Late Country Legend’s Family Battling Over $735K in Alleged Unpaid Child/Spousal Support
Just a few months after country music legend David Allan Coe passed away at the age of 86, his family opened up about the legal battle they are experiencing over alleged unpaid child/spousal support.
According to Whiskey Riff, Coe’s children have spoken out about the relationship they had with him, revealing that he cut contact with all four of them following a 2013 accident.
His daughter, Tanya, said that while she tried to contact him following the accident, she only spoke to his wife, Kim. Following the conversation, Tanya was unable to reach either Kim or her dad.
“When the 2013 wreck happened, I was texting my dad’s phone and Kim’s phone,” Tanya said. “I was wanting to come to the hospital and trying to get details of where it was.”
However, her dad’s wife was against her coming to visit him in the hospital. “Kim told me not to come to the hospital, that it was too hectic with all the nurses and that they would be checking out soon and that I could come stay with them at the house once they got dad home and I could help take care of him in his recovery.”
Although she was “ready and waiting on standby,” Tanya said she never heard from either of them again. She said her texts and calls went “unanswered and unreturned. ”
Coe later contacted Tanya after he contracted COVID in 2021. Tanya said she was able to track him and attempted to visit him. However, she was once again blocked by Kim.
“I texted Kim pleading for her to let me talk to dad and to let me help her take care of him…no response,” Tanya pointed out. “I did not abandon my father. I would have loved to have been able to be there for him and take care of him and love on him, especially during his retirement years as that would have been such beautiful [and] valuable time together.”
Tanya, along with her siblings, was left out of their dad’s will. He left his entire estate to Kim. They are now planning to take their father’s estate to court for the $735,000 alleged unpaid child/spousal support.
“Priority court judgments for long-overdue, unpaid family and child support have already been officially filed by us against our father’s estate,” the siblings stated. “While some people have attacked us for holding him accountable to the family obligations he walked away from during his life, our priority is transparency and family honor. We want to ensure that everyone he owed money to has the exact same opportunity to be made whole.”
In a filing submitted to the Hamilton County Probate Court in Ohio, Coe’s ex-wife Jody stated the country singer’s estate owes her $540,820.72 in child support and $194,882 in spousal support.
In his and Jody’s divorce settlement, Coe was ordered to pay $4,000 a month in child support. The amount was reduced after each child turned 18.
He was also ordered to pay Jody $2,000 in spousal support, which she was to receive for the rest of her life unless she remarried.
Coe reportedly didn’t fulfill the orders.
Kim, who is serving as the executor of Coe’s estate, submitted a response to the filing, rejecting Jody’s claims.
