Thread: Broncos ownership dispute resumes after Pat Bowlen’s eldest daughters file petition to invalidate trust

Originally Posted by slim

My understanding is they are already in line to be minority owners, so I don't think it's about that.

This appears to be purely about greed and ego.

I was going to say I get their side of things. They were going to be in position to take over the company, until their dad married a new woman and had new kids. Now those new kids are going to take over the company and force the original kids out. I would be pissed too.

However, after reading that they would also be minority owners then yes, they can take a hike.

Originally Posted by underrated29

I was going to say I get their side of things. They were going to be in position to take over the company, until their dad married a new woman and had new kids. Now those new kids are going to take over the company and force the original kids out. I would be pissed too.

However, after reading that they would also be minority owners then yes, they can take a hike.

They have every right to be upset about it, but dishonoring their dad's dying wishes in this manner is despicable IMO.

**** those bitches.

Article was updated. I think this is what was added:

Dan Reilly, the trustees’ attorney, said the the complaint “represents the latest effort in their public campaign to circumvent Pat Bowlen’s wishes.

“It is sad and unfortunate that Beth Bowlen Wallace and Amie Bowlen Klemmer have elected to contest their father’s plan and attack his personal health,” Reilly said in a statement. “The evidence in the courtroom will show Pat Bowlen was fully capable of establishing and understanding his trust and estate plan when it was created in 2009. Mses. Wallace and Klemmer’s current position about their father’s supposed mental incapacity in 2009 was not raised until after 2014, when Ms. Wallace was privately told by the trustees that she was not capable or qualified to serve as controlling owner.

“The trustees will continue to follow Pat Bowlen’s plan to oversee and protect the team, the entire Bowlen family, and Broncos fans everywhere.”

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/09/1...-amie-klemmer/

AND

In a response to a lawsuit filed by Bill Bowlen, Pat’s younger brother, against the trustees of the Pat Bowlen Trust, the trustees stated the Broncos’ owner was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the final months of 2013, or going on six years ago.

full article - https://www.9news.com/article/sports...a-5ec1ad910ee5

Officially diagnosed with Alzheimers in the final months of 2013. Trust done in 2009.

Originally Posted by Denver Native (Carol)

Article was updated. I think this is what was added:



https://www.denverpost.com/2019/09/1...-amie-klemmer/

AND



full article - https://www.9news.com/article/sports...a-5ec1ad910ee5

Officially diagnosed with Alzheimers in the final months of 2013. Trust done in 2009.

That would be cased closed in my book.

So he set up the trust prior to getting sick to avoid just this kind of shit and the 2 oldest decide to shit on what he wanted and do what they wanted and using his illness as their excuse? Pretty disgusting people. Times like this, I'm glad I'm not rich, it makes people really ******* ugly.

This is why you just write in a "thunderdome survivor" clause into your will if you have multiple children. Simple.

Originally Posted by Mike

I haven't been following too closely. Anybody got cliffs on the story?

Pat Bowlen's latest wife moved to make sure her daughter (Brittany) not the children by his first wife inherited control over the Broncos.

Dissed first wife children sue to put aside the Trust Agreement, even though they could be disinherited if they lose.

It's all stupid because all the heirs share in the proceeds of income from the Broncos. The controlling owner will get to sit in the owners' box, and get to decide policy for the team, and will get income from that, but all of them are stinking rich.

Typical "spoiled entitled children of billionaire, all of whom have way more money than they can ever spend in a lifetime squabble over control of his multi-billion $ fortune rather than just sharing the wealth" story.

Happens all the time. The richer people get the worse they behave.

Originally Posted by wayninja

This is why you just write in a "thunderdome survivor" clause into your will if you have multiple children. Simple.

That will not at all protect the assets of the estate from being squandered in litigation normally -- at least in a case where $Billions are not at state and the costs of litigation are not insubstantial compared with the assets. Because the trust defends itself with $400 an hour lawyers and often the Trust assets are depleted regardless of who wins.

A judge I clerked for gave me this book:


Caption: "At last we have managed to obtain a partition of the property!"
"Just in time too, the case has ruined both of them." -- Honore Daumier, Lawyers and Justice -- 1848.

Originally Posted by slim

My understanding is they are already in line to be minority owners, so I don't think it's about that.

This appears to be purely about greed and ego.

Yes, my understanding as well. The person the trust selects will be the controlling owner, but I don't think there is any difference in terms of the share of ownership for each child.

Originally Posted by Cugel

Pat Bowlen's latest wife moved to make sure her daughter (Brittany) not the children by his first wife inherited control over the Broncos.

Dissed first wife children sue to put aside the Trust Agreement, even though they could be disinherited if they lose.

It's all stupid because all the heirs share in the proceeds of income from the Broncos. The controlling owner will get to sit in the owners' box, and get to decide policy for the team, and will get income from that, but all of them are stinking rich.

Typical "spoiled entitled children of billionaire, all of whom have way more money than they can ever spend in a lifetime squabble over control of his multi-billion $ fortune rather than just sharing the wealth" story.

Happens all the time. The richer people get the worse they behave.

Where is there information that states Pat Bowlen's latest wife moved?

Previous article Carol on 9 news

Originally Posted by Tned

Yes, my understanding as well. The person the trust selects will be the controlling owner, but I don't think there is any difference in terms of the share of ownership for each child.

