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Postwar 1945 to 2000

Wills, successions and estate fights from 1945 to 2000, newest first.

485 stories3D timeline

How were estates passed on, 1945 to 2000?

A dead star's image is protected only where an heir registers it and sues; elsewhere others register it first. When the only heir is a minor, the probate court can appoint a separate lawyer to review the contracts the executors are paying, and that review can end a manager's share of the estate.

Stories
485
Main regions
North America, Europe, East Asia
Main subjects
Literature and art, Music and sport, European families
Legal traditions
Common law, Civil law
Updated
30 October 2026

Every story, 1945 to 2000

  1. 1999U-Haul's founder lost his company to his sons, a daughter-in-law was shot dead, and a jury awarded his side $1.47 billionphoenixnewtimes.com and 2 more
  2. 1999Banker Edmond Safra died in a fire his nurse set in Monaco while his bank was being sold to HSBCCBS News and 8 more
  3. 1999The 7th Marquess of Bristol spent a fortune of up to £35 million on drugs and died at 44 after selling the Ickworth leasenationaltrust.org.uk and 5 more
  4. 1999King Hussein of Jordan removed his brother as heir after 34 years, two weeks before he diedWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  5. 1999Rabbi Joseph Halpern's family settled his estate before a Beth Din in Zurich, then fought in London over whether Jewish law governed the dealThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 3 more
  6. 1999Vineeta Sharma's father died in 1999 and the Delhi courts said she was too late to share the family property; the Supreme Court made every Hindu daughter a co-owner by birthapi.sci.gov.in and 3 more
  7. 1999Nicola Trussardi and his son Francesco died in car crashes four years apart, and the family lost the Trussardi companyIl Post and 3 more
  8. 1999Fred Trump's grandchildren contested his will in 2000, and Donald Trump and 2 siblings cut off health insurance for them and an ailing babygibsondunn.com and 4 more
  9. 1999Curtis Mayfield's manager ran his estate; his widow said the manager borrowed against the songs and took about $920,000 in commissionsfoxnews.com and 3 more
  10. 1998A forged will leaving £386,000 to Dr Harold Shipman exposed Britain's worst serial killercrimeandinvestigation.co.uk and 3 more
  11. 1998A German woman born in 1948 lost her father's estate to relatives he never met, and Europe's human rights court ruled for herEuropean Court of Human Rights and 3 more
  12. 1998Four governments returned more than $780 million of General Sani Abacha's money to Nigeriajustice.gov and 3 more
  13. 1998Tammy Wynette's daughters sued her husband for $50 million, and her body was exhumed for an autopsymtv.com and 2 more
  14. 1998Frank Sinatra's will disinherited any family member who challenged it, listing 13 forbidden legal actionsDeseret News and 2 more
  15. 1998Brunei accused the sultan's brother of taking billions as finance minister, and the Privy Council ordered him to hand over his hotelsnycourts.gov and 2 more
  16. 1998A couple put their Ponzi commissions in a Cook Islands trust that locked when they were sued, and a US judge jailed them for six monthssearch.ftc.gov and 3 more
  17. 1998Sonny Bono's widow used a 2016 copyright termination notice to stop paying Cher her half of his song royalties, and a federal judge ruled for CherCourtListener and 15 more
  18. 1998Phil Hartman was shot dead by his wife in 1998; their wills left $1.23 million to two children, and a 1999 suit blamed Zoloftspokesman.com and 2 more
  19. 1997CBS newsman Charles Kuralt kept a second family for 29 years, and a letter from his hospital bed gave his mistress his Montana landFindLaw Caselaw and 3 more
  20. 1997Craig McCaw's ex-wife took about $460 million, mostly in Nextel stock, and bought a California newspaper with itThe Seattle Times and 2 more
  21. 1997Gianni Versace was shot dead in Miami and left half his fashion house to his 11-year-old niecesec.gov and 5 more
  22. 1997The Butlers sold Kilkenny Castle to the town for £50 in 1967, and the Ormonde earldoms went dormant in 1997kilkennycastle.ie and 5 more
  23. 1997Louis Napoléon's 1997 will passed over his son Charles and named his 11-year-old grandson head of the Bonaparte houseThe Independent and 4 more
  24. 1997Michael Hutchence left half his estate to his baby daughter, and the money went into offshore trusts she did not controltheage.com.au and 3 more
  25. 1997Jack Kent Cooke's will ordered the Redskins sold to fund his foundation, and his son was outbid by Daniel Snyderphilanthropy.com and 3 more
  26. 1997Princess Diana's executors changed her will after her death and gave each godchild one item instead of a quarter of her possessionsWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  27. 1997Switzerland released Mobutu Sese Seko's frozen money to his heirs, and his body stays in Rabatswissinfo.ch and 7 more
  28. 1997Bảo Đại handed his gold seal to the revolution in 1945, sued his own son for it in France, and his widow's heirs sold it for 6.1 million eurosvoatiengviet.com and 5 more
  29. 1997The Notorious B.I.G.'s mother and widow co-owned his catalog; after the mother died, her trustee sued the widow and wonthegrio.com and 5 more
  30. 1997Fela Kuti's brother announced he died of AIDS, he was buried in his own courtyard, and his estate signed with WME 26 years lateripsnews.net and 5 more
  31. 1997Townes Van Zandt's ex-wife ran his estate, his eldest son questioned her title to the songs, and the family spent 11 years fighting the label that held his mastersaustinchronicle.com and 2 more
  32. 1997Willem de Kooning's Woman-Ochre was cut from a Tucson museum frame in 1985 and found in 2017 at the estate sale of a retired coupleartmuseum.arizona.edu and 3 more
  33. 1997James Michener gave away about $117 million and left the bulk of his estate to Swarthmore CollegeInternet Archive and 3 more
  34. 1996François Mitterrand's secret daughter walked behind his coffin after the state had paid to hide herfr-academic.com and 3 more
  35. 1996Tupac Shakur's estate forced Drake to delete a song that used an AI copy of Tupac's voiceNBC News and 2 more
  36. 1996Tupac's mother beat his absent father in court and built his estate; her executor was then sued by Tupac's sisterLos Angeles Times and 4 more
  37. 1996Shearn Moody Jr. was accused of making Moody Foundation grants to himself, and the IRS sought $14 millionInternet Archive and 2 more
  38. 1996Lesotho's military ruler exiled King Moshoeshoe II and put his son on the throne, the son handed it back in 1995, and the father died in a car crash a year latersahistory.org.za and 2 more
  39. 1996A Lesotho chief's eldest daughter sued to inherit his chieftainship, and the courts kept it in the male lineCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
  40. 1996Kim Kwang-seok's daughter, heir to his song copyrights, died in 2007, and her mother told no one for ten yearsThe Korea Times and 3 more
  41. 1996Titina Loizidou was kept from her Kyrenia land after 1974, won in Strasbourg, and Turkey paid in 2003 but never gave back the landlagen.nu and 3 more
  42. 1996Samsung's heir and his three siblings bought Everland bonds at 7,700 won a share in 1996, two executives were convicted, and their father was cleared on that chargeKorea JoongAng Daily and 3 more
  43. 1996Bradley Nowell had registered the name Sublime to himself, and his estate got a federal injunction against his own bandmatesnews.pollstar.com and 4 more
  44. 1995The Duke of Northumberland agreed to sell a Raphael to the Getty for £35 million, and the government blocked itInternet Archive and 5 more
  45. 1995Maurizio Gucci was shot dead in Milan in 1995 on the order of his ex-wife Patrizia ReggianiUPI and 12 more
  46. 1995A British widow had her dead husband's sons abroad, then fought until Parliament let his name go on their birth certificateslegislation.gov.uk and 3 more
  47. 1995Lana Turner left her daughter $50,000 and the rest of a $1.7 million trust to her maid of 45 yearsLos Angeles Times and 1 more
  48. 1995Bob Ross left his name to his son, and his business partners won it in courtCourtListener and 3 more
  49. 1995Selena was shot by her fan club president; her father later sued her widower to stop a TV show about herksat.com and 2 more
  50. 1995Eazy-E married on his deathbed and left Ruthless Records to his bride; his son challenged the marriage 21 years latertheblast.com and 2 more
  51. 1995Jerry Garcia's widow barred his ex-wives from his funeral and stopped paying his $5 million divorce settlementus.cnn.com and 3 more
  52. 1995Nigeria hanged Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni activists over oil-region protests, buried them without their families, and pardoned them 30 years laterAl Jazeera and 2 more
  53. 1995An IRS auditor who said she was held back as a Jewish woman left $22 million in stock to Yeshiva University, a school she had no ties tojweekly.com and 2 more
  54. 1995Seymour Durst passed over his eldest son, the family bought Robert out for about $65 million, and Robert died a convicted murdererpressdemocrat.com and 2 more
  55. 1995J. Howard Marshall II's widow Anna Nicole Smith won $474 million in a bankruptcy court, and after two Supreme Court cases her estate got nothingCornell Law School, LII and 8 more
  56. 1995Patricia Highsmith left her whole estate, over $3 million, to the Yaddo artists' colony, and her papers went to the Swiss Literary Archiveshelveticarchives.ch and 3 more
  57. 1994Russborough House was robbed four times from 1974 to 2002, and Sir Alfred Beit gave his stolen Vermeer to Ireland before it was foundrte.ie and 10 more
  58. 1994Robert Tönnies sued his uncle Clemens to take back a 5 percent gift in the family meat groupafz.fleischwirtschaft.de and 8 more
  59. 1994A court removed 17-year-old Frances Bean Cobain from Courtney Love's care, and she took control of her father's imageusatoday30.usatoday.com and 2 more
  60. 1994A son-in-law moved 98 percent of a dying Texan's fortune into a family partnership the day after a "Fortress Plan" seminar, and the IRS taxed all of itFindLaw Caselaw and 1 more
  61. 1994A German mother disinherited the son who attacked her, he killed her a month later, and two courts still awarded him his compulsory shareservat.unibe.ch and 3 more
