TLDR: Robin Williams left his $100 million estate primarily to his three adult children (Zachary, Zelda, Cody) in a detailed trust, with provisions for his widow Susan Schneider Williams to live in their home for life.
After his death in 2014, Susan and the kids fought in court for nearly a year over the definition of “memorabilia” versus “contents of the home.” The dispute centered on his 85+ watch collection, 50+ custom bicycles, entertainment awards, and even his wedding tuxedo.
They settled in 2015 with the kids getting most assets and Susan keeping sentimental items. Williams also created a brilliant legal restriction preventing anyone from using his image or likeness until 2039.
Robin Williams died by suicide on August 11, 2014, leaving behind one of the most beloved legacies in entertainment history. He also left behind a $100 million estate and a family that immediately started fighting over it.
Unlike Prince or Aretha Franklin who died without wills, Williams had a sophisticated estate plan with a revocable living trust designed to avoid probate and keep everything private. It didn’t work out that way.
Within months, his widow Susan was fighting his three kids from previous marriages in San Francisco court. The dispute wasn’t over millions of dollars. It was over his watch collection, his toy figurines, his fossils, and literally the tuxedo he wore to his wedding.
This is the story of who inherited Robin Williams’ estate and the year-long legal battle that followed.
Robin Williams’ Trust Left Most Everything to His Three Kids
Robin Williams created and updated his trust in 2012, shortly after marrying Susan Schneider. The primary beneficiaries were his three adult children from his two previous marriages.
Zachary Pym Williams (born 1983) from his first marriage to Valerie Velardi. Zelda Rae Williams (born 1989) and Cody Alan Williams (born 1991) from his second marriage to Marsha Garces.
The trust split the estate between the three kids equally, but with a catch. Like Michael Jackson’s trust, Williams used staggered distributions to protect them from blowing through the money too fast.
They’d get one-third of their share at age 21, half of what remained at 25, and the rest at 30. When Williams died, Zachary was 31 and had already received his full inheritance. Zelda was 25 and Cody was 22, still subject to the trust restrictions.
The trust also specifically gave the children “all clothing, jewelry, personal photos taken prior to his marriage to Susan, and memorabilia and awards in the entertainment industry.” That last part about memorabilia became the center of the legal war.
Susan Got to Live in Their $6 Million Home for Life
Williams provided for Susan through what’s called a life estate. She got the right to live in their waterfront Tiburon, California home for the rest of her life, plus a maintenance fund to cover the mortgage, insurance, repairs, and property taxes.
The house was a 6,517-square-foot contemporary mansion with six bedrooms, bay views, and a custom swimming pool Williams had extended for lap swimming. He’d bought it in 2008 for about $4 million and heavily renovated it.
Susan didn’t own the house outright. She couldn’t sell it and keep the money. When she died or moved out, the property would go to the kids. But she could live there rent-free with all expenses covered.
The trust also gave Susan the “furniture, furnishings, and contents” of the Tiburon home. This seemed like standard estate planning language. The problem? Robin Williams kept his entire collection of watches, bicycles, awards, and memorabilia inside that home.
The Fight Was Over Watches, Toys, Awards, and His Wedding Tuxedo
In December 2014, four months after Williams died, Susan filed a petition in San Francisco Superior Court. She was asking the judge to clarify what exactly the trust meant by “memorabilia” and “contents of the home.”
Here’s the problem. The trust gave the kids all his “memorabilia and awards.” But it also gave Susan the “contents” of the house. Williams kept everything inside the house. Both sides claimed the same items based on different clauses in the same document.
Susan said she came home days after Robin’s death to find the trustees removing items from the house. She described it as an “invasion” of her grieving process. She claimed she was told she “might not be able to keep our wedding gifts.”
The disputed assets were wild in their variety. Williams owned over 85 luxury watches. The kids said watches are jewelry, and the trust gave them all jewelry. Susan argued watches aren’t technically jewelry and should stay with her as contents of the home.
Williams had a world-class bicycle collection of 50+ custom bikes, including rare Italian racing bikes worth tens of thousands each. Kids said they were memorabilia. Susan said they were household property.
His entertainment awards – the Oscar for Good Will Hunting, six Golden Globes, two Emmys, five Grammys – were clearly “awards in the entertainment industry.” But where do you draw the line on memorabilia?
Williams collected “scientific oddities,” fossils, kinetic sculptures, Japanese anime figures, graphic novels, and toy soldiers. Susan called them “knick-knacks” that decorated the house. The kids said they were carefully curated collections integral to their father’s identity.
