MALIBU : Ruling in Estate Dispute Delayed

A Ventura County Superior Court judge delayed ruling Wednesday on whether the widow of a Malibu millionaire killed last fall during a drug raid is the dead man’s legal wife.

Judge Melinda A. Johnson said she will release Monday a written decision on whether Frances Plante’s marriage in July to reclusive ranch owner Donald P. Scott was legal.

Scott, 61, was killed in October when Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies shot him twice while serving a search warrant on his Ventura County ranch. No drugs were found.

After the shooting, attorneys for Scott’s ex-wife, Karen Scott, and their three children challenged Plante’s 2 1/2-month marriage to Scott.

The lawyers argued that Plante’s July 21 marriage was not legal because state law requires that a so-called confidential marriage take place in the county that issues the marriage license. Plante and Scott were married at his Ventura County ranch. The license was issued by Los Angeles County.

Scott’s heirs hope to keep Plante from getting one-third of the rancher’s estate, estimated by its executor to be worth $5 million before stocks and bank accounts in New York and Switzerland are figured in.

Johnson also delayed a decision on Plante’s request for $4,900 a month from the estate during probate proceedings.

“No one in this estate so far has looked out for Frances Scott,” attorney Johnnie L. Cochran said. All she has gotten from executor Nicholas Gutsue, Scott’s lawyer, “is a six-pack of beer and some dog food. And this is her husband’s best friend.”

Cochran asked that Gutsue, whom he also criticized for statements to reporters about Scott’s temperament, be removed as executor or that a co-executor be appointed.

The judge said she would rule on all motions on Monday.