  62. 1994A Yuen Long woman's brother drove her from their father's house, and village women made Hong Kong let daughters inherit New Territories land in 1994varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk and 2 more
  63. 1994Kurt Cobain left no will; his widow sued his bandmates for Nirvana, sold a quarter of his songs, and his Unplugged guitar went to his daughter's ex-husbandThe Seattle Times and 7 more
  64. 1994Harry Nilsson's business manager stole his savings, and he died in Chapter 11 owing 75 creditorsThe Seattle Times and 2 more
  65. 1994Jack Kirby's heirs served 45 copyright termination notices on Marvel; the Second Circuit ruled his work was for hire in 2013 and the case settled in 2014leagle.com and 3 more
  66. 1994Martha Raye married a man 33 years younger and left him her $2 million estate, after her daughter sued for conservatorshipamericanhistory.si.edu and 3 more
  67. 1993Doris Duke left $1.2 billion with her butler as executor, and a court-appointed lawyer said her doctor hastened her deathCornell Law School, LII and 3 more
  68. 1993The 6th Earl Cawdor left Cawdor Castle to his second wife, and a court put his son's children out of itThe Independent and 5 more
  69. 1993Albert II of Monaco acknowledged two children born outside marriage, and Monaco's constitution keeps both off the thronelegimonaco.mc and 2 more
  70. 1993Walt Disney's twin grandchildren split over a $400 million trust after the trustees paid one twin and refused the otherazcourts.gov and 4 more
  71. 1993Audrey Hepburn's two sons ended up on opposite sides of a lawsuit over who controls her imagenbclosangeles.com and 1 more
  72. 1993Gail Zappa left two of her children control of Frank Zappa's estate, and Dweezil was told he could not use his own surname for his bandRolling Stone and 2 more
  73. 1993A woman claiming to be heir of the kings of Awadh lived nine years in a Delhi railway station and won a palace; she was the widow of a university registrartribuneindia.com and 4 more
  74. 1993Cantinflas's son and nephew fought over his films on the strength of a deathbed paper, and the family crypt was broken open in 2018eltiempo.com and 2 more
  75. 1993Pablo Escobar's four hippos outlived him, Colombia seized his ranch, and in 2026 the government approved killing their descendantsminambiente.gov.co and 3 more
  76. 1993A Baguio locksmith said Marcos's men seized his golden Buddha, and a Hawaii jury valued the gold he never got back at $22 billionCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 4 more
  77. 1993Audrey Walton put about $200 million of Wal-Mart stock into two trusts reported as gifts worth nothing, and the Tax Court ruled for her against the IRSirs.gov and 2 more
  78. 1993Brandon Lee was killed on the set of The Crow in 1993 by a bullet fragment fired from a prop gun, and his mother and fiancee settled with the producers for an undisclosed sumhistory.com and 4 more
  79. 1993Rudolf Nureyev left most of his estate to two foundations; a sister and niece contested the will, and a federal judge ruled for the foundation in 1998Deseret News and 3 more
  80. 1993Raymond Burr left everything to his partner Robert Benevides, and a judge threw out his niece's claim of undue influence in 1994pressdemocrat.com and 3 more
  81. 1992Gina Rinehart's children sued her for control of a $5 billion family trust, and her daughter replaced her as trusteeInternet Archive and 2 more
  82. 1992Freddie Bartholomew's parents lost a court fight with his aunt over the boy and his MGM salaryCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 1 more
  83. 1992Francis Bacon's sole heir sued Bacon's dealer for up to £100 million, then dropped the case two weeks before trialThe Art Newspaper and 4 more
  84. 1992Eddie Mabo died five months before the High Court upheld Meriam title to his island, and his grave was defaced the day after his memorialslq.qld.gov.au and 4 more
  85. 1992The Canterbury Shakers closed membership in 1957, refused to recognize the converts at Sabbathday Lake, and the last Shaker community has three members in 2025archive.boston.com and 3 more
  86. 1992Alex Haley died owing about $1.5 million, his estate auctioned his Pulitzer for $50,000, and Betty Shabazz sued over the Malcolm X manuscriptstuff.mit.edu and 3 more
  87. 1992Benny Hill left an estate of 7,548,192 pounds to seven nieces and nephews, and his grave was broken into in 1992 over a rumour of buried goldprobatesearch.service.gov.uk and 3 more
  88. 1992Marlene Dietrich's daughter sold her estate to Berlin in 1993, about 300,000 pages, 16,500 photographs and 3,300 garmentsdeutsche-kinemathek.de and 6 more
  89. 1991A French court declared Yves Montand a girl's father after his death, and his body was exhumed to test itThe Irish Times and 2 more
  90. 1991A Los Angeles man willed 15 vials of his sperm to his girlfriend before killing himself, and his children asked the court to destroy themCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  91. 1991A fugitive baron died in Manila with two infant sons by two women, and the Lords gave his title to his half-brother after DNA ruled out one boy and bigamy the otherpublications.parliament.uk and 4 more
  92. 1991Publisher Robert Maxwell went overboard from his yacht, and his sons inherited companies that had used the staff pension fundsThe New York Times and 4 more
  93. 1991Dr. Seuss's widow ran his licensing for 27 years; three years after her death his estate pulled six of his booksWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  94. 1991Freddie Mercury left his house and half his fortune to his ex-girlfriend, who buried his ashes in a place only she knowsThe Independent and 1 more
  95. 1991Travancore's last ruler died in 1991, the Kerala High Court said his brother could not inherit the temple's management, and the Supreme Court gave the family controlLiveLaw and 1 more
  96. 1991Electra Waggoner Biggs sued in 1991 to sell her family's oil-and-cattle ranch, and after 25 years a court receiver sold it to Stan Kroenkefoxnews.com and 2 more
  97. 1991Skull and Bones' alumni trust changed the locks on the Tomb in 1991 when the seniors tapped seven women, and William F. Buckley went to court to stop the initiationDeseret News and 6 more
  98. 1991Miles Davis's will left nothing to two of his sons, and the eldest wrote a book blaming his aunt and sisterdigital.bentley.umich.edu and 6 more
  99. 1991A lawyer sued KISS in the name of Eric Carr's estate, and Carr's family said they had never authorized itloudwire.com and 4 more
  100. 1991Jerzy Kosiński was accused of plagiarism and ghostwriting in 1982 and killed himself in 1991 with a plastic bag over his headEncyclopaedia Britannica and 3 more
  101. 1991The IRS seized Redd Foxx's Las Vegas home, seven vehicles and bank accounts in 1989, and his estate was still in probate with an IRS lien in 2006probatelawyerblog.com and 4 more
  102. 1991Gene Roddenberry's first wife sued his estate for Star Trek profits and lost 2-1 on appeal in 1996; his widow's 2009 trust left their son $60 million and the dogs a $4 million home trustDeseret News and 2 more
  103. 1991Martha Graham left her dances to Ron Protas in 1991, and federal courts ruled from 2002 to 2006 that her own center owned themFindLaw Caselaw and 3 more
  104. 1991Margot Fonteyn died in Panama in 1991 after her savings went to her paralysed husband's care, and a 1990 gala raised 250,000 pounds for herThe Seattle Times and 3 more
  105. 1990Gloria von Thurn und Taxis auctioned the family treasures and handed 2,200 objects to Bavaria to settle her husband's estatebayerisches-nationalmuseum.de and 12 more
  106. 1990French law gave a child born of adultery half a share of his mother's estate until Europe's human rights court ruled against it in 2000European Court of Human Rights and 2 more
  107. 1990Joe Robbie's nine children sued each other, his widow claimed her 30 percent, and a $47 million tax bill forced the sale of the DolphinsTampa Bay Times and 2 more
  108. 1990Armand Hammer built his museum with Occidental Petroleum money and died with shareholders, his son and USC in courtLos Angeles Times and 2 more
  109. 1990Sun Hung Kai's eldest son was kidnapped for a record ransom, then removed as chairman by his mother, who controlled the family's shareshkexnews.hk and 3 more
  110. 1990Malcolm Forbes spent 25 years buying the tsars' Fabergé eggs, his family sold all nine to a Russian billionaire before the auction, and the US sanctioned the buyer in 2018home.treasury.gov and 5 more
  111. 1990An Wang put his son in charge of a $3 billion company, the son was out by 1989, and Wang Laboratories went bankrupt in 1992scholar-dev.cloud.lib.vt.edu and 4 more
  112. 1990Halston sold his name with his company for $16 million and was then barred from itUPI and 2 more
  113. 1990Death duties forced an earl's family to sell Leonardo's notebook in 1980, and a widow's niece's lawsuit forced its next owner's museum to sell it againhistory.com and 2 more
  114. 1990A jeweller's daughter found ten 1933 gold double eagles in his safe-deposit box, handed them to the Mint to authenticate, and the government kept themcdn.sanity.io and 3 more
  115. 1990Navajo uranium miners died of radiation, and their widows had to prove marriages made by Navajo custom to collect $100,000Cornell Law School, LII and 4 more
  116. 1990The IRS seized Willie Nelson's ranch, studio and guitars over a $16.7 million tax bill, and fans bought them backUPI and 3 more
  117. 1990Sammy Davis Jr. died owing the IRS about $7 million, and his widow lost the rights to his name and musicDeseret News and 6 more
  118. 1990Stevie Ray Vaughan's mother and brother sued the helicopter company; his fiancée was left out of the estate, and thieves later took his belongings from Jimmie's storage unitorlandosentinel.com and 4 more
  119. 1990Paulette Goddard inherited Erich Maria Remarque's money, properties and art in 1970 and left New York University more than $20 million in 1990findingaids.library.nyu.edu and 2 more
  120. 1990Netflix bought the Roald Dahl Story Company in September 2021 for a reported 500 million pounds, about $686 millionfinance.yahoo.com and 3 more
  121. 1990Jim Henson died during a $150 million sale to Disney, his children ended the deal and sued Disney, and the Muppets went to Disney anyway in 2004The Seattle Times and 4 more
