Coluche left 6.1 million francs of debt in 1986, his ex-wife refused the estate, and his sons spent 28 years suing over his sketches

Michel Colucci, known as Coluche, died at 41 on 19 June 1986 when his Honda motorcycle hit a truck on the road near Opio. A 2006 book alleges he was murdered, and the official finding was an accident. He had launched the food appeal that became the Restos du Coeur on Europe 1 in September 1985. He left about 6.1 million francs in debt. His ex-wife Veronique, divorced from him in 1981, refused the succession on behalf of the estate and sold the rights to his best-known sketches to his former agent Paul Lederman for 1.5 million francs^†. In 1991 his sons Romain and Marius sued Lederman, accusing him of misappropriating the rights and falsifying documents. Wikipedia reports they prevailed in 2019, after 28 years^†. Veronique ran the Restos du Coeur until her death in 2018. In 1988 France passed the "Loi Coluche," which raised tax deductions for donations to aid groups. The charity reports about 40,000 volunteers^†.