Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg’s children have filed a lawsuit against his widow, Margaret Sandberg. They allege she mishandled his trust. Justin and Lindsey Sandberg claim their stepmother is attempting to shift control of the trust that manages their father’s name, image, and likeness rights to herself, her son, and the family’s financial advisor. This action, the children argue, would undermine the cooperative structure their father intended, which included both his biological children and his second wife.
The lawsuit was filed in April in Lake County Circuit Court. The Chicago Sun-Times first reported this development on Wednesday. Attorneys Norm Finkel and Adam Hirsch, representing the siblings, did not provide comments. Efforts to reach Margaret Sandberg also yielded no response.
Ryne Sandberg, affectionately known as “Ryno,” earned fame for his performance in the legendary June 23, 1984 game, hitting crucial home runs in both the ninth and tenth innings. His career included nine Gold Glove awards and seven Silver Slugger awards, leading to his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005. After retiring from playing, he also worked as a manager. Ryne died last July at 65, due to metastatic prostate cancer, which he had publicly acknowledged the year before. Though he initially went into remission, the cancer recurred and affected other organs.
Following his death, the lawsuit claims that Ryne Sandberg left explicit instructions for his widow, son, and daughter to act as equal co-trustees over his NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) rights. Sandberg’s trust document mentions his desire for any decisions about his legacy to be made collaboratively. He married Margaret Koehnemann in 1995 after divorcing his first wife, Cindy.
Despite these clear directives, the lawsuit accuses Margaret of ignoring the children’s role and refusing to sign off on documents necessary to open a new bank account for the trust. It states she has not established the trust, which goes against Ryne’s wishes. The lawsuit further claims that she introduced a note, supposedly written by Ryne less than two weeks before his death, which purportedly changes the trust to include her son and a financial advisor as trustees.
This note, a copy of which is included in the lawsuit, has “N.I.L” written at the top and “majority rules” at the bottom, with a list of five names for the new committee. However, the suit argues that the note isn’t legally binding since Ryne did not deliver it to his children as mandated by the trust. It argues that Ryne lacked the capacity to make amendments due to his declining health.
Justin and Lindsey Sandberg, who visited their father in his final weeks, noted he often appeared sedated and endured significant pain. He was admitted to hospice on July 20. The lawsuit describes an instance where Ryne reportedly screamed in pain from his driveway on the same day the contested note was supposedly written, also mentioning his noticeable memory issues before he died.
The siblings request the court to declare the note non-binding and instruct their stepmother to establish the trust as directed by Ryne Sandberg. A court hearing is set for July 31 to address the matter.
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