One of Shelley Duvall’s brothers rushed to court to object to the actress’ longtime partner, Dan Gilroy, being in control of her estate, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Shelley’s brother, Shane Duvall, asked the court to shut down Dan’s petition to receive a cut of the late star’s property.
He said that while Dan claims to be Shelley’s “surviving spouse” by a “common law” marriage, the two were never married either formally or informally.
Shane said the only beneficiaries of Shelley’s estate are him and his two brothers, Scott Duvall and Stewart Duvall. He asked that the court award each brother 1/3rd of Shelley’s real and personal property.
Shane said that “Dan Gilroy has no interest in [Shelley’s] property.” Shelley died on July 11, at the age of 75, at her home in Blanco, Texas.
A couple of weeks later, Dan, 77, filed legal documents listing himself as Shelley’s “surviving common law spouse.”
He said they had been together for 35 years and never got married.
The duo had lived in Texas since the mid ‘90s after leaving Hollywood. Dan said Shelley “owned property described generally as cash, real estate, personal effects and household goods of a probable value in excess of $100,000.”
Per the filing, Shelley left behind a Texas home that sat on 10.676 acres of land. Shelley and Dan did not have any children. Dan listed himself as a beneficiary to Shelley’s estate.
He said the other beneficiaries were Shelley’s three brothers: Shane, Stewart and Scott.
In his filing, Dan said that he would show that while he was never married to Shelley, they had lived as husband and wife.
He told the court he would prove that “(1) they had an agreement to be married and demonstrated an intention to create a present, immediate and permanent marital relationship. (2) they lived together in Texas as husband and wife after forming the deal (3) told others in Texas that they were married.” Dan asked the court to award him 100 percent of community property, 50 percent of separate real property and 100 percent of community and separate property. He proposed that Shelley’s three brothers each be awarded 1/6th of Shelley’s separate real property.
A hearing has yet to be set on the matter.
After her death, Dan told The Hollywood Reporter, “My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley.”
Shelley, who was most known for her role in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, was honored by the late director’s Twitter account after her death.
“Shelley’s career was varied and long. Despite being dogged with exaggerations of her treatment on set, Shelley was always vocal about her experience filming The Shining saying she ‘wouldn’t trade it for anything’ because ‘working with loveable Stanley was a fascinating learning experience.’ Our thoughts are with Shelley’s friends and family,” Stanley’s team wrote.
