The estate of famous painter Thomas Kinkade has just won the first round of their legal battle over his estate. A California judge granted a restraining order asked for by his estate against his girlfriend Amy Pinto-Walsh.
The wife and family of the popular Bay Area-based painter are trying to get a court to permanently silence Pinto Walsh concerning Kinkade’s death which occurred earlier this month. Kinkade was 54 years old.
Attorneys representing the Kinkade Family Trust filed the restraining order last Friday and appeared in court this week to argue that the judge should compel Pinto-Walsh into absolute silence over Kinkade’s death. She was with the artist when he died, made the 911 call and is still living in the artist’s mansion.
The suit was filed on behalf of Kinkade’s wife, Nanette, and the couple’s four children as well as the artist’s estate. For the next 15 days, at least, Pinto-Walsh will be barred from “making statements or engaging in conduct that has the effect of defaming, criticizing, disparaging or discrediting Kinkade, Nanette Kinkade, or any company owned by Kinkade to appear in a negative light or ‘false light,’” Pinto-Walsh also is barred from speaking to the media or otherwise revealing any information at all.
Kinkade was reported by his brother to have suffered from alcoholism and was said to have relapsed before his death. The Kinkade Family Trust is afraid that works by the painter, a self-proclaimed Christian, may stand to lose value if other details leak out.
Pinto-Walsh was not available for comment.
