The bitter legal fight between Dolly Parton's estate and her nephew Bryan Seaver took a sudden turn Thursday when Danny Nozell, Parton's longtime manager, voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit he had filed against Seaver on the estate's behalf, according to TMZ. The dismissal came days before a scheduled hearing and just after Seaver's own attorneys had asked a Tennessee judge to throw the case out entirely.

The dispute dates back to September, when Nozell's company, She's Alive LLC, which manages Parton's estate, terminated Seaver and his private security firm, Squadron Augmented Protection Services. The estate then sued, alleging Seaver had made threatening statements — including an "I'm a killer" remark — and sought a restraining order barring him from coming within 1,000 feet of the estate's offices or interfering with its business, according to ABC News.

Seaver had pushed back hard

CONTRIVED THREATS.

That's how Seaver has described the allegations against him, disputing much of what the estate and Nozell claimed in court filings. On November 3, his attorneys asked the judge to dissolve the temporary restraining order and dismiss the case with prejudice — which would have barred the estate from ever refiling it — and to make the estate cover his legal costs. The estate, for its part, had separately accused Seaver of using barbed wire and a no-trespassing sign to avoid being served with court papers, a claim he denied.

Nozell's decision to drop the suit voluntarily, rather than litigate it to a ruling, leaves open questions about what prompted the reversal and whether any settlement was reached behind the scenes. Representatives for the estate did not immediately detail the terms of the withdrawal, and an attorney for Seaver issued a statement following the dismissal without elaborating on next steps. Neither side has indicated the underlying rift within the family is fully resolved.