This March 7, 2010 file photo shows Mickey Rooney at the 82nd Academy Awards in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Rooney's final will filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, April 8, 2014,... (Associated Press) 
 
 This March 7, 2010 file photo shows Mickey Rooney at the 82nd Academy Awards in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Rooney's final will filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, April 8, 2014,... (Associated Press) 
 
 LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mickey Rooney signed his last will just weeks before death, leaving a modest estate to a stepson who had been his caretaker, but the actor had no intention of ending his Hollywood career anytime soon, his attorney said Tuesday. 
 
 Rooney's death Sunday occurred after the actor began to have difficulty breathing during an afternoon nap, attorney Michael Augustine said. The actor had been in good spirits and was looking forward to continuing to appear in movies after filming a scene for the upcoming installment of the "Night at the Museum" franchise. 
 
 Augustine said Rooney, 93, passed a physical required before he could start filming and his death was due to natural causes, including complications related to diabetes. 
 
 Police and coroner's officials were informed of Rooney's death but said no investigation of it was necessary. 
 
 Rooney's will was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday. It was signed by Rooney on March 11 and called for his stepson Mark Rooney and his wife to be the sole beneficiaries of the actor's estate, which is valued at only $18,000. 
 
 The actor designated Augustine to serve as the executor of his estate, stating that he did not want any relative handling his final affairs. 
 
 Despite a show business career spanning more than 80 years, Rooney said he had lost most of his fortune because of elder abuse and financial mismanagement by another one of his stepsons. Augustine said despite an agreement for millions to be repaid to the actor, it was unlikely the estate could ever collect on the judgment. 
 
 Rooney's will disinherited the actor's eight surviving children, as well as his estranged wife. Jan Rooney will receive her husband's Social Security benefits and some of his pension earnings as a result of a previous agreement; Augustine said Rooney felt that provided adequate care for her. He said Rooney's children were in better financial situations than the actor, so he felt it was appropriate to leave Mark Rooney all he had left. 
 
 The star of the "Andy Hardy" films and Hollywood's highest paid actor in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Rooney was a product of the industry's old studio system and was not entitled to hefty royalty payments, Augustine said. 
 
 Plans are still being made for Rooney's burial and a possible tribute, Augustine said. An agreement was reached Tuesday not to move the actor's body from a mortuary until a court hearing Friday that may help determine where he is laid to rest. 
 
 Augustine said that while Rooney has a burial plot in Westlake Village, northwest of Los Angeles, the actor had said recently he wanted to be buried in Hollywood or a veteran's cemetery. 
 
 "We were going to buy plots," Augustine said, but the actor "didn't have any money." 
 
 He said the family would like to have a small private service, but hopes that a larger celebration of Rooney's life and career can be arranged with help from film companies. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP . 

 For decades in Hollywood, Mickey Rooney led a charmed life. 
 
 He acted opposite Judy Garland and Elizabeth Taylor, collecting award nominations for performances praised by the likes of Cary Grant, Gore Vidal and Tennessee Williams. He married starlets and beauty queens — eight times in all. 
 
 On Tuesday, two days after his death at 93, it became clear how far his fortunes had fallen in recent years. 
 
 Rooney's trust didn't have a dime. He owed back taxes to the IRS and the state Franchise Tax Board. He was estranged from most of his nine children and separated from his wife. He had disinherited everyone except one stepson, according to a will filed along with court papers that showed assets of just $18,000. 
 
 Even in death, Rooney's troubles weren't over. Two feuding factions of his family were in court Tuesday because they could not agree on what was to be done with his remains. A judge ruled that no one can claim his body from the mortuary until the squabble is resolved. 
 
 "It's a sad tale," said Michael Augustine, who served as Rooney's conservator since 2011. 
 
 At the time of his death Sunday, Rooney was living with stepson Mark Rooney and his wife, Charlene, in Studio City. After lunch Sunday, Rooney went to take his usual nap, and when Mark and Charlene went to wake him, they found his breathing labored and called 911, Augustine said. Rooney was pronounced dead about 4 p.m. and taken to the mortuary at Forest Lawn cemetery. 
 
 After his death, his wife, Jan Chamberlin, and her son, Christopher Aber, contacted Forest Lawn and tried to move Rooney's body against his expressed wishes, Augustine alleged in court papers filed Tuesday morning. 
 
 Charlene Rooney said she and Mark received a call from Forest Lawn about the attempt a few hours after Rooney's passing. 
 
