The late actress Anne Heche left about $110,000, including $33,000 in uncollected royalties and residual checks, after her death in August last year, her son Homer Laffoon has revealed.
In new court documents found by DailyMail.com, Laffoon, 21, the administrator of his mother’s estate, also revealed that he had nearly $77,000 in a Merrill bank account at the time of her death in August last year.
The 27 uncashed checks include several from major Hollywood studios including Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount and NBCUniversal.
The largest check, for $25,000, was from Cast and Crew Production Services and was dated June 10, 2022, just weeks before Heche died after a car accident in Los Angeles.
The $110,000 in bank funds and uncashed checks are a partial inventory of Heche’s assets that Laffoon has been gathering for Los Angeles Superior Court probate judge Lee Bogdanoff.
Anne Heche had cocaine in her system during her fatal car accident that resulted in a massive fire that trapped her for 45 minutes. In the image: Heche moments before the accident
Homer, the 20-year-old son of Anne Heche and Coleman Laffoon
Anne Heche pictured with her son, Homer Laffoon, at the launch celebration for Christian Siriano’s new book ‘Dresses to Dream About’ at The London West Hollywood in Beverly Hills on November 19, 2021
Last November, the judge handed control of Heche’s estate to Homer over the objections of the actress’s former partner, actor James Tupper, who claimed her $200,000 worth of jewelry “disappeared.”
The judge appointed Laffoon, 21, as permanent administrator of the estate, denying a motion by Tupper – father of Heche’s 14-year-old son Atlas – to name an independent administrator.
And the judge dismissed the objection of Canadian-born Tupper, 57, who said Laffoon is “unfit” to administer the estate because he is too young, unemployed and separated from his mother at the time of her death.
“I find no malfeasance on the part of Mr. Laffoon,” said Judge Bogdanoff, who also on Wednesday rejected a request by Tupper’s lawyer Christopher Johnson for an evidentiary hearing to investigate his client’s allegation that Heche’s jewelry collection valued at $200,000 has disappeared.
Johnson had told the judge that Heche “had about $200,000 worth of jewelry and there’s none left and that was four years ago” (Tupper was with Heche from 2007 to 2018).
James Tupper and Anne Heche attend the Hollywood Reporter and SAG AFRA 2017 Emmy Nominees Night Party at the Jean-Georges at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills on September 14, 2017
Homer Heche Laffoon (pictured on the right with Heche and their youngest son, Atlas, on the left) was appointed trustee of his estate.
Anne Heche and James Tupper attend the launch of their ‘Tickle Time Sunblock’ at The COOP on December 8, 2012 in Studio City, California. Homer Heche Laffoon in the center and Atlas Tupper on the right, in the arms of James Tupper
When Judge Bogdanoff asked Johnson if he was suggesting that Laffoon took the jewelry or if he was suggesting there was “fraud or embezzlement,” Johnson replied, “There was no fraud or embezzlement, mismanagement,” because, he claimed, Laffoon He didn’t secure his mother’s apartment fast enough after she died three months ago.
The judge told Johnson his accusation “doesn’t make sense” and dismissed his request for an evidentiary hearing.
The $200,000 jewelry collection is part of Tupper’s $1.6 valuation of what his former partner’s estate is worth. That sum is disputed by Laffoon, who estimates the value of his mother’s belongings and assets at only a quarter of that, $400,000.
In their bitter family dispute over the inheritance, the two have also fought over Tupper’s claim that Heche named him executor of her estate in a “will” she emailed him in 2011.
But Homer, the product of Heche’s eight-year marriage to cameraman Coleman Laffoon, insisted the email is invalid because it is not signed and that his mother had no will when she died at the age of 53.
Heche died days after crashing his Mini Cooper into a Los Angeles home, causing an explosion, on Aug. 5.
The actress was severely burned and in a coma. Heche’s life support machine shut down on August 14, and she was cremated on August 18.
The scene of the accident on August 5 was chaotic with firefighters braving the flames to try to rescue Heche and owner Lynne Mishele.
Heche, best known for her roles in Donnie Brasco, Volcano and Wag the Dog and her three-year relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, crashed her Mini Cooper into a Los Angeles home, starting a fire, on August 5 of last year.
Blood tests showed that she had cocaine and fentanyl in her system when the high-speed accident occurred, but authorities confirmed that she had not been drinking alcohol, despite previously being photographed with a bottle of vodka in her cup holder.
She was left badly burned and in a coma. Heche’s life support machine shut down on August 14, and she was cremated on August 18.
A coroner concluded that he died from inhalation and burns, and the death was ruled an accident.
The mother-of-two also had a fractured sternum caused by “blunt trauma,” according to information on the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s website.
As general manager of his mother’s estate, one of the problems Laffoon will have to deal with is claims from creditors.
Earlier this month, Lynne Mishele, the woman who rented the house Heche crashed into and set on fire, sued the estate for at least $2 million, citing “negligence, infliction of emotional distress and trespass.”
Actor Thomas Jane, 53, who dated Heche in 2019 and 2020, also filed a claim saying he loaned his ex-girlfriend $157,000 and they still owe him $149,000 with interest and late fees.
At the November hearing, Judge Bogdanoff set a temporary $800,000 bond that Laffoon had to post to safeguard the claims of creditors and heirs to the estate.