Aaron Hernandez’s Fiancée Accused of Improperly Handling Trust Fund Intended For 10-Year-Old Daughter

Following the death of NFL player Aaron Hernandez, his fiancée Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez is being questioned for how she is using the trust fund intended to support their shared 10-year-old daughter, Avielle.

Hernandez, who formerly played for the New England Patriots, was arrested in 2013 for the murder of Odin Lloyd, a man dating his fiancée’s sister. While awaiting trial, he was also charged in connection with the fatal drive-by shootings of Daniel Jorge Correia de Abreu and Safiro Teixeira Furtado.

After being found guilty of murdering Lloyd, the NFL player was sentenced to life in prison. However, authorities found him dead by suicide in his prison cell in 2017. Prior to his death, he set up a trust fund for his daughter Avielle, who he shared with Jenkins-Hernandez. As of 2023, the trust fund’s legal team is accusing the mother of mishandling the funds.

“Large amounts of money are spent under each category of the Accountings, with little clear identification of how these disbursements benefit Avielle,” the court documents explain. “The Trustee understands that providing for Avielle includes expenses related to her household, but the expenditures from her late father’s NFL pension and Social Security benefits merit investigation for their reasonableness, if not correctness.”

The trustee, attorney David Schwartz, continued in the filing to cite examples of misspending, which included $17,000 in clothing, $10,000 in both entertainment expenses and online shopping, thousands in “self-care” costs, and $12,000 spent at HomeGoods.

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Jenkins-Hernandez argues that the trustee’s attorney is keeping the daughter from pursuing the hobby

The two parties initially began to scuffle when Jenkins-Hernandez asked for $10,000 from the trust to cover the cost of Avielle’s competitive dance lessons, to which Schwartz denied this request. The attorney argued that since $150,000 in funds was issued to Jenkins-Hernandez each year to cover Avielle’s daily expenses, this was an unnecessary use of the fund. Additionally, the trustee’s legal team requested the mother be removed as the 10-year-old’s conservator.

Following this incident, the NFL player’s fiancée made an appeal to remove Schwartz as the attorney from the trust, alleging that he is preventing Avielle from pursuing her hobby.

“There is every reason to question whether and how the Conservator is applying the significant resources that should be available to pay for Avielle’s daily needs, including dance lessons, especially since all of her basic housing security and educational expenses are paid from the Trust,” Schwartz’s legal team countered.

mattsinclair