Kirk Kerkorian's ex-wife and her son from another marriage have dropped their bids to be named conservators of the 96-year-old billionaire hotelier, who they maintained was in declining health, their attorney told a judge Monday.
During a brief hearing before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas, lawyer Marshal Oldman said Lisa Bonder Kerkorian withdrew her petition Thursday and that 24-year-old Taylor Kreiss did the same on Monday.
Oldman declined to comment on his clients' change of position but said Bonder Kerkorian has also abandoned her attempt to have a guardian appointed on behalf of her ex-husband in a separate proceeding in family law court.
Attorney Margaret Lodise, who represents Kerkorian, argued in court papers that her client's ex-wife and Kreiss were using the conservatorship as a way of exerting pressure on the businessman to pay $500,000 a month in child support for Bonder Kerkorian's teenage daughter, Kira. She maintains her ex-spouse is the teen's father. Kerkorian has maintained he is not but previously agreed to pay some child support.
Bonder Kerkorian filed her conservatorship documents May 10, stating that her former husband, who has assets estimated at $2.9 billion, was under the control of his financial advisers at the Tracinda Corp. and needed intervention. She and Kreiss filed an amended petition June 4, asking that they be named joint conservators over Kerkorian.
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In court papers, lawyers for the petitioners stated that Kira Kerkorian had not had contact with the billionaire since 2008. "In the life of a 15-year-old girl, five years is almost one-third of her entire life," the petitioners' court papers state. "Kira is aware of the rapid and serious deterioration of her father's health, and this has made her anxious to see her father in case his health continues to deteriorate."
Kerkorian has not been seen in public since his birthday celebration at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel in June 2012, the petitioners' court papers stated.
Bonder Kerkorian, 47, is a former professional tennis player whose achievements included wins over the likes of Chris Evert and Mary Joe Fernandez. She and Kerkorian were married for four weeks in 1999.