The Fred Thompson estate lawsuit was a 2016 probate action in which the former U.S. senator’s adult sons, Tony and Dan Thompson, sued their stepmother, Jeri Kehn Thompson, alleging she had unduly influenced their father to change his will during his final days in hospice care. The sons voluntarily dismissed the case on March 22, 2017, without a settlement, saying discovery documents had satisfied them that their father’s final wishes were followed.1The Tennessean. Dispute Over Sen. Fred Thompson’s Estate Ends
Who Sued and When
Fred Thompson died on November 1, 2015, in Nashville at age 73 from a recurrence of lymphoma.2PBS NewsHour. Fred Thompson, Former U.S. Senator and Actor, Dies at 73 About nine months later, in August 2016, his two adult sons from a prior marriage filed suit in Nashville probate court against Jeri Kehn Thompson, his widow.3Nashville Post. Fred Thompson’s Sons Sue Stepmother Judge Randy Kennedy was assigned to the case.
What the Sons Alleged
Tony and Dan Thompson claimed that Jeri Thompson had exerted undue influence over their father in his final days, while he was in hospice care, to alter his will and change its beneficiaries.1The Tennessean. Dispute Over Sen. Fred Thompson’s Estate Ends As evidence that something out of the ordinary had happened, they pointed to more than $40,000 in legal fees charged by the Nashville firm Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis for drafting new estate plans during that stretch. The existing will provided $50,000 to each of the adult sons.4The Tennessean. Fred Thompson’s Wife: Adult Sons Never Part of Will
How the Widow Responded
Jeri Thompson pushed back hard in court filings. She argued that the only substantive change to her husband’s estate plan was adding the couple’s two young children as beneficiaries. She also asserted that Tony and Dan Thompson “were never part of his will” as major beneficiaries in the first place.4The Tennessean. Fred Thompson’s Wife: Adult Sons Never Part of Will
Her filing added a further point that cut against the undue-influence theory: when an attorney from the Waller firm assessed Fred Thompson in October 2015, the attorney determined he was not capable of making changes to his estate at that point. In other words, according to Jeri Thompson’s account, the deathbed rewrite the sons described had not actually taken place.
How the Case Ended
The case did not go to trial. After Judge Kennedy ordered Jeri Thompson to turn over discovery documents, Tony and Dan Thompson dropped the lawsuit on March 22, 2017. There was no settlement.1The Tennessean. Dispute Over Sen. Fred Thompson’s Estate Ends
In a joint statement, the sons said the documents “satisfied us that our father’s final wishes were followed, allowing us to dismiss the lawsuit.”1The Tennessean. Dispute Over Sen. Fred Thompson’s Estate Ends Jeri Thompson’s attorney, Bill Ramsey, said the claims had never had legal or factual merit, telling reporters the sons had “misread, intentionally or otherwise, descriptions in legal bills that never should have been filed with the court.”5Tennessee Bar Association. Fred Thompson Estate Lawsuit Dismissed
The dispute ran roughly 17 months from filing to dismissal. Because it ended by voluntary dismissal rather than a judicial ruling, the court made no findings on whether undue influence had occurred, and none of the sons’ allegations were proved or disproved on the record.
The Family Behind the Dispute
Fred Dalton Thompson was born on August 19, 1942, and grew up in small-town Tennessee. He earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1967 and worked as an assistant U.S. attorney before entering the wider public arena.6Encyclopedia of Alabama. Fred Thompson He served as minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973, built a Washington lobbying and legal practice, and later played himself in the 1985 film Marie, which launched a long side career as an actor. He is best remembered on screen as District Attorney Arthur Branch on NBC’s Law & Order, appearing in 142 episodes across the franchise from 2002 to 2007.7Today. Fred Thompson Ensured There Was Law and Order Across TV and Movies
Thompson won a 1994 special election for the Tennessee U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Gore, was reelected in 1996, and left office in 2003.8Britannica. Fred Thompson He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, withdrawing that January after finishing third in South Carolina.
Tony and Dan Thompson are his adult sons from his first marriage. He had two younger children with Jeri Kehn Thompson, and those two children were the beneficiaries she said had been added to the estate plan during the period the lawsuit examined.
What the Case Did and Did Not Establish
Because the lawsuit ended without a ruling, it produced no legal precedent and no judicial finding on the will’s validity. What is on the public record is narrow: the sons filed allegations of undue influence, Jeri Thompson denied them and cited a capacity assessment that would have foreclosed the changes described, discovery was ordered, and the sons then dismissed the case saying they were satisfied. Statements from the two sides after dismissal remained sharply different in tone, with the sons expressing satisfaction that their father’s wishes had been honored and Jeri Thompson’s counsel saying the claims should never have been brought. Fred Thompson’s family statement after his death described him as a man who “stood on principle and common sense” and “enjoyed a hearty laugh, a strong handshake, a good cigar, and a healthy dose of humility.”2PBS NewsHour. Fred Thompson, Former U.S. Senator and Actor, Dies at 73