The most emotional fight was over the tuxedo Williams wore to his wedding with Susan and their wedding gifts. The trust technically gave the kids “all clothing.” Did that include his wedding tux?
The Kids Said Susan Was Rewriting the Trust to Grab Their Inheritance
In January 2015, the children filed their response. They said they were “heartbroken” that Susan was “adding insult to a terrible injury” by trying to “rewrite” the trust.
Their position: the trust was clear. Dad left them the memorabilia, the watches (jewelry), the awards, and the collections. The fact that he kept these items in the house he shared with Susan didn’t change who owned them under the trust.
Susan’s position: she wasn’t trying to grab millions. She just wanted to keep the items that had sentimental value to her marriage and her life with Robin. The maintenance fund the trustees proposed was also insufficient to actually maintain a $6 million mansion on the San Francisco Bay.
The case dragged through court for months. The judge encouraged mediation to avoid a public spectacle. Both sides were grieving. Fighting in court was making everything worse.
They Settled in October 2015: Kids Got Most Everything, Susan Got Sentimental Items
On October 2, 2015, both sides announced a settlement just before a scheduled court hearing. The exact financial terms stayed confidential, but the distribution of personal property became public.
Susan kept all the wedding gifts, the tuxedo Williams wore to their wedding, and one specific bicycle they’d bought together on their honeymoon. She also kept one watch that Robin “often wore” and selected clothing items with personal significance.
The kids got the vast majority of everything else. The entire watch collection (85+ pieces) except the one Susan kept. Over 50 custom bicycles. All the entertainment awards – the Oscar, the Golden Globes, the Emmys, the Grammys. The scripts, props, and career memorabilia. The bulk of the “scientific oddities,” fossils, and toy collections.
The settlement also resolved the maintenance fund issue. The trust would provide sufficient funds to cover the Tiburon home’s expenses for Susan’s lifetime, alleviating her financial concerns about living there.
Susan’s statement: “I can live in peace knowing that my husband’s wishes were honored. It’s the few sentimental items I get to hold onto that mean everything to me. I thank God for this.”
The children’s attorney said they were “relieved to have this behind them” and confirmed they received the “vast majority” of what they’d requested.
The Kids Donated the Bicycle Collection to Charity
In a beautiful gesture honoring their father’s philanthropic spirit, Zachary, Zelda, and Cody donated the entire bicycle collection to charity in 2016.
They auctioned 87 bikes through Paddle8, with 100% of proceeds going to the Challenged Athletes Foundation and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, both causes Robin had supported during his life.
The family’s statement was perfect: “Though bright, skin-tight spandex still remains one of the more embarrassing outfits to regularly witness your Dad wearing, the sport of biking and the people Dad helped through his love of it will always hold a special place in the hearts of our family.”
The auction raised tens of thousands, with some rare bikes selling for over $20,000 each. Managing celebrity estates with valuable personal collections is always complicated, as families discovered with Hugh Hefner’s or Johnny Cash’s.
Williams’ Napa Vineyard Estate Sold for $18 Million in 2016
Beyond the Tiburon home, Williams owned a massive estate in Napa Valley called Villa Sorriso (Villa of Smiles). This was the crown jewel of his real estate portfolio.
The property was 640 acres spanning Napa and Sonoma counties. It featured a 20,000-square-foot Italian Renaissance mansion with a bell tower, 65-foot infinity pool, home theater, working vineyard, tennis court, hiking trails, and a spring-fed fishing pond.
Williams had listed it in 2012 for $35 million, joking that “divorce is expensive” after splitting from his second wife. It didn’t sell. He relisted it in April 2014 for $29.9 million, then $25.9 million, then $22.9 million.
After his death, the trustees continued trying to sell it. The estate finally sold in January 2016 for $18.1 million to French winemakers Alfred and Melanie Tesseron. That’s nearly half off the original asking price, but it converted a high-maintenance property into liquid cash for the children’s trust.
Susan Eventually Sold the Tiburon Home in 2020 for $5.35 Million
Although Susan had the right to live in the Tiburon house for life, she chose to move on. She listed it in 2019 for $7.25 million. After price cuts, it sold in November 2020 for $5.35 million.
Selling the property terminated her life estate in that specific house. The proceeds likely went toward purchasing a replacement residence for her or were invested to generate income, with the principal remaining in trust for the kids’ eventual benefit.
