NBCU Photo Bank via AP ImagesPeter Falk's wife has been appointed head of the household.
A judge has established a conservatorship for the ailing actor, to be overseen by his wife, Shera.
Falk's adopted daughter Catherine, who had been battling for control of her father's affairs, will be allowed bimonthly visits, according to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aviva K. Bobb. The two will meet up on neutral ground, at the home of one of Falk's neighbors.
Bobb denied Catherine's request for a conservatorship earlier this year, but agreed to hear more testimony. Catherine's and Shera's lawyers had been in disagreement over just how impaired the 81-year-old Columbo star, who they say suffers from dementia, had become.
Falk's daughter claimed that his wife had been preventing her from visiting her Alzheimer's-stricken dad.
Over the past year, Falk has suffered a "fairly rapid decline" and would probably be "indifferent" to visits from Catherine, Dr. Stephen Read testified in court today.
Catherine and her sister, Jacqueline, were adopted by Falk when he was married to first wife Alyce Mayo.