Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s widow sues his mother over $1.2 million prenup

Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s widow, Tenisha Warner, filed a lawsuit against the late actor’s mother, Pamela Warner, claiming she is owed more than $1.2 million under the couple’s premarital agreement.

Ms. Warner, 48, filed the lawsuit in DeKalb County Superior Court on Monday, the one-year anniversary of her husband’s death. Pamela Warner is the successor trustee of the Warner Family Trust, which the actor established in 1996. 

According to the lawsuit, Tenisha Warner alleges Warner failed to honor several financial commitments laid out in a premarital agreement the couple signed roughly a week before their May 2022 wedding. At the time, the late actor’s annual earnings were an estimated $680,000 and his net worth was around $3.4 million, while Ms. Warner was an unemployed graduate student pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology with a net worth of $0. The two had been dating for about five years and living together at Warner’s properties in Atlanta and Los Angeles, and had a daughter in May 2017. 

Under the agreement, Warner was required to buy and maintain a $1 million life insurance policy naming his wife as sole beneficiary, and to secure a second $1 million policy on her life naming a beneficiary of her choosing. Ms. Warner alleges neither policy was ever secured. She also claims he failed to pay her $5,000 a month for serving as his “chief of staff,” give her $16,000 annually on their anniversary, fund a tax-free retirement account for her, or maintain college funds for their children, including the child Ms. Warner was expecting when they married. 

The complaint states “no person or entity has paid or provided the sums due to plaintiff under the agreement.” Ms. Warner claims she is owed at least $1,276,042.46 in total, plus interest and attorney’s fees, and is asking the court to bar Pamela Warner from distributing any trust property while the case is litigated. She also filed a creditor’s claim for the same amount in DeKalb County Probate Court against Warner’s estate, which she says will be inadequate on its own to cover the debt. 

Warner, best known for playing Theo Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” from 1984 to 1992, died in an accidental drowning while vacationing in Costa Rica, after a current pulled him into deeper water while he was swimming at Playa Cocles in Limon province. He was 54. 

TMZ first reported the lawsuit after obtaining a copy of the filing.