Casey Kasem's daughter granted visits with ailing radio personality

[May 31, 2014]  (Reuters) - A Washington state judge ordered that the daughter of Casey Kasem be allowed daily visits with the ailing radio personality as she spars with his wife over his care, a family spokesman said on Friday.

Kitsap County Judge Jennifer Forbes ruled on Friday that Kerri Kasem be granted a one-hour visitation each day with her 82-year-old father, beginning on Friday afternoon, spokesman Danny Deraney said.

Kasem suffers from Lewy body disease, a form of dementia, and his children have been involved in a legal tussle with their stepmother, Jean Kasem, over visitation and caretaking for the radio personality.

Deraney said Friday's visit would mark the first time father and daughter had seen each other since she and her sister filed court papers earlier this month saying they did not know his whereabouts.

Several days later, sheriff's deputies in Kitsap County located the former DJ and his wife Jean. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge subsequently ruled that Kerri Kasem could travel to Washington state and make medical decisions on his behalf.

A Los Angeles-based attorney for Jean Kasem declined to comment on Friday's court action.

Further proceedings are scheduled for late June in the legal battle over care of Kasem, best known for his weekly top 40 countdown show and for being the voice of Shaggy on the "Scooby-Doo" cartoons.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

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