Jayne Mansfield's estate was appraised at $600,000 in 1967; by 1977 her children found about $500,000 in debts and the estate insolvent

Jayne Mansfield was killed at about 2:25 a.m. on 29 June 1967 when the car carrying her, her attorney and partner Sam Brody, driver Ronald Harrison and three of her children hit the rear of a tractor-trailer. The children survived. Her estate was first appraised at $600,000, including the Pink Palace mansion (estimated at $100,000) and a $185,000 estate Brody left to her. Former husband Mickey Hargitay, Matt Cimber and others filed suits to gain control of the estate; all failed, and the Evening Independent ran "Hargitay Loses Claim to Funds" on 17 January 1969. In 1971 Brody's wife Beverly sued the estate for $325,000 in presents and jewelry Brody gave Mansfield; the case settled. In 1977 her four eldest children went to court and found about $500,000 in debts, including $11,000 for lingerie and $11,600 for pool plumbing. The debts and litigation left the estate insolvent. The Pink Palace later belonged to Ringo Starr and Engelbert Humperdinck, who sold it to developers in 2002, and it was demolished that November. CMG Worldwide later managed the remainder of her estate. The children's final inheritance was not confirmed in a primary source^†.