Who Inherited Troy Donahue's Estate? The Legal Fight Got Messy Fast

He even headlined two hit TV shows, Surfside Six and Hawaiian Eye. But after a rapid rise to fame in the late 1950s and early '60s, Donahue's career unraveled fast, with alcohol and drug abuse pushing him into obscurity.

By the time he died of a heart attack in 2001 at age 65, his personal life had grown complicated. He'd been married four times (including to actress Suzanne Pleshette), had two children, and was living with his fiancée, opera singer Zheng Cao. And when it came time to settle his estate, things didn't exactly go smoothly.

While his known surviving relatives included his sister and two biological children — a son named Sean and a daughter named Janine — the actual legal battle over his estate didn't end there.

In 2015, fourteen years after Donahue's death, the California Court of Appeal issued a surprising ruling in Estate of Merle Johnson Jr. (Donahue's birth name). The case centered around his biological daughter Janene Curtis, who had been adopted at birth and, under California intestacy law, technically had no right to inherit from her birth father.

But here's where it gets legally messy — and precedent-setting.

The court ruled that Janene could inherit, thanks to a legal principle called equitable estoppel.

That doctrine kicks in when someone relies on promises made by another party to their own detriment — and in this case, the court-appointed executor had treated Janene as a beneficiary throughout the estate process, including in written communications.

Because Janene relied on those assurances — and because the executor either knew or should have known she wasn't a legal heir under intestacy law — the court said she was entitled to recovery anyway.

While the opinion remains unpublished (meaning it can't be cited as binding precedent in other cases), legal experts have flagged it as a valuable "roadmap" for similar future cases involving inheritance, adoption, and fiduciary responsibility. It's especially relevant in estate and trust litigation, where beneficiaries are often defined not just by blood, but by conduct.

At the time of his death, Donahue had:

• 2 biological children (Janine and Sean)
• 1 sister
• 3 grandchildren
• 1 fiancée (Zheng Cao), not legally married

Though full details of how the estate was divided remain private, the court's decision made clear that Janene Curtis — adopted or not — was legally in.