Tenisha Warner is seeking more than $1.2 million from her late husband Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s estate, claiming he failed to fulfill financial obligations outlined in their prenuptial agreement signed days before their May 2022 wedding, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Warner, 48, filed a lawsuit alleging the actor breached multiple provisions of their agreement, including failing to secure $1 million life insurance policies on each of their lives, pay her a $5,000 monthly salary as his chief of staff, and provide $16,000 annual anniversary payments.
This comes one year after the The Cosby Show actor died following an accidental drowning during a family trip to Costa Rica in July 2025.
According to the complaint, Malcolm-Jamal Warner also failed to fund a tax-free retirement account for his wife and maintain college funds for their children.
The lawsuit seeks to block Pamela Warner from distributing property from a California-based family trust while the dispute is litigated, the Atlanta Journal Constitution said. Tenisha Warner claims the trust property is liable for her husband’s debt to her and that the actor’s estate is unrepresented and will be inadequate to satisfy his obligations under the agreement.
“Plaintiff performed all obligations required of her under the agreement, including entering into and remaining in the marriage until the decedent’s death,” the lawsuit states. “The 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.”
The prenuptial agreement indicates Malcolm-Jamal Warner had annual earnings of approximately $680,000 and a net worth of around $3.4 million at the time of marriage. Tenisha Warner, formerly Tenisha Hancock, was an unemployed graduate student pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology with a net worth of $0. She was pregnant with the couple’s second child.
The agreement states the couple had been dating for about five years and living together at Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s properties in Atlanta and Los Angeles. They had a daughter in May 2017.
Tenisha Warner claims she is owed at least $1,276,042 plus interest and attorney fees. She simultaneously filed a creditor’s claim in DeKalb County Probate Court against Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s estate seeking the same amount. Records show the couple were living in DeKalb County at the time of his death.
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Megan Sims; cleveland.com; (TNS) || ©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit cleveland.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
