Tenisha Warner, the widow of โThe Cosby Showโ star Malcolm-Jamal Warner, is suing the late actorโs mother for breach of contract involving the coupleโs prenuptial agreement.
NBC News obtained a copy of the complaint, confirming Tenisha Warner filed the lawsuit on July 20 in the Superior Court of Dekalb County in Georgia. The complaint names mother-in-law Pamela Warner as one of the defendants as she is the successor trustee of the Warner Family Trust. Tenisha Warner alleges in the suit that she and Malcolm-Jamal Warner โ who shared a 9-year-old daughter โ married on May 23, 2022, and signed a premarital agreement eight days prior. The lawsuit says Malcolm-Jamal Warner did not fulfill the obligations in the prenup.
Tenisha Warner claims that her late husband โagreed to purchase and maintain a term life insurance policy on his life in the amount of $1,000,000,โ with her as the โsole beneficiary.โ
But she alleges that the deceased never purchased the life insurance policy for himself or one for her despite the agreement. The complaint also states that Malcom-Jamal Warner agreed to pay his wife $16,000 a year on their anniversary, create a retirement account and pay her a salary of $5,000 per month as his โchief of staffโ but failed to do so.
The complaint claims that Tenisha Warner is owed โno less than $1,276,042.46,โ plus interest and attorneyโs fees and cost.
โPlaintiff performed all obligations required of her under the Agreement, including entering into and remaining in the marriage until the Decedentโs death,โ the complaint reads. โThe Decedent died without having satisfied his obligations under the Agreement, and no person or entity has paid or provided the sums due to Plaintiff under the Agreement.โ
Pamela Warner has been the successor trustee of the Warner Family Trust since Oct. 7, 1996, the document states. The document also lists a โJohn Doeโ as the second defendant because a personal representative has not been named for Malcom-Jamal Warnerโs estate.
Additionally, according to the complaint, Tenisha Warner is requesting Pamela Warner, as successor trustee, be prevented from โdistributing, transferring, encumbering, or dissipatingโ trust property.
โFor the last year, I have attempted to privately settle my beloved husbandโs complicated estate and honor his last wishes,โ Tenisha Warner said in a statement to People. โMalcolm had every intention to provide for our 9-year-old daughter and me. He was close to finalizing a new estate plan to replace the stale plan created in 1996 when he was 26 years old, 20 years before we met and well before we gave birth to our beautiful daughter.โ
Tenisha Warner added that her late husband was โunable to do so before we lost him.โ
โI have been struggling to care for our daughter as a single mom and now as her sole provider,โ she continued. โLegally, I had no choice but to take action to protect our rights before any potential statute of limitations expired. We thank you for your support, love and understanding as we work through this painful process while honoring Malcolmโs life on the first anniversary of his death.โ
Reps for Tenisha Warner, Pamela Warner and Malcolm-Jamal Warnerโs estate did not immediately return TODAY.comโs request for comment.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, best known for playing Theo Huxtable as a child star at the start of his decades-long career, died exactly one year before the suit on July 20, 2025, from an accidental drowning in Costa Rica. He was 54.
A representative of Costa Ricaโs Judicial Investigation Agency shared a report at the time that said Malcolm-Jamal Warner was swimming at Playa Grande de Cocles when he โapparently was dragged by a current offshore.โ
He was rescued and taken to shore where the Costa Rican Red Cross tried to revive him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
On the anniversary of his death, Pamela Warner penned a letter to her son that was uploaded to his โliving legacyโ Instagram page.
The message included childhood photos of the โMalcolm & Eddieโ star and said, in part, โAs I look back, I have no regrets. Perhaps a little more time. Perhaps one more chance to cook his favorite meals, have one last good conversation, one last good deep belly laugh, the kind that produces those tears of pure joy, one last kiss, one last hug.โ
She added, โOne of the graces in all of this is that we had had healing conversations a few weeks before. We did not know that these were really good-bye conversations. There was nothing left unsaid between us. There was nothing โleft on the table.โ And I believe that this is why I have been able to be at peace with Malcolmโs transition. I knew beyond a doubt that he loved me and more importantly trusted me. And he knew that I would love him forever and a day.โ
Pamela Warner also said that in the past year she has โdiscovered how cruel, evil and greedy a human can be.โ