants cut of estate

By TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer | Friday, April 4, 2008 5:24 PM PDT ∞

VISTA ---- Nearly four months after music legend Ike Turner died at his San Marcos home, the battle over his modest estate rages, with one of his ex-wives now asking a judge to let her have a cut.

In court filings, Jeanette Bazzell Turner has asked the probate court to find that she has a right to a portion of the estate from the man once married to rock legend Tina Turner.

The two were married in Las Vegas in 1995, and split five years later, according to her filing, but the divorce was "riddled with problems" and she was never given her portion of the community property, she argued in court documents.

The ex-wife wants the court to let her have her piece of the property she and Turner had when they divorced.

Her attorney, Joseph Rego, said Thursday that she is not seeking a portion as an heir, but rather as a creditor.

"She has a claim," he said. "If she is entitled to anything under the law, I want to make sure she gets it. I'm not trying to find a loophole here."

The validity of her claim has not been determined by the probate court.

Jeanette Turner, whom Rego said is a singer living in San Diego County, is the second of Turner's former wives to claim an interest in the estate.

The fight over Turner's estate already includes his three sons, three daughters and another woman he divorced not long before he died.

Just what they all may be fighting over is still an unknown. The value of what the Grammy award winner left behind has not been determined yet, according to attorney Craig Gross, who represents Colin Fort, one of the two men appointed by the court to administer the estate.

"There's no concrete information at this point," Gross said Thursday morning. Earlier court filings put the estate's worth at about $200,000, including $80,000 cash in bank accounts.

Turner's copyrights, intellectual property rights and the like also have yet to be determined, according to court documents.

James Clayton, Turner's one-time attorney and the other court-appointed administrator for the estate, wants the court to let him hire a lawyer to sort out the copyright interests, some of which may soon expire.

But the cost of bringing in the additional attorney could run to $50,000 ---- which might wipe out most of the musician's estate, Turner's adult children allege in court filings.

The parties are due back in court April 11 for a hearing that could determine the first steps in figuring out the status of Turner's intellectual property rights.

The court still has to decide whether Turner died with a valid will in place.

Less than a week after Turner's death, his most recent ex-wife, Audrey Madison Turner, submitted to the court a copy of a handwritten will, presumably penned by him.

The will, dated Oct. 13, 2007, is a one-page statement leaving his estate to "x (sic) wife Audrey Madison Turner," including "power of attorney over my health and finances."

But in a note Turner presumably wrote one month later, also included in court documents, the musician revoked "any and all powers of attorneys, wills, estate plans or other similar documents given to me by Audrey Madison."

Turner, 76, a controversial rhythm and blues and rock pioneer, died Dec. 12 from a cocaine overdose in the San Marcos home he rented.

A high amount of cocaine exacerbated his hypertensive cardiovascular disease and emphysema, a medical examiner's office found.

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-5442 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.

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