This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The daughter of late evangelist Rosemary "Mama" Cosby has reignited a fight over her mother's estate with a one-two punch.
In January, Rosalind Cazares filed a new lawsuit in 3rd District Court accusing her stepfather of mishandling the estate's assets and conspiring to deprive her of her share of her mother's fortune.
And on Wednesday, she filed a petition in a 1997 lawsuit asking a judge to order Robert C. Cosby - who is her stepfather and Mama Cosby's widower - to pay the costs associated with his administration of the estate. Cazares also wants an accounting of money flowing in and out of the estate.
Cazares says Cosby has not protected the assets her mother left behind.
"This includes the failure to identify and account for the articles of personal property that were given away, sold, destroyed or otherwise not preserved by defendant Cosby while he was acting as personal representative of the estate," her lawyer, Edward McBride Jr., said in the newest suit, which was filed Jan. 30 and is seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Cosby could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Mama Cosby, founder of Faith Temple Pentecostal Church in Salt Lake City, died from a heart attack in January 1997, leaving behind a multimillion-dollar financial empire. Her husband and Cazares, one of her four children, were appointed personal representatives of the estate.
Cazares alleged assets were fraudulently diverted after her mother's death. A 3rd District jury awarded the estate $1.2 million in damages and ordered Robert Cosby and Annie Johnson, business manager of Faith Temple, to pay the money to Cazares.
The jury's partial support for Cazares' allegations that Mama Cosby's signature was forged on various deeds and mortgages prior to her death helped fuel the fight over possible redivision of the estate.
Cazares claims in both the 1997 and 2007 legal actions that Cosby was assisted in committing fraud by attorneys he hired while serving as the estate's personal representative. She has asked the Utah State Bar to investigate.
Background:
Obeying what she believed was God's call, Mama Cosby came to Utah from Indianapolis in 1961 to preach. She started meetings in her home before founding Faith Temple in 1968.
She married Robert Cosby, a man 20 years her junior, in 1975. Mama Cosby's and Faith Temple's financial empire eventually included a restaurant, day care, a radio station and other businesses in Utah and Indiana.
After Mama Cosby's death, the 400 members of Faith Temple split over Robert Cosby's leadership and business practices. Half stayed with him and half were led by her daughter, Rosalind Cazares.