A Johnson & Johnson heir left $400 million to the maid he married, and his six children sued

J. Seward Johnson I was an heir to Johnson & Johnson. In 1971, aged 76, he married Barbara "Basia" Piasecka, 34, a Polish immigrant he had hired as a cook, who then became chambermaid and then his art curator. On 14 April 1983, a month before he died, he signed a new will. It left Basia $402,824,971.59. His six children sued in Manhattan Surrogate's Court before Surrogate Marie Lambert, claiming he lacked capacity and that Basia had exerted undue influence. The trial ran 15 weeks. In June 1986, in its final hours, the parties settled. Basia received $300 million. The children received $42.5 million. The Harbor Branch Oceanographic foundation received $20 million. The estate was "nearly $500 million." Basia became one of the richest women in the world; Forbes put her net worth at $2.7 billion in 2007. She died at Sobótka, Poland, on 1 April 2013 and is buried in Wrocław. In 2026 her foundation reports $17.1 million in assets, its 2024 figure.