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Academies and learned societies
American Academy of Arts and Letters
Cases about members of American Academy of Arts and Letters. Memberships appear only where Wikidata records one for the person the case is about: societies, clubs, fraternities, academies, parties and councils.
Every case, newest first
- 2021The widow of Bob Dylan's "Hurricane" co-writer sued for a share of his $300 million song sale and lost twicenycourts.gov and 3 more
- 2016Harper Lee's second novel was published when she was frail and her lawyer controlled her affairs; her will stayed sealed until The New York Times suedthebookseller.com and 3 more
- 2012Gore Vidal changed his trust in 2011 to leave everything to Harvard, and his half-sister and nephew suedwashingtonian.com and 3 more
- 2011Lucian Freud left a 96 million pound estate to his solicitor and one daughter, and a High Court judge refused to open the will to a son who was one of at least 14 childrenThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 3 more
- 2008Robert Rauschenberg's art trust grew from $605.6 million to $2.2 billion, and a Florida judge gave his three trustees $24.6 million in feesflprobatelitigation.com and 6 more
- 2005Arthur Miller kept his son Daniel with Down syndrome out of public view and left him an equal share of the estate six weeks before he diedNPR and 3 more
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 1986Borges left everything to the woman he married seven weeks before he died; she died without a willThe New York Times and 3 more
- 1984Truman Capote's ashes were divided, stolen at a party, returned in a garden hose, and auctioned in 2016Wikipedia (English)
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 1910Mark Twain fired his secretary Isabel Lyon in 1909 and wrote 429 pages accusing her and her husband, a text kept private until 2015lynncullen.com and 1 more