Casey Kasem’s Wife: Kids’ Conduct ‘Intolerable’
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David Livingston/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — The wife of veteran radio personality Casey Kasem won a legal victory Tuesday when a California judge turned down a conservatorship request filed by Kasem’s grown children, who say their stepmother is preventing them from seeing their father.
Judge Roy Paul ruled that Kasem, 81, who has Parkinson’s disease, has received “adequate” care under the supervision of his wife, Jean, and that an urgent conservatorship is not necessary.
Kasem’s daughter, Julie Kasem, filed a petition last week for a temporary conservatorship, accusing her stepmother of blocking her and two of her siblings, Kerri Kasem and Mike Kasem, from seeing their father and making decisions about his medical care.
The three siblings, along with Kasem’s brother and friends, held a protest at the Kasem estate in Holmby Hills, Calif., earlier this month, holding signs that read “Casey, we are your voice now.”
“My father has advanced Parkinson’s to the point that he is unable to voice his opinions,” one of the children told ABC’s Los Angeles station KABC at the protest, speaking on behalf of all three siblings. ”For a man who made a living with his voice, we now have to be his voice. We are here to say, ‘Jean, let our dad see his loved ones!’”
In court documents filed before Tuesday’s hearing, Jean Kasem, a former Cheers star who has been married to the radio personality for 33 years, contested her stepchildren’s claims.
“I care for him day in and day out, and do my best to provide for his care and well-being,” Kasem wrote.
She also said that for her husband to witness the conduct of his children would be an “intolerable and an unpleasant experience for us all, including specifically [for] Casey.”
Casey Kasem, who also has a daughter with Jean, is best known for hosting the syndicated American Top 40 countdown show, which he ended with his signature sign-off ”Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.” He is also famous for voicing the character Shaggy in the Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.
His children say their fight to see their dad is not about the money he made over his long Hollywood career.
“I don’t want any of the money,” Julie Kasem told ABC News’ Nick Watt earlier this month. “She can have all of it…all of it and then some. Just give us our father.”
The judge has appointed an independent doctor to review Kasem’s medical records and to report back to the court before a Nov. 19 hearing.
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