The Brilliant Move: Williams Banned Use of His Image Until 2039
The most innovative part of Robin Williams’ estate plan had nothing to do with physical property. It was about protecting his image and likeness from exploitation.
Williams created a legal restriction preventing anyone from using his name, image, voice, or likeness for commercial purposes until August 11, 2039. That’s 25 years after his death.
This was strategic genius for two reasons. First, it solved the “Michael Jackson problem.” The IRS valued Michael Jackson’s image rights at over $400 million, creating a massive estate tax bill. By making Williams’ image rights unusable for 25 years, the estate could argue their current taxable value was negligible.
Second, it protected Williams from “digital necromancy.” No AI-generated Robin Williams in commercials. No holograms performing at corporate events. No deepfakes in movies. Nothing until 2039.
Zelda Williams has publicly spoken against AI recreations of her father’s voice, calling the technology disturbing. The trust restriction gives the family legal backing to shut down unauthorized uses.
Williams transferred these image rights to the Windfall Foundation, his charitable organization. The foundation is overseen by his sons Zachary (CFO) and Cody (Director) and supports causes like the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, Challenged Athletes Foundation, and Doctors Without Borders.
Unlike estates that have struggled with royalty control issues or image rights like Marilyn Monroe’s or Tupac’s, Williams locked down his likeness for a generation.
The Bottom Line on Robin Williams’ Inheritance
Robin Williams left his estimated $100 million estate primarily to his three children – Zachary, Zelda, and Cody – through a revocable living trust. The kids inherited the financial assets with staggered distributions (one-third at 21, half the remainder at 25, the rest at 30), plus the proceeds from selling his $18 million Napa estate.
His widow Susan Schneider Williams received a life estate in their Tiburon home (which she later sold in 2020 for $5.35 million), a maintenance fund to cover expenses, and specific sentimental items including wedding gifts, one bicycle, one watch, and selected clothing.
After his death in August 2014, Susan and the kids fought in court for nearly a year over the definition of “memorabilia” versus “contents of the home.” The dispute involved his 85+ watch collection, 50+ bicycles, entertainment awards (Oscar, Golden Globes, Emmys), collections of toys and fossils, and even his wedding tuxedo.
They settled in October 2015. The kids got the vast majority of assets – all the entertainment awards, almost all the watches and bikes, and the bulk of his collections. Susan kept the items with personal significance to their marriage. The children then donated the entire bicycle collection to charity, raising tens of thousands for causes Robin supported.
Williams also created an innovative legal restriction preventing commercial use of his name, image, and likeness until 2039, solving tax problems and protecting him from AI exploitation. His image rights went to the Windfall Foundation, managed by his sons.
Compared to estates that descended into decades of warfare like James Brown’s (19 years of litigation) or got stuck in probate like Michael Jackson’s (still ongoing 17 years later), Williams’ estate resolved relatively quickly.
The trust structure worked as intended. The kids were protected with staggered distributions. Susan was provided for with a life estate and maintenance fund. The charitable foundation controlled his image rights. The only problem was ambiguous language about “memorabilia” versus “contents.”
Unlike celebrities who died without estate plans like Prince or Aretha Franklin, or those with contested plans like Whitney Houston’s, Williams had sophisticated planning that mostly prevented disaster.
The year-long court battle was painful for a grieving family. But it was resolved through settlement rather than a trial. Both sides compromised. The estate stayed largely private thanks to the trust structure, unlike fully public probate cases.
Estate planning experts point to Williams’ case as both a success and a cautionary tale. The success: protecting kids with staggered distributions, providing for a spouse while preserving assets for children from previous marriages, and the brilliant 25-year image restriction. The caution: even detailed trusts need precise definitions of personal property to avoid family fights.
Like estates managing valuable intellectual property such as Agatha Christie’s, Dr. Seuss’, or Frank Sinatra’s, the Williams estate successfully balanced family needs with legacy protection. And unlike Steve Jobs who kept everything completely private, or Hugh Hefner whose estate planning created different family dynamics, Williams’ approach was uniquely tailored to his blended family and celebrity status.
The estate that seemed destined for a ugly public battle settled within a year. The kids honored their father’s philanthropic legacy by donating his bike collection. And Robin Williams’ image will be protected from commercial exploitation until 2039, exactly as he intended.
For a family that lost someone to suicide and had to navigate grief while fighting over toys and watches, they did remarkably well. The settlement allowed everyone to move forward while honoring Robin Williams’ wishes and protecting his legacy.
