Wando's ex-wife is now fighting for his estate.

Minas 247 - Psychologist Renata Vasconcelos, 41, a resident of Belo Horizonte, is currently torn between the emotion of losing her ex-husband and the fight for recognition of their seven-year union. He lived in a stable relationship with singer Vanderley Alves dos Reis, known as Wando, who died on February 8th.

The singer did not leave a will, and several rounds are expected in the fight over his assets, mostly real estate. Renata was appointed by the Minas Gerais court as the executor of the estate left by the singer, but there is no agreement among the heirs. Wando's children from his previous marriage, who live in Rio, were the first to file a lawsuit in the Rio court, claiming the estate.

Read the good report by Gustavo Werneck, published in the newspaper State of Minas:

Wando's widow is trying to prove a seven-year common-law marriage with the singer.

Tears still well up in her eyes, her mouth trembles slightly, and words stumble over emotion. But her heart is more at peace, though prepared for the struggle. Almost three months after the death of singer and songwriter Wando, psychologist Renata Vasconcelos, 41, now has the mission of proving in court that she was his wife for seven years. A month ago, Renata, a resident of the Buritis neighborhood in the western region of Belo Horizonte, requested proof of a stable union with the Minas Gerais artist, whose real name was Vanderley Alves dos Reis and who died on February 8th from cardiorespiratory complications. “I'm doing this for moral and symbolic reasons, to preserve Wando's memory,” says the mother of 5-year-old Maria Sabrina, the daughter of her relationship with the author of hits like "Fogo e Paixão," "Moça," and "O importante é ser fevereiro." During the interview, she spoke about the legal issues, her love for Wando, her daughter, her work, and those enchanting times.

Wando left no will, and there was no agreement among the heirs, explains Renata, in the spacious living room of her parents' residence in the São Bento neighborhood, in the South-Central region. Last week, she was confirmed by the Minas Gerais court as the executor of the estate left by the singer, then 66 years old. Without knowing the total value of the estate, only that most of it is related to real estate, the psychologist says that the children from the artist's previous marriage, residing in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), first filed a lawsuit in the court in the state capital, requesting to be the executor of the estate. "This right was denied by the judge. They wanted only Maria Sabrina to be declared an heir, as if I were nobody in this story," she states indignantly. As always happens in celebrity estates, several rounds of dispute over the artist's assets are to be expected.

A phrase uttered by one of the heirs weighed heavily on Renata's decision to request proof of a stable union. “Shortly after the funeral, he said I wasn't Wando's wife. I listened to that in silence and was morally wounded,” says Renata, who at this moment can't hold back her tears. “I know the situation wouldn't be easy after Wando's death. I'm not ambitious, nothing scares me. Now, whoever wants to claim their rights should seek a lawyer. Everyone can have their own. The rental income from the apartments and offices that belonged to him is being deposited in court; no one can receive anything for now.”

Besides Maria Sabrina, the singer left behind his children Vanderlei Júnior and Gabrielle Burcci, from a previous marriage, and an 11-year-old granddaughter, daughter of Marco Antônio, from Maranhão, who is deceased. A supposed daughter who lives in Germany is not included in the estate, since she never took a DNA test to prove paternity, clarifies the psychologist.

Renata's smile returns as she talks about the singer she was going to marry in a civil and religious ceremony on September 1st – the ceremony would be officiated by Father Jefferson Moreira Lima, from the Ecumenical Catholic Church of Brazil. “My goal was to have a wedding party like the one I had for my 21st birthday, right here in this house, with a tent set up on the sports court. Back then, Wando sang, and he was going to do it again,” says Renata, who was called “Vida” by the artist. Another joy is talking about Maria Sabrina, who has two cousins ​​the same age and shows herself to be a very confident girl. “At school, she loves to sing and go on stage. She's in ballet class,” says Renata, opening a book with photos of happier days, like a family trip to Disneyland in the United States.

The love story of Wando and Renata, a couple with a 25-year age difference, began when she was 19, in 1991. During a weekend with her family in Rio – “we always went, we rarely stayed in Belo Horizonte” – the young woman went to one of the singer's shows, at the insistence of her younger sister. “It was Tenda dos Prazeres, at Caneção. I fell in love with him; he was a first-rate artist on stage.” From then on, the young woman learned all the songs in the singer's repertoire and bought several LPs.

Some time later, Wando came to perform at the Palácio das Artes in Belo Horizonte, with no assigned seating, and Renata, by a twist of fate, ended up sitting right in front: “It was pure luck. There was only one very long line. Suddenly, the doorman divided it in two, and I was the first in the other line.” Wando immediately noticed the girl who knew all the songs by heart and invited her, at the end of the show, to go backstage with his sister and mother. Later, they dated and broke up, until Renata went to college and married a lawyer, who died in an accident in 2005. “He was an excellent, lovely person, but Wando was different, he had that artist's soul,” she summarizes.

Widowed, Renata reunited with Wando and they decided to live together. “Our relationship lacked nothing. He was romantic, funny, delicate, elegant, vigorous, a good father, a good son-in-law, and very sensual. He had no flaws. He had a special way of looking at us. In fact, just looking at him filled me up,” says Renata, now involved in her professional life, divided between work at a hospital, a psychology clinic, and a hemodialysis center. With good humor and elegance, Renata recounts that, when she was very young, she went through a phase of throwing panties on stage, a ritual at her future husband's shows. “Once, my mother returned from Europe and gave us some French panties as a gift.”

Wando's heart stopped beating in the early morning of February 8th. He suffered cardiac arrest at 6:40 AM and, despite resuscitation efforts in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), died at 8:00 AM. On March 27th, the artist arrived at the Biocor Institute in Nova Lima, on the recommendation of cardiologist João Carlos Dionísio. Factors such as stress, sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, and heredity were cited by the medical team as possible causes of the atherosclerotic disease that claimed the artist's life, characterized by the blockage of blood vessels by fatty plaques. Wando's fight for life began with changes in his electrocardiogram and other tests, such as myocardial scintigraphy. He weighed 110 kg and, due to angina, underwent catheterization that same day. The following morning, he suffered a heart attack. He had to undergo coronary angioplasty of multiple arteries, with the implantation of stents – metal tubes placed in the coronary artery. A saphenous vein bypass was not possible. Subsequently, he returned to the operating room to undergo a tracheostomy. The following days were encouraging for doctors, but the artist died a few days before Carnival.