The Huguette Clark estate is once again back in the news, with word that her distant relatives are now alleging fraud on the part of her nurse, accountant and attorney. If you are unfamiliar with the case, let us bring you up to speed. Ms. Clark died in 2011 at the age of 104, leaving behind an estimated worth of about $400 million. She had been the sole surviving descendent of former United States Senator William Clark, a mining tycoon after whom Clark County Nevada is named.
Ms. Clark’s distant family members, none of whom are closer than a half grand-nephew and half grand-niece, claim that when she wrote her last will in 2005, she did not have the capacity to do so and her closest advisers fraudulently forced her to make the document. This last will does not leave any of her estate to her family, but the will she made six weeks prior to it does. The family is asking the court to throw out the last will and adopt the previous one instead.
This marks another twist in the lengthy case surrounding her estate and the reclusive nature of her life. The last photo of Ms. Clark is believed to have been taken in 1930, and she spent her last two decades in a hospital room under different assumed names, even though she was in good health. Her attorney and accountant, who had been previously named as executors, are now under a criminal investigation for the mishandling of her estate in the last years of her life, and have been removed from their position.
Michael Robinson, Estate Planning Attorney
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