Going have to wait a little longer to get to court.
A Nashville judge granted a request from Bryan Seaver, nephew of Dolly Parton, to delay a hearing that had been set in the lawsuit filed against him by his late aunt’s estate.
In case you aren’t familiar with the ongoing lawsuit, it all started when Dolly’s longtime manager Danny Nozell, who also runs She’s Alive LLC, the company overseeing Dolly’s estate, terminated Seaver and his company as head of security for the estate.
Seaver, as you may recall, was the family member who announced Dolly’s death in a video posted on her social media back on August 25:
She’s Alive LLC then filed a lawsuit against Dolly’s nephew, requesting a temporary restraining order and accusing him of engaging in a “campaign of threats” and intimidation against the estate:
“Mr. Seaver began his campaign of threats, intimidation, and coercion a few weeks prior to Ms. Parton’s passing…. In writing, he vowed to ‘destroy the entire brand’ and also told her entertainment attorney: ‘I’m not an entertainment person. I’m a killer.’”
In text messages filed with the lawsuit, Seaver threatened to “destroy the entire brand,” while claiming that the “Dollywood brand is dying” and threatening to take his story to Billboard Magazine:
“I’m going to spend the next time I have on earth ratf**king anyone that has ever betrayed my family.”
And he also threatened to go public in another text message:
“I’m going to set up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly’s brand partnerships and telling the violations these people have done on us. It’s going to be great. Or f**king pay me.”
He also emphasized his military service and career as a contractor in a September 3, 2026 email to Dolly’s longtime attorney:
“I’m not an entertainment person. I’m a killer. I sold 27 million $ worth of ammunition and arms to the Haitian Police on the day Dolly died. Entertainment is not my game. I have spent my entire career breaking things and spying on African and Arab leaders. And protecting Dolly.”
He ends the email by requesting a conversation with the attorney:
“I would appreciate having a dialogue and communication route with you. I expect you know where all the bodies are buried same as me. Let’s have dinner…”
For his part, Seaver released a statement to TMZ, Seaver standing by most of his comments, claiming that the text messages were taken out of context:
“I am a career soldier and military contractor and do conduct arms deals for foreign governments. I am a security professional and I am a killer. However, nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the comments I stand by.
I was talking frankly in a private way with Danny who I thought was my friend and he fancies himself a gangster. A lot of these messages are two guys having rage talk and crying on the phone together while we were grieving.”
And he even says that Dolly always jokingly referred to as “her killer.”
“Dolly called me her killer. It was a joke we used around her camp. I was her ‘baby boy ninja’ and Danny Nozell took that text out of context to somehow imagine that I was threatening him. He’s always called me The Killer.”
Davidson County Chancery Court judge I’Ashea Myles granted the estate a temporary restraining order, prohibiting Seaver and his company from interfering with Dolly’s estate, entering estate property, or coming within 1,000 feet of the estate’s employees.
A hearing on the restraining order had previously been set for October 9 in Nashville. But Seaver filed a motion last week requesting that the hearing be postponed for 10 days to give him more time to secure legal counsel to represent him in the lawsuit.
In the motion, which was filed pro se (which means he’s representing himself), Seaver says that he immediately began searching for an attorney when the lawsuit was filed, but that his preferred counsel wasn’t available to meet with him until October 5, which doesn’t give him enough time to find an attorney and prepare for the hearing on October 9. He also said that he had no objection to the restraining order remaining in effect until the rescheduled hearing date.
Attorneys for the estate, though, opposed to request, and blamed Seaver for the delay, claiming that he’s not prepared for the hearing because he refused to accept service of the lawsuit when it was filed – and they say he even put up caution tape and barbed wire on his porch to prevent process servers from serving him with the complaint.
They also weren’t buying that he wasn’t able to find an attorney, pointing to emails from August in which he took issue with security at Dolly’s new Songteller Hotel and threatened legal action:
“If you think my harsh language is too much for you or your failing vendors to digest, just wait until my lawyers start f—ing you up the a–.”
Ultimately though, the judge sided with Seaver and rescheduled the hearing for October 20. In her order, Myers cited the estate’s delay in paying the required bond for the restraining order:
“This Court entered its Order Granting the Application for Restraining Order on September 23, 2026. However, the bond was not paid until September 29, 2026. Therefore, the Order did not become effective until September 29, 2026. The summonses in this matter were returned to the Court on October 1, 2026, and Defendant Bryan Seaver filed his Motion for Continuance, individually, on October 2, 2026.”
She also pointed out that while Seaver would be allowed to represent himself, his security company that is also listed as a defendant could not: Tennessee law does not allow a corporation to represent itself in a lawsuit and must retain a lawyer.
It seems like Seaver was able to meet with his preferred lawyer and lock down counsel though: This afternoon attorney Nick Leonardo, a former judge and an experienced and well-respected attorney in Nashville, entered an appearance on behalf of Seaver and his security company in the case.
The restraining order against Seaver and his company will remain in effect until the rescheduled hearing, with Seaver’s response to the complaint due on October 13 and the estate’s reply, if any, is due on October 16.
We’ll be sure to keep you updated as the case moves through court.
