Court Told Gary Coleman Can Manage His Estate

Lawyers for actor Gary Coleman, the former pint-sized co-star of TV’s “Diff’rent Strokes,” argued in court papers Wednesday that Coleman can manage his multimillion-dollar estate and is in good health.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Martha Goldin, meanwhile, continued a hearing that had been requested by the actor’s mother, Edmonia Sue Coleman. The latter is asking the court to appoint conservators to care for her son and manage his finances.

Coleman argued in her petition that her son’s prolonged kidney problems have had a debilitating effect on him and that he is no longer able to manage his own estate, which includes about $6 million in personal property and an annual gross income of $750,000 from that property.

But in court papers filed in opposition to the petition, attorney Barry Mallen said, “Edmonia Sue Coleman’s petition is no more than an attempt . . . to wrest control of Gary Coleman’s personal and financial affairs away from him as a defensive tactic in connection with a civil lawsuit brought by Gary Coleman against W.G. Coleman and Edmonia Sue Coleman, his former personal managers and his former business managers.”

Goldin said she wanted to give court-appointed attorney Arne Lindgren a chance to talk to the 21-year-old actor and his doctors before the judge decides if there is a basis to proceed with a conservator hearing or jury trial.