 "Mickey was not even gone for a few hours, he had just left here on a gurney, and this ugliness started," she said. "Mickey hasn't even seen or spoken to Jan in two years, Chris in almost three years." 
 
 Yevgeny Belous, one of Chamberlin's attorneys, said his client simply wanted to give Rooney a "befitting" burial. 
 
 "It's Mickey Rooney, after all," he said. "Everyone involved wants to make sure Mickey is honored, and we don't want to spend unnecessary time and effort in a court fight." 
 
 Chamberlin and Aber believe Rooney's wishes were to be interred at a Westlake Village cemetery alongside a plot for Chamberlin, said John O'Meara, an attorney for Aber and his wife, Christina. 
 
 Augustine, who has Mark and Charlene's support, said Rooney had told him he wanted to be buried at a veterans cemetery or alongside other film stars at a Hollywood one. 
 
 Bruce Ross, an attorney for Augustine and Rooney's estate, said Rooney had chosen to separate from his wife while he was living and would not have wanted to be buried next to her. 
 
 "They had agreed to live permanently apart. It would be a shame if now that he's died, they were reunited," he said. 
 
 The fight over Rooney's burial is the latest chapter in a long-running feud in the courts that began in 2011 with Rooney filing an elder abuse lawsuit against Aber and his wife. Rooney had allowed Aber to begin handling his affairs in 2001, but the arrangement soon became exploitative, Rooney alleged in court papers. Rooney personally testified about the treatment at a Senate hearing on elder abuse in 2011. 
 
 Although he remained "mentally sharp," Rooney became dependent on the Abers, and Christopher Aber began diverting Rooney's income from personal appearances, acting gigs and residuals to underwrite his own lavish lifestyle, Rooney's lawsuit said. At one point, Rooney was footing the bills for 10 American Express cards used by Aber and his family, according to the court documents. 
 
 Meanwhile, Rooney's lawyers alleged, Aber had the actor convinced he was broke. If Rooney tried to turn down a gig, "Chris threatened Mickey with foreclosure on Mickey's home or the loss of Mickey's medical and health benefits," according to the lawsuit. At the time he filed suit, Rooney had only one pair of shoes, no spending money and was five payments behind in his mortgage, the attorneys alleged. 
 
 "Mickey is effectively a prisoner in his own home," Rooney's attorneys wrote in court papers. 
 
 Christopher Aber disputed the claims but agreed to stay away from the actor voluntarily without admitting any of the allegations, his attorney said. A Los Angeles judge appointed an attorney to ensure that Rooney and his assets were protected. 
 
 Aber later filed for bankruptcy. In that case, a lawyer for Rooney estimated that he was owed nearly $6 million, court documents show. Aber agreed to settle the case for $2.86 million last summer, but the judgment was declared "uncollectable" because of his inability to pay, according to attorneys. 
 
 Augustine said he recommended that Rooney live apart from Chamberlin in 2012 after he fell down the stairs while in her care and suffered a broken tooth, a black eye and gashes. The recommendation set off another round of legal battles that ended with a settlement between Chamberlin and the conservator, in which she and Rooney agreed to separate, court records show. 
 
 O'Meara, Aber's attorney, said Tuesday that his client was only looking after the best interests of his mother, who legally remained Rooney's wife. 
 
 "Chris stands with his mother, wants what's best for his mother: to be buried next to her husband of many years," O'Meara said. "It's wildly offensive to keep Mickey Rooney's wife away from the process of burying her husband." 
 
 A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Friday morning. 
 
 victoria.kim@latimes.com 
 
 harriet.ryan@latimes.com
– Mickey Rooney was a beloved icon, but apparently not a rich one, when he died Sunday at age 93. The AP reports that Rooney, who signed his last will just weeks before his death, left a "modest estate" of just $18,000 to stepson Mark Rooney, who had been acting as Rooney's caretaker. Rooney said he lost most of his fortune thanks to another stepson, Chris Aber, whom Rooney accused of abuse in 2011. Rooney also accused Aber of mismanaging his financial affairs, and though he was supposed to repay millions to Rooney, Rooney's attorney says it's unlikely the estate will actually be able to collect on the judgment. Another problem: Apparently as "a product of the industry's old studio system," Rooney was not entitled to large royalty payments. He also owed back taxes when he died, the Los Angeles Times notes. Rooney disinherited his eight surviving children, all of whom are reportedly better off financially than he was, as well as his estranged wife, though she will receive his Social Security benefits and some of his pension earnings. And the family feud goes beyond money: Rooney's wife and her son, Aber, are now engaged in a court battle with Mark Rooney and his wife over where Rooney should be laid to rest.