  122. 1989August Busch III ousted his father from Anheuser-Busch in a boardroom coup, and 33 years later the family lost the companyGoogle Books and 3 more
  123. 1989Faridkot's Maharaja lost his only son, and a will read three days after his death gave his forts and palaces to a trust run by his staffLiveLaw and 5 more
  124. 1989Prince Paul Esterházy made his widow sole heir, and the Esterházy family lost Burgenland's largest estate to her foundationskurier.at and 5 more
  125. 1989Bette Davis wrote her daughter, her adopted daughter and two grandsons out of her will after "My Mother's Keeper"Internet Archive and 2 more
  126. 1989A Madrid judge had Salvador Dalí exhumed for a paternity test 28 years after his death, and the DNA said noThe Art Newspaper and 4 more
  127. 1989The Vunivalu of Bau title stood empty for 34 years after 1989 because Cakobau's clan could not agree on an heirfijivillage.com and 2 more
  128. 1989The Dalai Lama named a six-year-old as Panchen Lama in 1995; the boy disappeared within days and China installed another boy chosen from a golden urntashilhunpo.org and 4 more
  129. 1989Three Abu Dhabi rulers were killed in family feuds in six years; the survivors swore to their mother never to do it again, and in 1966 one brother removed another without bloodshedchristopherdavidson.net and 4 more
  130. 1989Japan's imperial family paid 3.3 billion yen in property tax in 1947, and in 1989 the new emperor paid 428 million yen in inheritance tax while the regalia passed tax-freekokushikan.repo.nii.ac.jp and 2 more
  131. 1989Marcos drew a salary of 100,000 pesos a year, and the Philippine Supreme Court took $658 million of his Swiss depositsCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 5 more
  132. 1989Marcos's body lay in a glass case in Batac for 23 years until a 9-5 Supreme Court vote put it in the Heroes' Cemeterylawphil.net and 2 more
  133. 1989The Vuitton family's patriarch brought in Bernard Arnault and was fired from LVMH, and Arnault has locked his own five children into a 30-year holdingUPI and 3 more
  134. 1989A New York court ruled the Nyack house "haunted as a matter of law" and let the buyer walk away from $650,000blogs.loc.gov and 3 more
  135. 1989Robert Mapplethorpe inherited three quarters of Sam Wagstaff's $7 million estate over the sister's challenge, left his own parents nothing, and was tried posthumously in Cincinnatimentalfloss.com and 4 more
  136. 1989Edward Abbey wrote instructions to be buried without a coffin or permit, and friends buried him in the Arizona desert two days after he diedabbeyweb.net and 3 more
  137. 1988The Binghams sold the Louisville Courier-Journal after a daughter demanded her shares be bought outpulitzer.org and 2 more
  138. 1988Chiang Ching-kuo never acknowledged his twin sons, and one of them took the Chiang name 63 years latercna.com.tw and 5 more
  139. 1988Basquiat died at 27; his estate shut its authentication board, and the FBI later seized 25 fake Basquiats from a museumitsartlaw.org and 4 more
  140. 1988Luis Barragán's archive was sold in 1995 and kept closed in Switzerland, and an artist made a diamond from his ashes to trade for itbarragan-foundation.org and 4 more
  141. 1988Aristotle Onassis's only granddaughter inherited half his fortune at 18, after her father and the trustees fought for yearsUPI and 2 more
  142. 1988Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar were born in Peshawar houses their families left at partition, the new owners refused to sell, and the province took both by compulsory purchaseaa.com.tr and 3 more
  143. 1987Fred Astaire's widow charged fees for clips of him, lost a federal appeal over 90 seconds of film, and licensed him to a vacuum maker over his daughter's objectionlaw.resource.org and 4 more
  144. 1987Andy Warhol's foundation valued his art at $95 million; a court said $390.9 million, and his estate lawyer was paid on the differenceThe Art Newspaper and 3 more
  145. 1987Four families held Tirumala's priesthood by birth and kept the temple jewels in turns; Andhra Pradesh abolished the inheritance in 1987LiveLaw and 5 more
  146. 1987Clint Murchison Jr. inherited an oil fortune, bought the Dallas Cowboys for $550,000, and died $100 million short of his debtsUPI and 2 more
  147. 1987A doctor fled south in 1950 with one daughter, and 59 years later his four children left in North Korea sued their half-siblings for his estatenkeconwatch.com and 2 more
  148. 1987Liberace's doctor signed a death certificate that hid AIDS; the coroner pulled his embalmed body back for an autopsyLos Angeles Times and 5 more
  149. 1987Peter Tosh died without a will; his ten children fought in a Manhattan court over his royaltiesblackamericaweb.com and 3 more
  150. 1987Jaco Pastorius died broke after a club bouncer beat him, his estate nearly closed with debts, and his stolen bass took four years of litigation to get backbpb-experimental.voicemediagroup.com and 3 more
  151. 1987Kishore Kumar's nephew agreed to sell his childhood home for Rs 14 crore, his son published a legal notice to stop it, and the house became a ruintheweek.in and 3 more
  152. 1987Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali was shot in London in 1987, Britain expelled Israeli officials after a Mossad double agent was jailed, and no one has been charged with the murderAl Jazeera and 2 more
  153. 1987James Baldwin's estate sold his papers to the Schomburg Center in 2017, with part of his correspondence reported sealed for 20 yearsinfodocket.com and 3 more
  154. 1986Georgia O'Keeffe's late codicils left most of a $65 million estate to her assistant, 58 years younger, and her family suedUPI and 3 more
  155. 1986ETA killed the 17th Duke of Veragua, a descendant of Columbus and a Spanish vice admiral, in Madrid in 1986diariodecuyo.com.ar and 3 more
  156. 1986Borges left everything to the woman he married seven weeks before he died; she died without a willThe New York Times and 3 more
  157. 1986Max Feinberg's trust treated any grandchild who married outside Judaism as dead, and the Illinois Supreme Court let it standCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  158. 1986Kenya's Court of Appeal gave S.M. Otieno's body to his brother and clan over his widow's objection, and he lay unburied for 140 daysrecordoflaw.in and 4 more
  159. 1986Japanese courts cancelled auction sales of houses where owners had died by suicide, and in 2021 the state set a three-year disclosure rulemc-law.jp and 2 more
  160. 1986Thieves stole Henry Moore's 2-ton Reclining Figure, valued at 3 million pounds, from his foundation in 2005 and police believe it was sold for scrap worth under 3,000 poundstate.org.uk and 3 more
  161. 1986L. Ron Hubbard was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea within a day of his death in January 1986, after his son had sued to have him declared deadcs.cmu.edu and 4 more
  162. 1986Coluche left 6.1 million francs of debt in 1986, his ex-wife refused the estate, and his sons spent 28 years suing over his sketcheslefigaro.fr and 3 more
  163. 1985A jury found Rock Hudson hid his AIDS from his lover and awarded $21.75 million against his estateLos Angeles Times and 2 more
  164. 1985Philip Larkin's secretary shredded his 30 volumes of diaries after he died, on an instruction his will did not spell outprod.archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk and 3 more
  165. 1985Ricky Nelson died in a plane fire owing money; his ex-wife tried to take over the estate, lost, then fought her brother Mark Harmon for custody of their sonUPI and 4 more
  166. 1985Orson Welles's daughter Beatrice sued his partner Oja Kodar, fought her over The Other Side of the Wind, and lost her claim to the Citizen Kane copyrightFindLaw Caselaw and 5 more
  167. 1985Chagall's heirs paid his death duties with 46 paintings and 406 drawings, and his granddaughters' committee seized a £100,000 fake to destroy itcentrepompidou.fr and 5 more
  168. 1984A Maharana's will gave Udaipur's City Palace to his younger son, and 41 years later the heirs threw stones at its gatesmorungexpress.com and 7 more
  169. 1984Lord Brooke sold Warwick Castle to Madame Tussauds for £1.3 million in 1978, ending 374 years of Greville ownershipThe New York Times and 7 more
  170. 1984Jackie Coogan earned $3 million as a child; $252,000 was left when he sued his mothergov.ca.gov and 1 more
  171. 1984Truman Capote's ashes were divided, stolen at a party, returned in a garden hose, and auctioned in 2016Wikipedia (English)
  172. 1984Marvin Gaye was shot dead by his father, left no will and $9 million in debt, and his children won the "Blurred Lines" caseinvestmentnews.com and 2 more
  173. 1984Anna Anderson claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia for 64 years and fought German courts for 32 years for the Romanov moneyJournal article (DOI) and 2 more
  174. 1984Jackie Wilson spent eight years in a coma under a court-appointed guardian, died $300,000 in debt, and was buried in an unmarked gravealbanyherald.com and 4 more
  175. 1983A Johnson & Johnson heir left $400 million to the maid he married, and his six children suedUPI and 3 more
  176. 1983Muddy Waters' heirs spent 35 years fighting his manager over his copyrightsChicago Tribune and 2 more
  177. 1983Italy's crown jewels have sat in a Bank of Italy vault since 1946, and a Rome court ruled in 2025 they belong to the statewantedinrome.com and 2 more
  178. 1983A 40-acre allotment had 439 owners, Congress let tiny shares pass to the tribe instead of the heirs, and the Supreme Court struck the law down twiceCornell Law School, LII and 3 more
  179. 1983The FBI believed Meyer Lansky had $300 million hidden; he died in Miami with less than $35,000 in the bankthemobmuseum.org and 2 more
  180. 1983Dennis Wilson's estranged wife had him buried at sea with White House help, against his brother's plan to bury him beside their fatherreaganlibrary.gov and 2 more
  181. 1983Arthur Koestler and his wife Cynthia died together in 1983; his 1 million pound estate paid for a parapsychology chair after four universities declined itpsi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk and 3 more
