The mother of an imprisoned Hollywood television producer can use $36,500 from her grandson’s estate to advance the 11-year-old’s education, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The decision by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Small allows Juanita Beresford-Redmond, mother of producer Bruce Beresford-Redmond, to enroll her grandson at St. Catherine’s Academy in Anaheim.
The woman’s son, former “Survivor” producer Bruce Beresford-Redmond, is serving a 12-year prison sentence imposed on him in March 2015 in Mexico for the death of his 41-year-old wife. He was convicted in the killing of Monica Beresford-Redmond, whose body was found in April 2010 in a sewer at the Moon Palace Hotel in Cancun, where the couple was vacationing.
Juanita Beresford-Redmond appeared in court Wednesday. She and her late husband, David Beresford Redmond, who recently died, were their grandson’s guardians.
Their grandson, a sixth grade student currently attending Dodson Middle School in Rancho Palos Verdes, has been struggling there, according to the petition David Beresford-Redmond filed before his death.
“I am extremely worried about (the boy) and believe that boarding school is the best option for him at this time,” David Beresford-Redmond stated in his court papers.
Bruce Beresford-Redmond speaks to his son from prison nearly every day and “supports the guardians and is in favor of (his son) being immediately enrolled at St. Catherine’s Academy,” David Beresford-Redmond stated in his court papers.
School representatives said they will accept the boy on Monday if payment is received before then, according to David Beresfored-Redmond’s court papers.
The overall value of the boy’s estate is more than $650,000, according to David Beresford-Redmond’s court papers.
Monica Beresford-Redmond owned the Zabumba Bar & Restaurant, a Brazilian eatery, on Venice Boulevard in Palms.