John Amos‘ daughter is suing her brother and people in his orbit over the death of their father for elder abuse and wrongful death.
The daughter, Shannon Amos, faults her brother, Kelly Christopher Amos, for delaying medical care while isolating the actor from his family and friends in the years leading up to his death. The lawsuit seeks a court order that, if granted, would bar K.C. Amos from inheriting from John Amos’ estate and to void the current will, plus unspecified damages.
John Amos, 84, died in 2024 of natural causes. For years, his children have been engaged in an acrimonious battle over the actor’s care and finances.
The lawsuit chronicles the last years of John Amos’ life. Around 2019, K.C. Amos started to keep his father from family and friends by shuffling him around various locations while monitoring his communications, manipulating the actor into believing that his family and friends were trying to exploit him, according to the complaint. For a three month period in 2023, all attempts by John Amos’ family to contact the actor were blocked, the lawsuit says. They were told to reach out to K.C. Amos.
On multiple occasions, John Amos was left alone in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, including in hotels filled with trash, drug paraphernalia and soiled diapers, according to the complaint. Around this time, he was treated for an infection in his feet caused by maggots — one of numerous hospitalizations, prompting a call from Adult Protective Services over his care, the filing says.
In an email to Shannon Amos, Elizabeth Bowling, a caregiver for John Amos, wrote of the actor’s living conditions, “The smell was horrid. There were no clean dishes. Mold had began to grow in the sink. Garbage bags/garbage laying where it was left. Food was left out on the counters and on the stove dried up. Counters and tables covered with gunk and what looked like marijuana and empty beer and liquor bottles around. No fresh food in the fridge.”
During this period, the lawsuit says, John Amos missed treatments for prostate cancer and other health issues while continuing to do Cameo and low budget commercial appearances at the direction of his son. The matter was later referred to adult protective services in Colorado, the lawsuit claims, though John Amos was subsequently moved to Tennessee, where K.C. Amos struck a movie deal for his father.
In August 2024, John Amos started to exhibit “obvious signs of a serious medical emergency,” the lawsuit claims. Despite this, Shannon Amos says her father’s his caregivers neglected to seek treatment for 13 hours. The actor was later brought to a hospital in Inglewood, where he died four hours after arriving.
Shannon Amos accuses her brother of hiding their father’s death, which she discovered in October when it was reported in the media. The passing was announced by K.C. Amos, who allegedly had his father cremated without telling family members, according to the complaint.
After John Amos’ death, K.C. Amos allegedly transferred substantial funds from his father to his personal bank accounts, the filing says. He later filed instated himself as sold owner of his father’s production outfit, Step and One Half Productions, securing control over the actor’s name and business interests, Shannon Amos claims. He also obtained exclusive access to John Amos’ roughly $6,300 SAG-AFTRA monthly pension and residuals while cutting the rest of the family out.
The lawsuit challenges the current will. It claims that John Amos was tricked into signing documents that benefited K.C. Amos at the expense of other family members. A previous version of the will executed in 2020 accounted for beneficiaries that K.C. Amos didn’t think was appropriate, according to the complaint, which notes that the document “disappeared” days after it was signed. Another will was executed a year later that gave K.C. Amos power of attorney.
In addition to K.C. Amos, the lawsuit names Belinda Foster, secretary for Step and One Half Productions, plus three companies formed by K.C. Amost. Two of them list Foster as a principal. One was formed in Colorado, weeks after law enforcement requested John Amos’ bank records. The other two were formed in California, roughly two months before the actor died. Shannon Amos alleges they were used to take over her father’s business interests. The legal action was filed in August in California state court.
A petition had been filed in probate court asking for an emergency court order to freeze John Amos’ estate. The legal action was later withdrawn.