Late Painter Kinkade's Girlfriend Paying $11K Mansion Rent

LOS GATOS (CBS / AP) -- Thomas Kinkade's girlfriend is agreeing to pay $11,000 a month to rent the Bay Area mansion where she had lived with the late artist, but his paintings and possessions remain the focus of a bitter estate fight.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that Kinkade's widow, Nanette, sought permission Monday from a probate judge to remove all the furniture and art from the 6,000-square-foot home.

Kinkade's girlfriend, Amy Pinto, claims the popular painter wrote two hand-written notes before his April death from an alcohol and prescription drug overdose that bequeathed her both the house and $10 million to establish a museum of his work on the property.

Judge Thomas Cain told the two women to come back to court on Dec. 3 with a list of items to which they feel entitled.

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