  182. 1983Tennessee Williams left his $10 million estate to Sewanee and his brother $25,000; the brother sued for undue influence and settled for $100,000new.sewanee.edu and 4 more
  183. 1983Balanchine's 1983 will split the rights to about 100 ballets among a handful of friends, and the heirs formed a Trusteasthamptonstar.com and 3 more
  184. 1982Whaling magnate Anders Jahre denied owning a fortune abroad, and Norway spent 30 years after his death recovering about 1 billion kronersnl.no and 4 more
  185. 1982Swaziland's royal council deposed Queen Regent Dzeliwe in 1983 after Sobhuza II diedd.lib.msu.edu and 6 more
  186. 1982Indian troops disarmed Sikkim's palace guard in 1975; the last king died in New York, his heir died on a mountain road, and a federal committee was still deciding which palace property the family ownshcs.gov.in and 3 more
  187. 1982Alfred Bloomingdale's mistress sued his dying body for palimony, was beaten to death a year later, and her estate won $200,000UPI and 3 more
  188. 1982God's banker was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge with bricks in his pockets, and the Vatican bank paid $250 million to his bank's creditorsNBC News and 2 more
  189. 1982Randy Rhoads's mother gave filmmakers his photos for a documentary that never came out, and an appeals court let them publish a book insteadblabbermouth.net and 4 more
  190. 1982Ayn Rand's heir kept the first and last pages of The Fountainhead manuscript; the Library of Congress took them from his home in January 2002peikoff.com and 2 more
  191. 1982A helicopter killed Vic Morrow and two child actors on the Twilight Zone set in 1982, and director John Landis and four others were tried for manslaughter and acquitted in 1987vice.com and 1 more
  192. 1982Fassbinder's first wife said the head of his foundation invented a marriage to him to control his estate, and 25 colleagues demanded she resignpresseportal.de and 3 more
  193. 1981Bob Marley died without a will, and his widow forged his signature to move his companies into her nameFindLaw Caselaw and 3 more
  194. 1981Charles Harpur-Crewe died in 1981, an £8 million tax bill fell on Calke Abbey, and the house went to the nation with everything in itUK Parliament, Hansard and 5 more
  195. 1981Joe Louis owed the IRS more than $1 million and ended his life as a casino greeter in Las Vegasnmaahc.si.edu and 3 more
  196. 1981Nigeria's Supreme Court upheld Gladys Ukeje's share of her father's Lagos estate and declared the Igbo rule excluding daughters void in 2014journals.unizik.edu.ng and 4 more
  197. 1981The 16th Karmapa died in Illinois in 1981; two rival successors were enthroned, and the Black Crown he left at Rumtek has gone unused sincewww2.kenyon.edu and 3 more
  198. 1981Natalie Wood drowned off Santa Catalina Island in 1981, and in 2012 the Los Angeles coroner changed her death certificate to "drowning and other undetermined factors"The Hollywood Reporter and 4 more
  199. 1980Norway bought shipowner Hilmar Reksten's shares in 1975 while his fortune sat hidden abroad; his estate went bankrupt and his heir paid back 60 million kronersnl.no and 3 more
  200. 1980Marcel Boussac, France's richest man in 1951 and Dior's backer, died ruined; his collapsed group became Bernard Arnault's starttbheritage.com and 4 more
  201. 1980Peter Sellers signed a trust for his daughter the day he collapsed; his widow kept a £4 million estateBBC and 1 more
  202. 1980Nicaragua's Decree 3 confiscated Somoza family property in 1979, and Somoza was killed in Asunción in 1980nicaragua.justia.com and 4 more
  203. 1980Iran sued the exiled Shah in New York for billions, lost, and the tower his foundation built ended up paying terror victims $318 millionjta.org and 2 more
  204. 1980H.L. Hunt's sons bought a third of the world's silver, lost more than $1 billion, and filed for bankruptcy after a Peruvian state company won in courtDeseret News and 2 more
  205. 1980A Hungarian soldier was found hanged beside an empty pit in 1980, and the Roman silver he is believed to have dug up sold for €43 millionplone.unige.ch and 3 more
  206. 1980A father and son found a medieval church hoard with metal detectors; the High Court gave them £5.5 million, and the Supreme Court gave the state the hoardarchivesearch.library.universityofgalway.ie and 2 more
  207. 1980Britain barred Seretse Khama from his chieftaincy for marrying an Englishwoman, and as Botswana's president he signed his people's mining land over to the state without compensationthuto.org and 3 more
  208. 1980John Lennon's will left everything to a trust run by Yoko Ono, and his son Julian sued for 16 yearsbeatlesbible.com and 3 more
  209. 1980John Lennon's diaries and watch were stolen from Yoko Ono's home and taken to Berlin; Switzerland's top court ruled the watch hers in 2024bger.ch and 10 more
  210. 1980Nina Kandinsky was strangled at her Gstaad chalet in 1980, about $2 million of her jewellery was stolen, and no one has been chargedscene4.com and 1 more
  211. 1980Sartre adopted Arlette Elkaïm and made her his heir, so Simone de Beauvoir had no legal say over his work and adopted a daughter of her ownjffp.pitt.edu and 3 more
  212. 1979Raul Gardini ran his in-laws' Ferruzzi group, was voted out in 1991 and shot himself in 1993 as it collapsed with 31,000 billion lire of debtTreccani and 6 more
  213. 1979Charles Clore moved to Monaco to avoid tax, and the Revenue proved after his death that he was still Englishuniset.ca and 5 more
  214. 1979Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom drowned, his widow inherited 70 percent of the team, fired his son and moved the team to St. LouisTampa Bay Times and 3 more
  215. 1979Conrad Hilton left his hotel shares to his foundation, and his son Barron spent 10 years in court winning them backLos Angeles Times and 3 more
  216. 1979Peggy Guggenheim's grandsons sued the Guggenheim Foundation in Paris to undo her gift of the Venice collection and losthyperallergic.com and 6 more
  217. 1979Iran's revolutionary court had plastics maker Habib Elghanian shot in 1979, and the state took the tower he builtjewishjournal.com and 4 more
  218. 1979Barbara Hutton inherited the Woolworth fortune at 21, married seven times, and died with $3,500 in the banklegacy.suntimes.com and 2 more
  219. 1979The IRS valued Samuel Newhouse's newspaper shares at $1.32 billion and sought a $305 million fraud penalty, and the Tax Court sided with his sonscase-law.vlex.com and 2 more
  220. 1979John Wayne's heirs ended an 11-year trademark fight with Duke University after agreeing that no letter of DUKE on their liquor will be bluettabvue.uspto.gov and 14 more
  221. 1979Sid Vicious asked to be buried beside Nancy Spungen; her mother said no, and his mother scattered his ashes on the grave anywayThe Independent and 3 more
  222. 1979The FBI planted a false story about Jean Seberg's pregnancy in 1970, admitted it in 1979, and she was found dead in her car in Parisneh.gov and 3 more
  223. 1979A French woman sued Darryl F. Zanuck's estate for $15 million in 1980, saying his son had her cut from the will; the case ended in 1988 with her claim going to a universityUPI and 4 more
  224. 1978J. Roderick MacArthur sued his late father's $1.5 billion foundation in 1984 and asked a court to liquidate itUPI and 2 more
  225. 1978Norman Rockwell's sons sued to stop the Berkshire Museum selling paintings he gave it, and Shuffleton's Barbershop went to George Lucas's museumberkshiremuseum.org and 10 more
  226. 1978Bob Crane was bludgeoned to death in 1978, left everything to his estranged second wife, and the 1994 acquittal and 2016 DNA retest never named a killerCNN and 3 more
  227. 1977Two men stole Charlie Chaplin's coffin for ransom, and his widow refused to payhistory.co.uk and 3 more
  228. 1977An heiress and her nurse were killed inside Glensheen, and the adopted daughter who stood to inherit $8 million was acquittedInternet Archive and 4 more
  229. 1977Jacqueline Onassis paid to stop her aunt's eviction from Grey Gardens, and the house sold for $220,000 on condition it not be torn downThe New Yorker and 5 more
  230. 1977Joan Crawford's will left out Christina and Christopher "for reasons which are well known to them"Internet Archive and 6 more
  231. 1977Groucho Marx's companion lost the fight over his estate, and his heirs lost the rights to his actCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  232. 1977Bing Crosby's sons waited for a trust they could not touch until 65, and their mother's trust went brokeCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  233. 1977Nabokov told his wife to burn his last novel; it sat in a Swiss bank vault for 32 years before their son published itmg.co.za and 2 more
  234. 1977Lynyrd Skynyrd's widows and survivors used a 1988 court order to block a film about the plane crash, and lost on appealThe Hollywood Reporter and 1 more
  235. 1977A Beverly Hills oil widow's will told her brother-in-law to bury her in her Ferrari or lose his inheritance, and a court held her to itjalopnik.com and 2 more
  236. 1977Maria Callas died without a valid will, her estranged husband and mother split her $8 million, and her ashes were stolenThe Independent and 4 more
  237. 1977Elvis Presley's probate judge ruled that Colonel Parker's 50 percent share "shocks the conscience of the court" and ordered the estate to sue himCourtListener and 10 more
  238. 1976Gordon Getty, sole trustee of the family trust, sold Getty Oil to Texaco, and his nieces petitioned to remove himFindLaw Caselaw and 3 more
  239. 1976J. Paul Getty paid part of his kidnapped grandson's ransom and lent the rest to his son at 4% interestIl Post and 7 more
  240. 1976The 7th Duke of Leinster sold his future inheritance to a moneylender and died in a London bedsitInternet Archive and 5 more
  241. 1976Getty Trust chief Barry Munitz resigned in 2006 and paid back $250,000 after reports on his spendingLos Angeles Times and 2 more
  242. 1976The Cojuangcos bought Hacienda Luisita in 1957 on a promise to sell it to tenants, and the Supreme Court ordered it handed to 6,296 farmworkers in 2011lawphil.net and 5 more
  243. 1976Fort Worth oil heir Cullen Davis was tried for killing his stepdaughter and for hiring a hitman to kill his divorce judge, was acquitted, and later listed $865 million in debtsUPI and 4 more
