Late ESPN Anchor Stuart Scott’s Family Embroiled in Nasty Financial Disputes

The family of the late Stuart Scott has been in the midst of legal battles for quite some time, but they are taking a break due to financial issues. According to The Blast, the money left behind by the former ESPN anchor is quickly disappearing due to the number of lawyers involved, as well as the hearings that are taking place.

Scott’s ex-wife, Kimberly Scott, has reportedly asked the court to pause her lawsuit against Disney for 60 days. She originally sued the company after Scott passed away in 2015 due to appendiceal cancer.

“To date, there has been four days of hearings, with a total of four lawyers, and another nine days are scheduled during November and December,” Kimberly said. “The legal fees and liabilities/damages caused to the Beneficiaries Trust are close to wiping out all the Trust assets unless the parties are able to resolve the issues without further litigation. In the present action, there has been extensive settlement negotiations.”

Kimberly and Scott were originally divorced in 2007, at which time the late ESPN anchor was ordered to pay his ex-wife $162,899.04 plus interest from his Disney Savings and Investment Plan 401k Account. However, he did not acquiesce to this and had not paid at the time of his death in 2015.

Kimberly attempted to collect the money owed to her from Disney and ESPN in 2015, but she was told that the assets had been handed out to Scott’s estate, per his instructions. Scott had listed his family trust as the beneficiary of his retirement accounts instead of Kimberly, so Disney had distributed the funds prior to receiving her legal documents. Although the distribution of the funds had been frozen due to concern that they could be placed into the wrong hands.

The other factor that has been creating financial issues is that Scott’s daughters claim they were supposed to be the beneficiaries of the account, but they say that money was put into the trust instead. Additionally, they claim that the co-trustees have failed to open an official estate or create an inventory of Scott’s assets. They have also reportedly failed to collect profits from their late father’s book or collect royalties for movies that he has appeared in.

Finally, Scott’s daughters claim that the trustees failed to account for $800,000 in assets. One of the co-trustees reportedly took possession of the assets instead. There is also an allegation of a check given to their mother that bounced due to insufficient funds.

The battles have been paused, and Kimberly is reportedly asking for more time to get all of them settled without further litigation.

(Photo Credit: Scott Cunningham/Getty)