Two years later, The Real Housewives of Potomac‘s Gizelle Bryant is one step closer to getting closure in the legal battle over her father’s will.
When Gizelle’s father, civil rights leader Curtis Graves, died in July 2023 following a brain cancer battle, some issues arose with his will (more on that below). As seen on RHOP Season 10, Episode 7, Gizelle finally jetted off to Atlanta for her day in court.
“I have been petitioning my father’s will for a couple years now,” she explained in a confessional. “I believe that his real will was destroyed by his wife. Everything that he had in his estate was going to be given to either myself or his grandchildren. I know my father would want me to do what’s right.”
As Gizelle shared in a phone call with 21-year-old daughter Grace Bryant while en route to the airport, she was beyond ready to just “get this over with.”
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On the opposing side of the case was her late father’s widow, with whom Gizelle noted she does not “have a relationship,” nor do her three daughters, Grace, Angel, and Adore.
“We’re going on, like, two years now,” Gizelle said, before referencing the legal fight’s “emotional” impact. “Pops is looking down like, ‘I know you’re trying to do the right thing.’ Whether it ends in my favor or not, I know I did what I was supposed to do. … It just needs to be over.”
Gizelle Bryant details her court hearing over her dad’s will
Though cameras weren’t allowed inside the Atlanta courtroom, Gizelle detailed what happened when 19-year-old Angel, who is a student at Georgia’s Spelman College, picked her up after the hearing ended.
Though Gizelle had previously told Grace that she expected to learn the judge’s decision that day, that ended up not being the case.
“The good news is we’re kind of winning,” Gizelle told Angel. “Because the judge could’ve, today, thrown it out and said, you know, ‘It’s over.'”
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The RHOP ‘Wife elaborated to a producer, “The judge heard both sides, and it’s a lot of information. What the judge said was, ‘I need to look at all this, and the court will, then, reach out to both attorneys and give the ruling.’ I can’t do nothin’ but wait.”
Gizelle, then, opened up to Angel about how she couldn’t “be at peace,” with the case still open.
“It’s just been years,” Angel replied. “His death was so rushed and everything, and this is just taking so long. So, it’s just, like, hard.”
Why Gizelle Bryant contested her father’s will
As a flashback from RHOP‘s Nov. 16 episode reminded viewers, Gizelle had previously unpacked her reasons for contesting her father’s will during Season 9.
“He had a will that we think somebody threw in the trash can,” she explained to her girls in the Season 9 flashback. “The last week that he was alive, supposedly he signed a will. He didn’t sign it. He didn’t have the capacity to hold a pen.”
So, Gizelle petitioned a court to invalidate that document.
“And if it’s thrown out, that means he died without a will, and that means that in the state of Georgia, his children get two-thirds of his estate,” she continued. “But in the will that’s fraudulent, we get nothing. And it’s as if you guys don’t exist, either. It’s all very painful because I don’t want to go through this. I know that he didn’t want me to have to go through this.”
She concluded in a confessional, “My dad stood on making sure that generational wealth is passed … Nothing was left to me and nothing was left to my children, my father’s grandchildren, which were probably more important to him than me.”
As you wait to find out what the judge decided, get the latest updates on Gizelle’s family life today.