  244. 1976A Pertamina general died with 54 million marks in Singapore accounts in his and his widow's names, and the courts gave it to the state oil company as bribeslaw.nus.edu.sg and 3 more
  245. 1976East Germany gave Junker land to new farmers in 1945, and reunified Germany took it back from their heirs without compensationmenschenrechte.ac.at and 1 more
  246. 1976Florence Ballard was put out of the Supremes, barred from using the name for a $139,804 payment, and was on welfare seven years laterlegacy.com and 3 more
  247. 1976Howard Hughes left no valid will, a jury found the Mormon will naming Melvin Dummar a forgery, and Texas and California fought over his death taxesCornell Law School, LII and 11 more
  248. 1976The Man Ray Trust said in 2021 that 148 of 188 lots in a Christie's Paris sale of his assistant's collection lacked clear title; Christie's sold theminsidehook.com and 3 more
  249. 1976Eileen Gray's furniture was removed from her villa E-1027 and sold at Sotheby's in 1991; the state bought the ruined house in 1999archiseek.com and 3 more
  250. 1976Agatha Christie gave her grandson the rights to The Mousetrap as a child, and the company holding her estate was sold three timesagathachristie.com and 3 more
  251. 1975The Three Stooges' heirs fought each other over royalties, then won the case that set the limits of a dead star's likenessCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 1 more
  252. 1975Spain's Supreme Court confirmed in March 2026 that Franco's grandchildren must give the Pazo de Meirás to the stateBoletín Oficial del Estado and 6 more
  253. 1975Saudi King Faisal was shot by his nephew during an audience, and the nephew was beheaded in a Riyadh squareWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  254. 1975Ethiopia's Derg said Haile Selassie died after prostate surgery, and his bones were found under his palace office 16 years laterWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  255. 1975Beryl Buck left oil stock for Marin County, Shell's purchase made it worth $253 million, and a court kept it in Marinsfgate.com and 1 more
  256. 1975Josephine Baker barricaded herself in the kitchen of her château when it was sold for her debts, and was carried out to the stepsculture.gouv.fr and 3 more
  257. 1975Umm Kulthum's heirs sued to pull the biopic "El Sett" from cinemas, and Egypt's Administrative Court ordered them to pay costsInternet Archive and 3 more
  258. 1974Charles Lindbergh had seven secret children in Germany, confirmed by DNA 29 years after his deathmnhs.org and 2 more
  259. 1974Karnataka took Mysore Palace during the Emergency, lost in court in 1997, and passed a law to take it again in 1998indiacode.nic.in and 4 more
  260. 1974Lord Lucan vanished the night his children's nanny was killed in 1974, and the High Court declared him dead in 2016legislation.gov.uk and 5 more
  261. 1974The government refused Mentmore for £2 million, and Sotheby's sold its contents for more than £6 million in 1977Internet Archive and 8 more
  262. 1974Oilman H.L. Hunt had three families with 15 children, and the wife from his bigamous marriage sued his heirs four years after his deathUPI and 3 more
  263. 1974A court had ordered Sherman Gordon to support his daughter, but Illinois gave his only asset, a $2,500 car, to his parents and siblingsCornell Law School, LII
  264. 1974Louis Kahn died unidentified in a Penn Station restroom, owing hundreds of thousands of dollars, with three families at his funeraldesignmuseum.org and 3 more
  265. 1974Thieves cut the hands off Juan Perón's body in 1987 and demanded 8 million dollars, and the judge investigating died in a car crashpagina12.com.ar and 3 more
  266. 1974Montoneros kidnapped the Born brothers, heirs to Bunge y Born, and freed them after nine months for a reported $60 millionnoticias.perfil.com and 3 more
  267. 1974Puma's founder left everything to one son, the other son won control in court, and the Dassler brothers lie at opposite ends of one cemeterydeutsche-biographie.de and 4 more
  268. 1974The Amityville house sold for $80,000 after six murders; the family that fled sued, and a judge called their story largely fictionpsi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk and 2 more
  269. 1974Duke Ellington's grandchildren beat their father's estate for his royalties, then lost to EMI over foreign earningsnycourts.gov and 5 more
  270. 1974Nick Drake's estate stopped the auction of six unheard 1967 recordings claimed by his friend Beverley Martynudiscovermusic.com and 4 more
  271. 1974Anne Sexton's psychiatrist gave about 300 therapy tapes to her biographer after her death, with her daughter's consent as literary executor, and ethicists condemned itpsych.upenn.edu and 2 more
  272. 1974Christine Chubbuck shot herself on live television in 1974, and her station's tape has been held privately sinceaol.com and 2 more
  273. 1973Picasso died with no will and about 43,000 works, and the French state took its tax in paintingsInternet Archive and 3 more
  274. 1973India's 2005 Supreme Court ruling gave the Raja of Mahmudabad's son back his palaces, and Parliament rewrote the law to take them againLiveLaw and 5 more
  275. 1973Marjorie Merriweather Post deeded Mar-a-Lago to the nation, and Congress handed it back in a Lake Tahoe land billgovinfo.gov and 6 more
  276. 1973Christabel Russell said she was a virgin when her son was conceived, and the House of Lords made him heir to the Ampthill baronyUK Parliament, Hansard and 3 more
  277. 1973Mario Lalli called Robert "my son" in a notarized paper, and the Supreme Court still let New York shut him out of the estateCornell Law School, LII and 1 more
  278. 1973Chile dug up Pablo Neruda 40 years after the 1973 coup, and scientists found botulism bacteria in his toothjurist.org and 3 more
  279. 1973About 50 distant cousins of Henry Darger sued the landlords who saved his art, 49 years after his deathThe Art Newspaper and 3 more
  280. 1973The Tolkien estate sued New Line for $150 million, saying it had received nothing from three films that earned billionsawn.com and 3 more
  281. 1973Gram Parsons' road manager stole his body from Los Angeles airport and burned it in Joshua Treeamericansongwriter.com and 3 more
  282. 1973An Ohio doctor's will gave his son seven years to marry a Jewish woman or lose his share to the State of Israel, and the court upheld itCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  283. 1973Guerrillas killed Eugenio Garza Sada in a kidnapping attempt in 1973, and his family split the Monterrey Group into fourexcelsior.com.mx and 2 more
  284. 1973A Chinese fast-food chain used a Bruce Lee figure as its logo for 15 years, and his daughter sued for 210 million yuangulfnews.com and 3 more
  285. 1973Jim Croce's widow sued his producers and their lawyer over the contracts he signed in 1968, and won only against the lawyerquimbee.com and 2 more
  286. 1973Soldiers shot Víctor Jara 44 times, his widow buried him in secret, and 50 years later Chile jailed his killers and Florida deported the last oneice.gov and 6 more
  287. 1973A French court gave Renoir's assistant Richard Guino co-authorship of the Renoir sculptures in 1973; his heirs won a US infringement verdict against Renoir's great-grandson in 2008cases.justia.com and 3 more
  288. 1973Pearl S. Buck left three contradictory wills, a dance instructor and her seven adopted children fought for six years, and a Vermont court found undue influenceinquirer.com and 4 more
  289. 1972Edward VIII gave up the throne, sold Sandringham and Balmoral to his brother, and hid how much money he hadWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  290. 1972Marie Robertson's heirs sued Princeton over her $35 million gift in 2002 and settled in 2008 with $40 million in legal fees repaidprinceton.edu and 1 more
  291. 1972Oman's sultan was counting his money when his son demanded his abdication in 1970; he fired a pistol, signed, and flew to London that nightmeforum.org and 3 more
  292. 1972Ezra Pound spent more than 12 years at St. Elizabeths; his wife held legal control, and after he died the Pound archive was sold to Yale and both claimants were paidopenlettersmonthlyarchive.com and 2 more
  293. 1972A car bomb killed Ghassan Kanafani and his 17-year-old niece in Beirut on 8 July 1972, and Mossad is reported to have claimed responsibilitymiddleeasteye.net and 2 more
  294. 1971Jim Morrison left everything to Pamela Courson; she died three years later without a will, and both sets of parents fought for The Doors' moneyhackardlaw.com and 2 more
  295. 1971Idi Amin seized the Madhvani sugar estate in 1972; the widow came back to one working tractor, and the heirs split again in 2020csmonitor.com and 2 more
  296. 1971Coco Chanel used Nazi anti-Jewish laws to try to take her perfume company from the Wertheimers, who had signed it over to an aircraft makerfundinguniverse.com and 4 more
  297. 1971RCA fought Philo Farnsworth for the television patent, lost, paid him royalties, and he died in debt while television made others richcensus.gov and 4 more
  298. 1971Arbenz's land law took 234,000 acres from United Fruit; after the 1954 coup the junta seized the Arbenz family farm, and Guatemala apologised to his family in 2011history.state.gov and 3 more
  299. 1971Stravinsky's widow and children litigated his estate for four years, and the dispute over the royalties reached a New York appeals court in 2003nycourts.gov and 3 more
  300. 1971Louis Armstrong's will said he had no children, his widow's nieces contested her will, and his letter called a girl born in 1955 his "Little Satchmo"wealthmanagement.com and 3 more
  301. 1970Mark Rothko's executors sold 798 of his paintings to a gallery one of them worked for, and his 19-year-old daughter suedrothko.nga.gov and 3 more
  302. 1970Jimi Hendrix died with no will, and his father's will later cut his brother out of an $80 million estateThe Seattle Times and 3 more
  303. 1970Marquis Casati Stampa shot his wife, her lover and himself; his daughter inherited at 19 and sold Arcore to Berlusconi for unlisted sharescinquantamila.it and 7 more
  304. 1970A Korean family gave away 300 years of wealth to found a college, and the government merged it and named Park Chung-hee its founderimaeil.com and 5 more
  305. 1970Grünenthal paid 100 million marks into a foundation for thalidomide victims, and a 1971 law wiped out their claims against the companyservat.unibe.ch and 4 more