It doesn't. It matters to us Broncos fans because we don't give a fig what the distributive share of the Trust is for each beneficiary, but only who controls the team and makes the decision to spend money and sign and fire the GM.

But, children of a deceased parent translate $ into the love of the parent they were denied. The children of the divorced spouse feel their father abandoned them and then favored his children by a second marriage over them. They feel dissed.

As a Trust and Estates lawyer I see this all the time.

It could have been handled a lot better by Pat Bowlen. He should have named his heir during his lifetime and not left it up to the trust and personally explained his choice directly to the heirs, except apparently, under the influence Annabel he preferred his children by his second wife rather than Beth and never made this explicit, leaving it in ambiguity.

But, he set up the trust language so that there were objective criteria for choosing an heir. Problem: Joe Ellis, his business partner knew what he wanted, and it wasn't for Beth to inherit. She basically met the criteria (business or law degree, 40 years old, etc.). But, the Trustees led by Ellis favored his younger children (probably according to Pat's wishes influenced by Annabel). But Brittany, the Trustee's choice was in her 20's which was too young under the terms of the Trust Agreement (from news reports).

I normally write special provisions into wills in cases of mixed-marriages with prior existing children because of this problem: the "Hansel and Gretel" syndrome. "Wicked step-mom" disinherits children by first spouse, in favor of her own, later born children after her husband, their father dies.

If Pat really wanted Brittany to become controlling owner he should have made that explicit in the Trust Agreement. Then Brittany would have been in control during his lifetime and the problem could have been avoided.

The whole thing is sad, multiplied by billionaire trust-fund babies with a strong sense of entitlement.

Fortunately for us, it probably won't matter. Beth is not too likely to succeed in her lawsuit and Brittany is probably several years away from being named controlling owner. So nothing here should affect the Broncos in the near term.

Originally Posted by Denver Native (Carol)

Where is there information that states Pat Bowlen's latest wife moved?

This is just so standard for 2nd marriages in trusts and estates law that I assumed, (based on reporting on 104.3 The Fan this AM) that's what happened. I doubt anybody is really talking, but Beth Bowlen is 40 and hasn't been arrested for anything, and apparently has the proper degrees, etc.

Why did the Trust dismiss her claim and call her "unqualified" and take the unusual step of keeping control over the team for so long rather than choosing an heir? Is Beth really unqualified or was Joe Ellis following Pat's orally expressed wishes that his younger children by his second wife should take precedence over those of his older, divorced spouse, despite the objective criteria of the Trust Agrement.

I don't know what the relationship was between them but it's normal for 1st marriage children to become estranged from their father after he divorces their mom. So, their relationship might not have been that close, IDK.

So, now they're arguing that he lacked testamentary capacity.

Pat Bowlen the father

Bowlen had two families. He met his first wife, Sally Parker, while they were attending the University of Oklahoma in the 1960s. After he earned his law degree from OU in 1968, he and Sally moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where Pat became a wealthy lawyer while also helping to run his father Paul’s oil business.

He and Sally had two children, Amie and Beth, but the marriage split when the daughters were 3 and 2 years old. At that point, Sally and her two daughters moved to Hawaii. Dad soon followed and bought a second home nearby. It was roughly another 13 years or so before Pat and his second wife Annabel started their family with Patrick, followed by Johnny and three more daughters.

But for both families, Hawaii and all the islands and ocean offers was a huge part of the children’s upbringing.

“He was a young dad, but very hands-on," Amie said. “He co-parented. I remember he would pick us up on the weekends and we went to his house. My parents got along very well. It was like having two houses. We had two Easter egg hunts, two Christmases. We had a lot of fun with him."

He taught most of his kids how to swim and canoe surf. Canoe surfing is like surfing in that you ride the waves except in a canoe. There are two to four people in a canoe with the key person being the steersman.

“I thought he was trying to drown us," Amie said. “We would still be literally in floaties and he would take us out where I thought were tsunamis. We would flip the boat and Beth and I would be floating around like toys out in the ocean and he’d gather us up, put us back in the boat, and we’d go back out and do it again."

Amie said she was 16 or 17 years old when dad bought the Broncos. Beth is 16 months younger than Amie.

“My dad bought the team when I was a teenager, so he wasn’t all consumed through the younger years of my life," Beth said. “He spent half the year in Hawaii which is where I lived so we spent quite a bit of time with him as, if you want to call it, a normal dad.

“When he bought the team, I didn’t notice much of a difference in his parenting. He balanced his life between going to Hawaii and canoe surfing and balanced his achievements in the triathlon and his marathons with his life with his family. But the Broncos were certainly a priority for him."

https://www.9news.com/article/sports...a-5ec1ad910ee5

Better to read than assume

ALSO, just maybe Mr. B stated in his trust that he wanted Brittany to replace him. That has been what has been suggested on radio sports talk, in newspaper articles, etc.

Originally Posted by Cugel

That will not at all protect the assets of the estate from being squandered in litigation normally -- at least in a case where $Billions are not at state and the costs of litigation are not insubstantial compared with the assets. Because the trust defends itself with $400 an hour lawyers and often the Trust assets are depleted regardless of who wins.

A judge I clerked for gave me this book:


Caption: "At last we have managed to obtain a partition of the property!"
"Just in time too, the case has ruined both of them." -- Honore Daumier, Lawyers and Justice -- 1848.