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There’s a new city in Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise, and that means more drama, adventure and, of course, legal issues. The Bravo franchise documents the lives of wealthy women and their families in cities such as New York, Beverly Hills, and Atlanta. The shows offer insight into the women’s lives, revealing the mundane and the extraordinary, providing classic television moments (including table flipping, prosthetic leg-throwing, and an endless spray of thrown drinks). In a few short weeks reality television (legal television?) fans will meet the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City when Lisa Barlow, Mary Cosby, Heather Gay, Meredith Marks, Whitney Rose, and Jen Shah attack the screen.
The Real Housewives, however, has also shared the families’ more serious legal issues, such as New Jersey’ Teresa Giudice’s prison sentence for mortgage fraud, New York’s Bethany Frankel’s unending divorce and custody battle, and Dorit Kelmsley’s swimsuit-line litigation.
The new Salt Lake City franchise, however, may take the cake in terms of most interesting from a trusts and estates perspective. It has been revealed that Mary Cosby, one of the housewives, is married to Bishop Robert Cosby, Sr., who was also the second husband of Mary’s deceased grandmother, Dr. Rosemary Redmon. Grandma Rosemary was the founder of the Faith Temple Pentecostal Church in Salt Lake City, and she died in 1997 at the age of 65. She was 20 years her husband’s senior and left a sizable estate that holds several business interests, including churches, restaurants and a radio station. Mary has been married to her step-grandfather for 20 years, and they share a child together. It is reported that Mary has inherited some of the estate as a result of the marriage.
A year after Rosemary’s death, Bishop Cosby wedded Mary, who was 24 at the time. Mary is also a Pentecostal First Lady. It has been reported that in order for her to inherit the family business she had to wed her step-grandfather. Rosemary’s estate has been the center of an ongoing family dispute since her passing decades ago. Rosemary’s daughter, Rosalind Cazares, also a pastor, accused her stepfather (Mary’s husband/step-grandfather) of forging documents related to the Rosemary’s property. Lawsuits ensued against Robert, and one resulted in an award of $1.2 million in damages to Rosalind from her mother’s estate. The estate litigation divided the decedent’s church, with half of the congregation supporting Rosalind and the others supporting the widower. Additionally, Rosalind made a legal application for the exhumation of Rosemary’s body, because of allegations of foul play. The exhumation, which was granted, confirmed that the decedent died of natural causes.
Mary’s is just one of many estate matters that have arisen in the Bravo universe. Beverly Hill’s Taylor Armstrong feuded with her in-laws as to the final resting place of her deceased husband. Eventually his cremated remains were divided between Taylor and Russell’s mother, buried in California and Texas, respectively. New York’s Luann de Lesseps, also known to Bravo fans as the Countess, was at one point sued by her ex-husband and children for failing to establish a trust for the children’s benefit pursuant to a Stipulation of Settlement and related Judgment of Divorce. The lawsuit was eventually withdrawn. Miami’s Alexia Echevarria, fought with her stepchildren over her house, which they claimed as part of her deceased husband’s estate and she claimed as her own property pursuant to a prenuptial agreement.
Inheritances, estates, divorces, and death make for real-life drama. As such, these legal subjects are perfect material for producers seeking to document ongoing family conflict. While court television programs may provide forums to hear the technical aspect of certain controversies, in actuality it is the realty genre where one can see the far-reaching emotional and financial effects of family litigation. Just ask any trusts and estates attorney.
Cori A. Robinson is a solo practitioner having founded Cori A. Robinson PLLC, a New York and New Jersey law firm, in 2017. For more than a decade Cori has focused her law practice on trusts and estates and elder law including estate and Medicaid planning, probate and administration, estate litigation, and guardianships. She can be reached at cori@robinsonestatelaw.com.