  306. 1970Two brothers spent eight years in jail for refusing to leave their grandfather's heirs' property on Silver Dollar Roadabc11.com and 3 more
  307. 1970Janis Joplin changed her will two days before she died and left $2,500 for her friends to throw a partyultimateclassicrock.com and 4 more
  308. 1970Barnett Newman's "Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue III" was slashed in Amsterdam in 1986; a $400,000 restoration was judged to have destroyed itdutchnews.nl and 3 more
  309. 1970Mishima's widow boycotted Paul Schrader's 1985 film, and his children won a copyright suit over his lettersavclub.com and 2 more
  310. 1969A Florida judge ruled that the will giving Jack Kerouac's estate to his widow's family was forged, and the ruling changed nothingnbcmiami.com and 3 more
  311. 1969A Schiele portrait lent to MoMA was seized in New York as Nazi loot, and the Vienna museum paid the owner's heirs $19 million to keep itThe New York Times and 3 more
  312. 1969The Kabaka of Buganda climbed his palace wall to escape the army, and died in a London flat three years laterWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  313. 1969Kerala tradition says Parashurama gave the land to Brahmins; only eldest Namboodiri sons could marry so estates never split, and land reform took them in 1969keralamuseum.org and 4 more
  314. 1969Phillips Petroleum found Ekofisk on its last required well in 1969, and Norway saved the oil money in a fund for future generationsekofisk.industriminne.no and 2 more
  315. 1969Ho Chi Minh's will asked for cremation and his ashes split three ways; the Politburo embalmed him, cut the request from the published will and moved his death date by a dayInternet Archive and 3 more
  316. 1969Judy Garland's fifth husband buried her in New York; 48 years later her children moved her to HollywoodCBS News and 3 more
  317. 1969John Kennedy Toole's mother got A Confederacy of Dunces published, then fought a bookseller and Toole's relatives over The Neon Bible until 1989finding-aids.lib.unc.edu and 3 more
  318. 1969After Sharon Tate's murder her mother Doris backed California's 1982 Victims' Bill of Rights and became the first victim's relative to speak at a state parole hearingthe-line-up.com and 4 more
  319. 1968Ezra Vincent signed a paper acknowledging his daughter, and in 1971 the Supreme Court let his brothers and sisters take his whole estateCornell Law School, LII and 3 more
  320. 1968A jury awarded John Steinbeck's stepdaughter more than $13 million against his son's family for blocking films of his novelsusatoday.com and 3 more
  321. 1968Assis Chateaubriand had Vargas change the law to win custody of his daughter, gave his media empire to 22 employees, and that daughter lost the fight to recover it in 2014correiodamanha.com.br and 4 more
  322. 1968Three women claimed to be Frankie Lymon's widow, and New York courts had to decide who owned his share of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love"law.resource.org and 3 more
  323. 1968Martin Luther King Jr.'s estate sued his daughter in 2014 to take his Nobel medal and Bible for sale, and a judge locked both in a bank boxlaw.resource.org and 12 more
  324. 1968Marcel Duchamp worked in secret for 20 years on Étant donnés; it was moved to Philadelphia under his 1966 instructions after he died in 1968duchamparchives.org and 3 more
  325. 1967Alfried Krupp was convicted at Nuremberg, got his property back in 1951, and left the firm to a foundation instead of his sonkrupp-stiftung.de and 6 more
  326. 1967Prince Janusz Radziwiłł lost about 43,700 hectares to Soviet and communist seizure, and his wife died in NKVD custodyprzystanekhistoria.pl and 6 more
  327. 1967Prince Felix Yusupov sold two Rembrandts to Joseph Widener with a buy-back option, raised the money, and lost them in courtCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 5 more
  328. 1967The Lobkowicz family lost its castles to the Nazis in 1939 and the Communists in 1948, and a grandson spent 12 years recovering the Prague palacezakonyprolidi.cz and 9 more
  329. 1967China's last emperor kept his title and palace after abdicating, and soldiers blew open his ancestors' tombsWikipedia (English) and 2 more
  330. 1967Arndt von Bohlen und Halbach gave up the Krupp inheritance for 2 million marks a year so a foundation could own the companyInternet Archive and 3 more
  331. 1967Oil on an 11-year-old Creek Freedwoman's allotment brought her $300 a day, a white guardian took charge, and W. E. B. Du Bois wrote to her judge about reports she was being cheatedkgou.org and 2 more
  332. 1967Three days after Hyderabad surrendered in 1948, its minister moved £1 million to Pakistan's envoy; a London court gave it back to the Nizam's heirs 71 years laterThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 5 more
  333. 1967Bolivian officers cut off Che Guevara's hands in 1967, a minister had them smuggled toward Cuba in a jar, and his body was found under an airstrip 30 years laterpagina12.com.ar and 3 more
  334. 1967Mohammed bin Laden's sons ran his construction group for decades, and three of them signed their shares over to the state while detainednewarab.com and 5 more
  335. 1967Bill Koch sold his stake for $1.1 billion, sued his brothers for more, lost, and settled after 20 yearscase-law.vlex.com and 2 more
  336. 1967Mossadegh nationalised Iran's oil, was overthrown in a CIA and MI6 coup, and was buried under the floor of his own houseequaltimes.org and 2 more
  337. 1967A cousin with only a life estate sold John Coltrane's Philadelphia house for $100,000, and his sons sued to take it backinquirer.com and 2 more
  338. 1967Brian Epstein died at 32 owed 25 percent of the Beatles' royalties for nine years, and his mother sold that claim to a City investment trustthe-paulmccartney-project.com and 3 more
  339. 1967Jo Hopper left the Whitney more than 3,000 Edward Hopper works in 1968; a critic alleges a Nyack minister who shared the residue took hundreds more, and the museum has declined to pursue itbostonglobe.com and 3 more
  340. 1967Jayne Mansfield's estate was appraised at $600,000 in 1967; by 1977 her children found about $500,000 in debts and the estate insolventThe New York Times and 2 more
  341. 1966The Nawab of Rampur's eldest son took all his private property in 1966; after 53 years the Supreme Court split it among 16 heirsapi.sci.gov.in and 2 more
  342. 1966Guinness heir Tara Browne died at 21 before his £1 million inheritance, and his mother won custody of his sonsau.rollingstone.com and 2 more
  343. 1966A forger sold about 1,300 fake Giacometti sculptures over ten years, German police seized more than 1,150 suspect works in 2009, and a Stuttgart court gave dealers two-year suspended sentencesThe Art Newspaper and 3 more
  344. 1966Monet's last heir died in a car crash on 3 February 1966 and left Giverny and his father's paintings to the Académie des Beaux-Artsacademiedesbeauxarts.fr and 3 more
  345. 1966Lenny Bruce died broke in 1966 with an appeal pending, and New York pardoned him in 2003Internet Archive and 4 more
  346. 1965Tchibo heir Günter Herz was forced out by his family in 2001 and sold out with his sister for an estimated $5 billionForbes and 7 more
  347. 1965King Farouk left Egypt on his yacht, and one of his gold coins later sold for $18.9 millionWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  348. 1965Syria hanged Israeli spy Eli Cohen in 1965 and kept his body; 60 years later the Mossad brought back his will and the keys to his Damascus flat, but not his remainstimesofisrael.com and 2 more
  349. 1965Somerset Maugham tried to disinherit his daughter in 1962 to adopt his secretary Alan Searle; a 21-month case in British and French courts barred the adoptionspectator.com and 3 more
  350. 1965T. S. Eliot's 1,131 letters to Emily Hale stayed sealed at Princeton for 60 years, and Harvard released his own denial the same daypwb.princeton.edu and 3 more
  351. 1964Ian Fleming had two heart attacks during the Thunderball trial, settled, and died nine months laterWikipedia (English) and 2 more
  352. 1964Philippine Executive Order No. 1 paid MacArthur $500,000 in 1942, and the payment stayed secret until 1979vtechworks.lib.vt.edu and 6 more
  353. 1964Sam Cooke was shot by a motel manager who then sued his estate, and his manager's company already owned his recordingsInternet Archive and 2 more
  354. 1964Seibu's founder left his railway empire to his third son over the eldest, and that son was convicted in 2005 over shares kept in other people's namesNBC News and 3 more
  355. 1964Italian fishermen netted a Greek bronze in 1964, Italy's courts acquitted the sellers, and decades later ordered it confiscated from the Gettylagen.nu and 3 more
  356. 1964The KGB seized Vasily Grossman's novel and every draft in 1961, and the FSB gave the papers to a state archive in 2013, not to his heirsdaily.jstor.org and 2 more
  357. 1963Sylvia Plath died separated but not divorced, so Ted Hughes inherited her work and destroyed her last journalnybooks.com and 3 more
  358. 1963Rikidōzan hid that he was Korean, died of a yakuza stab wound, and left his 22-year-old widow president of five companies and a reported 3 billion yen of debtKorea JoongAng Daily and 3 more
  359. 1963Edith Piaf's body was driven secretly from Grasse to Paris so her death could be announced there, and her husband inherited her debtspariszigzag.fr and 4 more
  360. 1963Patsy Cline's brother sued her sister over Patsy's stage clothes, and a judge ordered the dresses sold to pay the lawyeroocities.org and 2 more
  361. 1963A Lewis scholar says he saved C. S. Lewis's papers from a bonfire; a critic charged in 1988 that the story and an unfinished novel were a hoaxchristianitytoday.com and 2 more
  362. 1962Juan March bought Barcelona Traction bonds, had the company declared bankrupt in Reus and took Catalonia's power networklegal.un.org and 4 more
  363. 1962Ernie Kovacs's mother sued his widow, Edie Adams, over how she paid his tax debtsCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  364. 1962Solomon Linda sold "Mbube" for 10 shillings, and his daughters seized Disney's South African trademarks to win a share of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"wipo.int and 4 more
