Robbie Robertson's adult children are engaged in a legal dispute with the woman who the ex-Band guitarist married shortly before his death. Robertson's children are claiming that she had him sign documents while he was medicated and in poor health that would allow her to live for free in the home they shared.
Alexandra, Delphine and Sebastian Robertson filed a lawsuit Wednesday (May 22) against Janet Zuccarini, a Toronto restaurant owner, who recently opened the new restaurant, Stella Hollywood, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Robertson, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer also known for his work on soundtracks with Martin Scorsese, died last August, just months after he wed Zuccarini.
Among the claims in the lawsuit is ownership of the Beverly Hills home that once belonged to David Geffen. The couple purchased the home for $6 million, with each owning half of the home, but Robertson paid all of the $1.8 million down payment, according to the lawsuit, per the L.A. Times.
According to the suit, Robertson wanted his children to become 50% owners of the home with the option to sell it to Zuccarini, purchase her share or jointly sell the house with Zuccarini, but that plan did not pan out.
After Robertson's death, Zuccarini told his family that "she was entitled to reside in the Property until her death - and that [Robertson's heirs] were required to pay, from what would have been their modest inheritance, the mortgage, property taxes, insurance, and half of the daily property maintenance expenses for the duration of her life," the lawsuit reads, per the report.
She based her claim upon an amendment the pair added to their "Tenant in Common" agreement from 2021, when they first moved into the home.
It was signed in March 2023, less than six months before Robertson died. The agreement said if one party died, the estate could be required to continuing to pay their half of the mortgage, the Times reports.
Robertson's children say in the lawsuit that he never recovered from a 2022 cancer surgery and was using pain relievers and other drugs to stimulate his appetite.
"Robertson's mental state was severely impaired," the lawsuit says. "These drugs he was taking, in the period of time when Zuccarini was arranging the secret wedding and having him sign oppressive documents, are known to have significant effects on cognition, including confusion, hallucinations, torpor, depression, memory loss, and dissociation."
By making Robertson sign the documents when he was not mentally capable, Zuccarini committed elder abuse, his heirs claim in the lawsuit.
Robertson's children are seeking to cancel the agreement that calls for the house's ownership to be split between Zuccarini and Robertson.
"This lawsuit is a meritless fiction and the truth will prevail," Gabrielle A. Vidal, an attorney representing Zuccarini said in a statement to the L.A. Times. "This is a gross and exploitative attempt by Robbie Robertson's children to eviscerate their father's expressed wishes for his beloved wife Janet."
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