Jay Leno Files for Guardianship of His Wife’s Estate Due to Dementia

Comedian Jay Leno filed a conservatorship over the estate of his wife of 43 years, Mavis Leno, in California on Friday after she was diagnosed dementiaaccording to court documents.

The petition, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and obtained by “Entertainment Tonight,” said Mavis, 77, “has been progressively losing ability and orientation in space and time for several years,” and her “Current condition makes her incapable of executing the estate plan.”

Court documents said Leno “has always managed the couple’s finances during” their marriage, and is seeking to create a trust for their joint estate that would “ensure that Mavis has managed sufficient assets to cover her care” in the event that he died early. that she

Leno’s estate plan will also include Mavis’ brother, who is “his only living heir other than Jay.” The couple does not have children.

It is unclear when he was first diagnosed. A medical report included in court documents, dated Nov. 28, 2023, describes Mavis’ dementia diagnosis and her symptoms. The doctor wrote that “in my professional opinion, due to her condition, Mavis is unable to meaningfully participate in the hearing on the Petition to Appoint a Conservator of Estate nor would she understand the nature, force or effect of the hearing if she were to attend.” . “.

The doctor also checked a box in the report that said Mavis “lacks the capacity to give informed consent to any form of medical treatment.”

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 9. “Entertainment Tonight” has reached out to Leno for comment. CBS News has reached out to Leo’s representation for comment.

Mavis Leno was a long time board member of the non-profit organization Feminist Majority Foundationa national women’s rights organization, and president of the group’s Campaign for Afghan Women and Girls.

Leno himself, 73, has had multiple health problems in recent years. In November 2022, the former host of “The Tonight Show” suffered serious burns from a gasoline fire while working in his vintage car garage in Burbank. Then, just two months later, broke several bones in a motorcycle accident.

Leno hosted “The Tonight Show” from 1992 to 2009, and then again from 2010 to 2014, after a brief stint in between by comedian Conan O’Brien, who was controversially fired due to poor ratings.

in a interview 2014 With “60 Minutes,” on the eve of Leno’s second departure from the show, Mavis came to her husband’s defense.

“It made me angry, because there was a perception that, for some reason, Jay had decided to leave the show,” Mavis told ’60 Minutes.’ “It was like he gave the program to Conan and then took it away from him. That’s not what happened, okay?”