  365. 1962Oregon claimed a dead woman's estate because her only heirs lived in East Germany, and the Supreme Court ruled in 1968 that a state cannot run its own Cold War through probateCornell Law School, LII and 3 more
  366. 1962Marilyn Monroe's executor told tax officials she lived in New York, so a court barred her estate's company from claiming California image rightsCourtListener and 8 more
  367. 1961The US government seized Dashiell Hammett's royalties for back taxes, and after he died Lillian Hellman took control of his copyrightsLondon Review of Books and 3 more
  368. 1961The Dominican Republic confiscated the Trujillo family's property by law in 1962, and his remains lie in a cemetery near Madridmemoriahistorica.senadord.gob.do and 6 more
  369. 1961Ernest Hemingway's widow gave his Cuban house to Castro's government in 1961 and shipped his papers and paintings out on a shrimp boatSmithsonian Magazine and 3 more
  370. 1961A Belgian police officer kept Lumumba's tooth after dissolving his body in acid; Belgium returned it in 2022, and the last suspect died before trial in 2026NBC News and 6 more
  371. 1961Ranch heiress Sarita Kenedy East left her fortune to a foundation controlled by a Trappist monk, and more than 200 people claimed to be her heirsInternet Archive and 2 more
  372. 1960Bhopal's heiress left for Pakistan, her sister's line took the palaces, and in 2025 a court reopened Saif Ali Khan's inheritanceLiveLaw and 4 more
  373. 1960Loretta Young hid her daughter by Clark Gable in orphanages, then "adopted" her, and admitted the truth only in a book published after her deathThe New York Times and 2 more
  374. 1960Fausto Coppi's son was born in Argentina so he could carry the Coppi name, because Italian law made him another man's sonInternet Archive and 4 more
  375. 1960Eleven weeks after Boris Pasternak died, the Soviet state arrested his companion over his Doctor Zhivago royalties and sent her to a camp for eight yearszhivagostorm.org and 3 more
  376. 1960Cuba seized the Havana docks in 1960, a US company won more than $100 million from each of four cruise lines, and the Supreme Court revived its claim in 2026Cornell Law School, LII and 2 more
  377. 1960Mary Roy's brother told her to leave their father's cottage, she sued, and the Supreme Court gave Kerala's Syrian Christian daughters equal shares back to 1951LiveLaw and 3 more
  378. 1960A yardman burned Zora Neale Hurston's belongings after she died in a county welfare home in 1960, and a deputy sheriff put out the firearchive.news.ufl.edu and 3 more
  379. 1960Richard Wright died in a Paris clinic in 1960; his daughter and friends said the US government may have had him killedfbeyes.wustl.edu and 3 more
  380. 1959Cigarette heir Jan Philipp Reemtsma sold his inheritance and was kidnapped for a 30 million mark ransomdeutsche-biographie.de and 8 more
  381. 1959A Kentucky man adopted his own wife so she could inherit from his mother's trust, and the court refusedCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 1 more
  382. 1959Frank Lloyd Wright's grave in Wisconsin was emptied 26 years after his burial, and his body was cremated for Arizonaarabnews.pk and 4 more
  383. 1959Billie Holiday died under arrest in a hospital bed with 70 cents in the banklegacy.com and 2 more
  384. 1959Cuba seized the Arechabala family's Havana Club rum company in 1959, and the family's lapsed US trademark has been in court ever sincecongress.gov and 2 more
  385. 1959Thailand executed Si Quey in 1959 and a hospital museum displayed his embalmed body as a "cannibal" for 60 years before he was crematednationthailand.com and 2 more
  386. 1959Robert Kaufmann left his fortune to the man he lived with, and two New York juries gave it to his brothersCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  387. 1959Buddy Holly's widow charged Lubbock to use his name, and the city renamed its festival and walk of famekcbd.com and 3 more
  388. 1958Baron Ferenc Hatvany came out of hiding in 1945 to find his Budapest bank vaults emptied, and a British panel recommended a looted Constable be returned to his heirsassets.publishing.service.gov.uk and 4 more
  389. 1958Count Alfred Potocki shipped about 700 crates from Łańcut to Vienna before the Red Army arrived, and the castle became a state museumipsb.nina.gov.pl and 5 more
  390. 1958Jack Warner took control of Warner Bros. in 1956 after his brothers sold out; Harry died two years laterInternet Archive and 1 more
  391. 1958Iraq's 23-year-old king and his family were shot in the palace courtyard, and the regent's body was dragged through BaghdadWikipedia (English) and 2 more
  392. 1958Mahar families inherited village land in return for hereditary service; Ambedkar told them to give it up, and Bombay abolished the watans in 1958CaseMine and 2 more
  393. 1958Hungary hanged Imre Nagy in 1958 and buried him face down under a woman's name, and over 200,000 people came to his reburial in 1989301.nori.gov.hu and 2 more
  394. 1957The Florio family built Sicily's largest business group and lost all of it to the banks and the state by 1935rivistameridiana.it and 5 more
  395. 1957Mexico's Supreme Court annulled Pedro Infante's second marriage six days before he died in a plane crashinfobae.com and 2 more
  396. 1957Gabriela Mistral left her South American royalties to the poor children of her village, and Pinochet's government let anyone publish her work in Chile from 1979chile.justia.com and 5 more
  397. 1957The Aga Khan's will passed over his son Aly Khan and made his 20-year-old grandson imamtheeastafrican.co.ke and 6 more
  398. 1957Laura Ingalls Wilder left her book royalties to a Missouri library after her daughter's death; the daughter's heir renewed the copyrights, and a 2001 settlement paid the library $875,000The Seattle Times and 2 more
  399. 1956Bela Lugosi's widow and son sued Universal over Dracula merchandise and lost in 1979Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  400. 1956Spain's gold went to Moscow in 1936; when Negrín died, his son gave Franco the receipts, and Moscow said the money was all goneenciclopedia.cat and 3 more
  401. 1956Taiwan's leading landlord Lin Hsien-tang left for Japan "for treatment" in 1949 and never came back, and the 1953 land-to-the-tiller law paid landlords in bonds and shareszh.wikisource.org and 4 more
  402. 1956Jackson Pollock's mistress Ruth Kligman claimed he painted Red, Black & Silver for her weeks before his 1956 crash, and his widow Lee Krasner and the Pollock-Krasner board rejected itThe Art Newspaper and 3 more
  403. 1956Angela Merkel returned two Emil Nolde paintings to the Berlin museum foundation in April 2019, as a Nationalgalerie show detailed his Nazi loyaltysmb.museum and 3 more
  404. 1956Robert Walser was found dead in the snow in 1956 after 23 years in an asylum, and his guardian Carl Seelig controlled the microscripts until 1962vqronline.org and 4 more
  405. 1955The Nazis held Louis de Rothschild hostage in Vienna in 1938 and released him for the family's assetsjta.org and 6 more
  406. 1955Calouste Gulbenkian left his oil fortune to a Lisbon foundation and his son Nubar about $2.5 millionTime and 6 more
  407. 1955Peary and Henson each fathered a son in Greenland, and Henson was moved beside Peary at Arlington in 1988arlingtoncemetery.mil and 3 more
  408. 1955Charlie Parker's wife, his partner and his mother fought over his body, and he was buried where he asked not to beInternet Archive and 3 more
  409. 1955Ann Woodward shot her husband, the owner of Nashua, a grand jury cleared her in 30 minutes, and both her sons later killed themselvesbiography.com and 2 more
  410. 1955Einstein gave his Nobel money to his first wife and asked to be cremated in secret, and the pathologist kept his brain for decadesnationalgeographic.com and 3 more
  411. 1955Albert Einstein's publicity rights ended in 2005, a judge ruled, defeating Hebrew University's suit over a GM ad with his face on a muscled bodycacd.uscourts.gov and 5 more
  412. 1955James Dean died without a will, his father inherited, his wrecked Porsche vanished in 1960, and his estate sued Twitter over @JamesDeanThe Seattle Times and 5 more
  413. 1954The Quandt fortune behind BMW used about 50,000 forced labourers, a 2011 family-funded study foundInternet Archive and 8 more
  414. 1954Diego Rivera locked Frida Kahlo's bathroom after she died, and her clothes and papers stayed sealed for 50 yearsgetty.edu and 3 more
  415. 1954Hitler paid his field marshals 4,000 Reichsmarks a month and gave Guderian a confiscated Polish estatejournals.uchicago.edu and 3 more
  416. 1954Edwin Armstrong jumped from his apartment after years of suing RCA over FM radio, and his widow, once Sarnoff's secretary, won the caseslemelson.mit.edu and 3 more
  417. 1953The 12th Duke of Bedford was found shot in 1953, and the son he had cut off opened Woburn Abbey to paying visitors to meet a £4.5 million tax debtbedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk and 7 more
  418. 1953Jim Thorpe's widow sold his body to two Pennsylvania towns, which renamed themselves after himpenntoday.upenn.edu and 3 more
  419. 1953Hank Williams' daughter was born five days after his death, made a ward of the state, and won half his estate 34 years laterpeople.com and 2 more
  420. 1953A landowner whose family gave the Viet Minh 700 taels of gold was shot as the land reform's first example in 1953, and her family found her bones in 1990cand.vn and 4 more
  421. 1953The Rosenbergs were executed in 1953, child-care agencies petitioned for custody of their sons and the boys' trust fund, and the sons have spent 70 years on their mother's casearchives.gov and 5 more
  422. 1953The CIA gave Army scientist Frank Olson LSD without telling him, he fell from a New York hotel nine days later, and the $750,000 his family accepted later blocked their murder suitABA Journal and 2 more
  423. 1953Beria was shot half an hour after his verdict in 1953; his son lived as Sergo Gegechkori and died five months after Russia's Supreme Court refused to clear his fatherarchive.kyivpost.com and 4 more
  424. 1953The Transvaal bought the largest diamond ever found as a birthday gift for Edward VII, the cutter kept the smaller stones as his fee, and South Africans petition for its returnUK Parliament, Hansard and 3 more
