'Survivor' Producer's Parents, Slain Wife's Family Reach Tentative Assets Agreement

A tentative agreement has been reached between murder suspect Bruce Beresford-Redman's parents and his slain wife's sisters to have a neutral third party help decide how to allocate her assets, according to the couple's attorney.

Adrienne Hahn, who represents David and Juanita Beresford-Redman, said after a probate court hearing Monday that an independent administrator will be selected by the parties to help decide who is entitled to property left by Monica Beresford-Redman.

The West Los Angeles restaurant owner's body was found in a sewer at the Moon Palace Hotel in Cancun, Mexico, where she and her husband, a former Rancho Palos Verdes resident, were vacationing in April 2010.

Although the cost for the administrator's services will be paid for by the deceased woman's estate, by choosing this solution more money will be saved overall, Hahn said.

Bruce Beresford-Redman remains in custody in Los Angeles while the former "Survivor" producer's lawyers challenge a federal judge's order to extradite him to Mexico to face charges in his wife's slaying.

The property resolution was reached in the middle of an ongoing legal battle between his parents and late wife's siblings, Jeane Burgos and Carla Van Bastelaar, concerning which of two wills actually reflected their sister's wishes.

Burgos and Van Bastelaar maintain a 2004 will is the one that Judge Mitchell Beckloff should follow to determine how their sibling's property should be distributed. However, in a June 2010 probate court hearing before he was taken into federal custody, Bruce Beresford-Redman testified that he and his wife signed a 2008 document before going to Australia that superseded the earlier one.

Unlike the older document, the 2008 will would have given David and Juanita Beresford-Redman title to a home their son and his late wife owned in Gardena and would have eliminated Burgos as a backup executor to her former brother-in-law.

The marriage produced two children, Alec, 4, and Camila, 7, whose paternal grandparents were named their permanent guardians in a settlement with Van Bastelaar reached last November. The couple live with the boy and girl at the Gardena home because their son's former home in Rancho Palos Verdes was sold, Hahn said.

The sisters still see the children under a recently modified visitation schedule, Hahn said. However, another court hearing is scheduled in April concerning whether the grandparents should remain the permanent guardians, or be replaced by Van Bastelaar and Burgos.