Following the death of legendary Tejano music star-maker Johnny Canales, his widow Nora Canales is embroiled in a legal battle with Sylvia Castillo, a woman who claims to have been married to Canales in 1980 and is contesting the will that names Nora as the sole heir.
Johnny Canales , the legendary Tejano music star-maker, died last June and left a will. Any person, especially a public figure like him who spent his professional life in front of cameras and microphones, would’ve done the same. After his death, his widow Nora Canales — who was married to him for almost 30 years and had two daughters with him — believed she faced a routine legal matter in having his will probated. A will in which she’s named.
It was supposed to be all standard and non-controversial until a woman came out of nowhere to say she was married to Johnny Canales in 1980 and was never divorced from him. Sylvia Castillo alleges their marriage wasn’t annulled either, thus making her the surviving spouse and legal heir. Castillo subsequently filed a separate lawsuit against Nora Canales in a Nueces County district court saying she’s entitled to inherit her community property share of Johnny Canales’ estate. “That was obviously a shock to everybody involved,” said Nora Canales’ attorney Jeffrey Lehrman of the ALBM Law Firm in Corpus Christi. Castillo’s attorney Steve Lopez, also of Corpus Christi, filed a temporary injunction asking the probate court not to allow Nora Canales to “touch any financial assets, freeze all bank accounts and prevent her from spending any money, even to hire lawyers,” Lehrman said. “It was the most overbroad, extreme restraining order I’ve ever seen,” he said. When Nora Canales appeared on my podcast “!Nosotros!” last week, she didn’t comment on the proceedings, referring all questions to Lehrman. But she was visibly rattled by what’s going on and what it might mean for her and her daughters — Miroslava, 24, and Seleste, 25, who go by Emvyy-N-Zee Canales in a song, “Lo De Nosotros,” they recorded with their parents. Johnny Canales sings with his daughters. The Spanish-language title translates into “About Us.” It begins with Nora Canales’ voice, telling listeners that she and Johnny Canales made education a priority for both their daughters. Music follows. Then, in a noticeably weakened voice, Canales opens with slogans he made famous on “El Show de Johnny Canales:” “You got it” and “Take it away.” It’s how he launched the careers of so many Tejano music stars, including the late Selena Quintanilla Perez, who was 13 when she first appeared on his show. A documentary about Selena premiers Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival. Canales’ daughters hope to launch their own music careers, but at the moment have regular day jobs. They’re both graduates of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. That’s an educational message Nora Canales often repeats. It was a central note they both hit with their daughters. “Obviously, her family is devastated by what happened for many reasons,” Lehrman said of the legal fight. The court lifted the injunction. The court also appointed a temporary administrator over the Canales estate. He wouldn’t say what the estate is worth. I haven’t been able to speak with Castillo’s attorney, but KRIS 6 News reported that the Virginia resident seeks “monetary relief of $250,000 or less and nonmonetary relief.” The news report included a copy of their marriage certificate and a statement from Lopez that said, “We understand that this may be surprising to Mr. Canales’ fans — but the folks who knew Mr. Canales best always knew about his marriage to Ms. Castillo.”Lehrman said he’s focused on dispelling the notion the marriage is “still in existence” and “not valid legally.” He said Castillo was married several times after her marriage to Canales, begging the question of how she could assert still being legally married to Johnny Canales after her subsequent marriages, he said. Here’s the crux of the case: In his will, Johnny Canales named Nora Canales as his wife. In the early 1990s, when I first interviewed Johnny Canales, he was living in Corpus Christi and was unmarried as far as his fans could tell. In 1995, he married Nora Canales. They met in a nightclub, and Nora shared their meet cute on my podcast with her daughter Emvyy present. It’s hilarious. For the last 30 years, Johnny and Nora Canales led a very public life in Corpus Christi. They appeared in public together and were co-hosts on TV and radio together. Lehrman will be in a Nueces County court in March to fight what he calls “a lawyer-driven money grab by Sylvia Castillo and her legal team” — 44 years after her alleged marriage, and after Johnny Canales’ death. “So, he couldn’t challenge it himself,” Lehrman said. “It was done very strategically,” he said. “It’s just very obvious to me and to the public what’s going on, and they clearly think that the estate has significant value, and that they can somehow tap into that. “It’s an injustice,” he said. It’s also a telenovel
Johnny Canales Tejano Music Legal Battle Will Inheritance Sylvia Castillo Nora Canales
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