  425. 1953Eugene O'Neill disowned his daughter Oona in 1943, and his widow Carlotta released Long Day's Journey Into Night in 1956 against his 25-year bantheatermania.com and 2 more
  426. 1953Dylan Thomas lost the Under Milk Wood manuscript in a Soho pub, his producer found it and sold it for £2,000, and his widow Caitlin lost her suit to get it backarchives.library.wales and 4 more
  427. 1952Argentina's military seized Eva Perón's embalmed body and buried it in Milan under a false nameIl Post and 3 more
  428. 1952The author of Goodnight Moon left her royalties to a neighbour's nine-year-old son, who spent the millionsThe New Yorker and 3 more
  429. 1952A devadasi singer spent her fortune on a temple for the saint Thyagaraja, was barred from singing at his festival, and held her ownfeminisminindia.com and 5 more
  430. 1951Hearst's will locked his company in a trust until every relative alive in 1951 dies, and the company gave his castle to Californiaohp.parks.ca.gov and 7 more
  431. 1951Fritz Thyssen paid for Hitler's rise, lost his fortune to him in 1939, survived the camps and emigrated on his book royaltiesifz-muenchen.de and 4 more
  432. 1951Pétain's property was confiscated in 1945 and his coffin was stolen from Île d'Yeu in 1973ina.fr and 3 more
  433. 1951A Pennsylvania judge let the Barnes Foundation move Albert Barnes's art to Philadelphia in 2004, against his indenturelaw.justia.com and 3 more
  434. 1951Doctors took Henrietta Lacks's cells without her knowledge in 1951, and her estate has settled with Thermo Fisher and Novartisthebanner.com and 2 more
  435. 1951Iraq took the property of the Jews who left in 1951, US troops found their community's books in a flooded secret-police basement in 2003, and the books have stayed in Americajns.org and 3 more
  436. 1950The 10th Duke of Devonshire died in 1950 before his tax plan matured, and his heirs took 17 years to pay 80 percent death dutychatsworth.org and 5 more
  437. 1950Czechoslovakia passed a law to take one family's estate, and the Schwarzenberg heirs have lost every claim to it sincehrlibrary.umn.edu and 6 more
  438. 1950The Lubavitcher Rebbe's grandson sold books from the movement's library as his inheritance; a federal court ruled the library was never the Rebbe's to leaveCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  439. 1950Calumet Farm passed to a widow for life, then to a grandson-in-law who ran up $127 million in debt and went to prisonThe Seattle Times and 3 more
  440. 1950George Bernard Shaw's will ordered a new 40-letter alphabet; the High Court found the trust not charitable in 1957, and the National Gallery of Ireland received a third of his royalties until 2020oxbridgenotes.co.uk and 3 more
  441. 1950George Orwell married Sonia Brownell in a hospital in October 1949 and died in January 1950; his estate's accountant ran his rights until she sued in 1979washingtonmonthly.com and 3 more
  442. 1949Margaret Mitchell's estate sued to stop a novel retelling Gone With the Wind from the view of a slave, and ended up funding a Black collegeopenjurist.org and 3 more
  443. 1949In Kind Hearts and Coronets, a disowned daughter's son sets out to kill the eight relatives ahead of him in line and becomes a dukeProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  444. 1949Landlord Liu Wencai died before land reform reached him, his manor became a museum of his crimes, and in 1988 its "water dungeon" was relabelled an opium storedeniseyho.com and 2 more
  445. 1949Lead Belly's family trust sued his publishers in 2026 over 49 songs it took back by copyright terminationmusicbusinessworldwide.com and 1 more
  446. 1948The government ordered opencast mining up to Wentworth Woodhouse, and the Fitzwilliam earldom ended in 1979wentworthwoodhouse.org.uk and 6 more
  447. 1948US Army papers show Hideki Tojo's ashes were scattered over the Pacific in 1948wjla.com and 4 more
  448. 1948Jinnah left his Bombay house to his sister; India took it as evacuee property, and his daughter died with her claim still pendingthequint.com and 3 more
  449. 1948Yemen's Imam Yahya groomed his son to inherit an office meant to go to the most able; rebels killed him in 1948, and the tribes that won the throne back for the son looted Sanaagulfnews.com and 3 more
  450. 1948The Smithsonian got the Wright Flyer for $1 on a contract that returns it to the Wright heirs if the museum says anyone flew firstUS National Park Service and 4 more
  451. 1948Iraq hanged its richest Jew, Shafiq Ades, outside his own house in Basra in 1948 and took his estateInternet Archive and 2 more
  452. 1948Cecil Harris lay pinned under his tractor for 10 hours and scratched his will into the fendernews.usask.ca and 2 more
  453. 1948Zelda Fitzgerald died locked in a fifth-floor room when fire destroyed Highland Hospital in 1948; nine women died and no one was chargeddncr.nc.gov and 2 more
  454. 1947The Fords put 90% of Ford Motor into a foundation and kept the votes, and Henry Ford II quit its board in 1976Internet Archive and 3 more
  455. 1947Joan Irvine Smith fought the foundation that controlled her grandfather's Irvine Ranch for 33 years and left with $256 millionLos Angeles Times and 2 more
  456. 1947Bolivia seized the tin king's mines in 1952, and his heir offered the government a 5 million dollar loan for a law that would let him divorceTime and 3 more
  457. 1947The regent who found the 14th Dalai Lama handed power to a rival in 1941, was arrested for plotting to take it back, and died in a Potala celltibet.prm.ox.ac.uk and 2 more
  458. 1947Simón Patiño built a tin fortune from one Bolivian vein, and five years after his death the revolution took his mineshistory.state.gov and 4 more
  459. 1947Harry Thaw's mother spent the family fortune to free him after he shot Stanford White, and his will left Evelyn Nesbit $10,000encyclopedia.com and 4 more
  460. 1947Evalyn Walsh McLean wore the Hope Diamond through a son's death, a husband's insanity and the Lindbergh hoax, and her estate sold itthe-cartiers.com and 2 more
  461. 1947The Soviets said Raoul Wallenberg died in a Moscow prison in 1947; Sweden's tax agency declared him dead in 2016, and a Moscow court refused his family the prison recordsCBS News and 2 more
  462. 1947Al Capone went to prison for tax evasion and paid every cent, a live TV search for his vault found nothing, and his family sold his pistol for $860,000fbi.gov and 3 more
  463. 1947A colonel took the trousers off the solicitor who wrote himself into a client's will, went to prison, then beat him in the House of Lords without a lawyeralrc.gov.au and 2 more
  464. 1947The Hope Diamond's curse story was sold with the stone in 1911; its owner's will put it in trust for her grandchildren, and her trustees sold it to pay her debtsthe-cartiers.com and 2 more
  465. 1947The Collyer brothers died in their inherited Harlem house under more than 100 tons of hoarded goods, and 56 people claimed the estatemessynessychic.com and 2 more
  466. 1947Aleister Crowley died with £430 and left his writings to his order, and a federal court decided in 1985 which of the rival orders owned themaleistercrowleytimeline.com and 3 more
  467. 1947Pierre Bonnard's wife had four unknown nieces; a French court ruled in 1951 that he forged her will, and the family won on appeallejournaldesarts.fr and 4 more
  468. 1946W.C. Fields paid his son's mother $20,000 to deny he was the father, and his will's orphan college lost to the wife he never divorcedThe New York Times and 2 more
  469. 1946William S. Hart left his only son nothing and his ranch to Los Angeles County; the son fought for a decadeCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  470. 1946Thailand's 20-year-old king was found shot in his bed, and three palace servants were executed nine years laterWikipedia (English)
  471. 1946The Nazis forced Max Warburg to give up M.M. Warburg & Co in 1938; his son Eric needed until 1970 to restore the family nameInternet Archive and 6 more
  472. 1946Hitler was godfather to Göring's daughter, the city of Cologne gave her a Cranach, and she lost the painting in 1968 and her father's estate in 2015thelocal.de and 2 more
  473. 1946Japan's largest landlord told reporters in 1945 he would not regret going from 1,500 chō to 5, and the 1946 law left a resident landlord about onecollections.dartmouth.edu and 3 more
  474. 1945Vichy expropriated the Rothschild vineyards at Pauillac, and Philippe de Rothschild's wife died at Ravensbrück before Mouton came back to the familyThe New York Times and 4 more
  475. 1945German troops packed the Amber Room into 27 crates in 1941, and it has been missing since 1945NBC News and 4 more
  476. 1945The Anne Frank Fonds named Otto Frank a co-author of the diary to extend its copyright past 2016jta.org and 3 more
  477. 1945The Hershey school trust voted to sell Hershey Foods to Wrigley for $12.5 billion in 2002, and a Pennsylvania court stopped itInternet Archive and 3 more
  478. 1945The Hershey school paid $12 million for a failing golf course, and the attorney general twice demanded reforms of its boardphilly.com and 3 more
  479. 1945Workers in Tokyo dug up the bones of at least 62 people at the old Army Medical School in 1989, and Japan has never identified themCBS News and 2 more
  480. 1945Partisans shot Mussolini, fascists stole his body from an unmarked grave, and the state hid it in a monastery for 11 years before trading it for votespanorama.it and 2 more
  481. 1945Hungary's crown guard handed the Holy Crown to the US Army in 1945, it sat in Fort Knox for 33 years, and Carter gave it to a communist governmenthistory.state.gov and 3 more
  482. 1945Hitler willed his property to the Nazi Party, a Munich court gave it to Bavaria, and Bavaria used his copyright to block Mein Kampf for 70 yearsjewishvirtuallibrary.org and 3 more
  483. 1945The Gestapo took the Ephrussi palace in Vienna in 1938; the family says a maid hid the netsuke in her mattress, and the Jewish Museum says it cannot be provedjmw.at and 2 more
  484. 1945Anton Webern was shot dead by a US Army cook in Mittersill on 15 September 1945, and the record shows no trialtheamericanscholar.org and 2 more
  485. 1945Béla Bartók's New York estate was in court for 22 years, and the trustee claimed his manuscriptsCourtListener and 4 more