A Texas grandmother’s safe-deposit box sparked a family dispute following her death in 2019. (Representational image)
A Texas woman’s decision to share access to her bank safe-deposit box with her niece led to a family dispute involving claims of $400,000 in cash, an eight-carat diamond ring and gold coins. Kezhaya’s grandson, Nathanial Reggish, maintained that it contained $16,000, a family Bible and a few other belongings. In January 2019, after developing health problems, she prepared a will appointing her grandson Reggish, Valana’s son, to manage her estate. They reached an agreement on how the estate would be divided, and the court approved it in March 2021. The settlement included the $16,000 that Reggish had reported finding in the bank box.
But one of Kezhaya’s daughters told the court that she had seen a much larger amount of cash, along with valuable jewellery and gold coins. Lexus and Valana were the only beneficiaries named in the will, according to testimony presented during the trial. At the centre of the case was a question that remained unresolved even after years of legal proceedings: what was actually inside the bank box? Kezhaya had four children Jerry, Lexus, Valana and Tommy. The following day, Reggish visited the bank with his mother, Valana. They opened the safe-deposit box and took away its contents. Lexus had been asked to come along but stayed outside the bank. Since the removal was not recorded on video, the court later had to rely on accounts given by family members. Meanwhile, Kezhaya’s children were settling the inheritance. Reggish himself received no share of the estate.
The disagreement began after Joyce Kezhaya died in August 2019, when her grandson emptied the box and reported finding only $16,000, according to the details of the case available on Justia . Her niece later took him to court and won nearly $797,000 in damages. Reggish applied to become her temporary guardian, a request the court approved on August 7, 2019.
Her condition worsened later that year, and she was admitted to hospital in July. Kezhaya died later that day. However, on Tuesday, a Texas appeals court overturned the award, ruling that she had failed to make her claim through the required process before her aunt’s estate was settled.