Late ESPN Host Stuart Scott's Family Running Out Of His Money Due To Nasty Legal Battle

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The family of late ESPN host Stuart Scott is pressing pause on their legal fighting due to it eating away at the money he left behind.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Scott’s ex-wife Kimberely Scott, asked the court to pause her lawsuit against Disney for 60 days.

She says Scott’s daughters, who run his trust, are currently fighting a separate lawsuit against the co-trustees of Scott’s trust. They accuse the co-trustees of wasting their father’s money and not paying them money owed.

Kimberely says, “To date there has been four days of hearings, with a total of four lawyers, and another nine days are scheduled during November and December. The legal fees and liabilities/damages caused to the Beneficiaries Trust are close to wiping out all the Trust assets unless the parties are able to resolve the issues without further litigation.

“In the present action there has been extensive settlement negotiations,” says Kimberely. She is asking for more time to attempt to settle all the legal issues without trial.

Scott’s ex-wife first sued Disney and Fidelity Workplace Services accusing them of paying the trust money owed to her. She said they handed the trust $162,899.04 that was due to her

Kimberely filed for divorce from Stuart in 2007. The ESPN host was ordered to pay his ex-wife $162,899.04 plus interest from his Disney Savings and Investment Plan 401k Account.

Stuart died on January 4, 2015 without ever complying with the divorce decree to transfer the $162k. Kimberely attempted to collect on the money after his death but was told the money was already handed out to his estate.

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The Walt Disney Company then sued the estate of Scott over the $162,000 he left behind.

Disney filed suit against The Stuart O. Scott Family Trust and the broadcaster’s ex-wife Kimberley Scott.

Disney explains at the time of Stuart’s death he had listed his family trust as the beneficiary to his retirement. They distributed his funds to his trust prior to receiving notice from Kimberely.

Disney says the estate and Kimberely have “substantive legal disputes relative to the proper ownership of the Deceased’s Plan assets.”

“The assets that were distributed to the trust have been frozen, such that neither the Trust nor Kimberely Scott has access to the assets.”

Disney feared they could inadvertently allow the wrong party to withdraw the assets. They wanted the court to figure out who the money belonged to before it

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In their lawsuit, Scott’s daughters, Taelor and Sydni Scott, sued Susan Scott and Charles Silver, the co-trustees of the Stuart O. Scott Family Trust.

Scott died in 2015 and a plan was put in place for the daughters to be the beneficiaries of his estate. They claim that when their father died all his assets went into the Trust instead of them.

Since his death, they claimed the co-trustees have failed to do their job on multiple occasions including failing to open an official estate of create inventory of all his asserts. They claim they have also charged significant fees and failed to profit off their father’s work like his book “Every Day I Fight: Making a Difference, Kicking Cancer’s Ass” or collect royalties for movies he appeared in.

The daughters claim the trustees failed to account for $800,000 in assets and instead one of the co-trustees took possession of the funds. They claim a check given to their mother by the trustees even bounced.

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Stuart Scott was honored with the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the 2014 ESPY's. He took the stage to give one of the most memorable speeches.

He spoke, "You know tomorrow, all my boys are gonna be like "yo man, I saw you at the ESPYs with Peyton Manning, Money Mayweather and KD" and I'm gonna be like "yeah, whatever". Jack Bauer saved the world and he introduced me...

24 is my favourite TV show of all time so Kiefer Sutherland, thank you very much, I am very honored.

Every day I am reminded that our life's journey is really about the people who touch us. When I first heard that I was gonna be honoured with this reward, the very first thing that I did was - I was speechless, briefly. I've presented this award before. I mean, I've watched in awe as Kay Yow and Eric LeGrand and all these other great people have graced this stage. And although intellectually, I get it. I'm a public figure, I have a public job, I'm battling cancer, hopefully I'm inspiring - at my gut level, I really didn't think that I belonged with those great people. But I listened to what Jim Valvano said 21 years ago. The most poignant seven words ever uttered in any speech anywhere. "Don't give up, don't ever give up". Those great people didn't. Coach Valvano didn't. So, to be honoured with this, I now have a responsibility to also not ever give up. I'm not special. I just listened to what the man said. I listened to all that he said, everything that he asked of us. And that's the build for the foundation. And let me tell you, man, it works. I'm talking tangible benefits. You saw me in that clinical trial. Now, here's the thing about that. Coach Valvano's words 21 years ago helping me and thousands of people like me, right now. Direct benefits. That's why all of this, why we're here tonight, that's why it's so important. I also realized something else recently. You heard me kinda allude to it in the piece. I said "I'm not losing. I'm still here, I'm fighting. I'm not losing." But I've gotta amend that. When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live.

So, live. Live. Fight like hell. And when you get too tired to fight then lay down and rest and let somebody else fight for you. That's also very, very important. I can't do this "don't give up" thing all by myself. I've got thousands of people on Twitter and on the streets who encourage me. I've got these amazingly wonderful people at ESPN. I've got corporate executives - my bosses, this is true - who would text message me. They said "hey, I heard you had chemotherapy today, you want me to stop by on the way home from work and pick you up something to eat and bring it to you?" Seriously? Who does that? Whose boss does that? My bosses do that.

But even with all that the fight is still much more difficult than I even realized. What you didn't see in the piece is what's gone on probably the last ten days. I just got out of the hospital this past Friday. Seven day stay. Man, I crashed. I had liver complications. I had kidney failure. I had four surgeries in a span of seven days. I had tubes and wires running in and out of every part of my body. Guys, when I say every part of my body: every part of my body. As of Sunday, I didn't even know if I'd make it here. I couldn't fight. But doctors and nurses could. The people that I love and my friends and family - they could fight. My girlfriend, who slept on a very uncomfortable hospital cot by my side every night, she could fight. The people that I love did last week what they always do. They visited, they talked to me, they listened to me, they sat silent sometimes, they loved me. And that's another one of the components of the BeFoundation. This whole fight, this journey thing, is not a solo venture. This is something that requires support.

I called my big sister Susan a few days ago. Why? I needed to cry. It was that simple. And I know that I can call her, I can call my other sister Synthia, my brother Stephen, my mom and dad, and I can just cry. And those things are very important.

I have one more necessity. Eh, it's really two. Two very vibrant, intelligent, beautiful young ladies. The best thing I have ever done, the best thing I will ever do, is be a dad to Taelor and Sydni. It's true. I can't ever give up because I can't leave my daughters. Yes, sometimes I embarrass them. Sometimes, they think I'm a tyrant. That's a direct quote. There is an adjective that describes tyrant too, but I'm not gonna go there. But Taelor and Sydni, I love you guys more than I will ever be able to express. You two are my heartbeat. I am standing on this stage here tonight because of you.

My oldest daughter, Taelor, I wanted her to be here, but college sophomore, summer school, second semester's starting this week. Baby girl, I love you, but you go do you. You go do that. My littlest angel is here. My fourteen year old. Sydni, come up here and give dad a hug, because I need one.

I want to say thank you ESPN, thank you ESPYs, thank all of you. Have a great rest of your night and have a great rest of your life."