Laura 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 $875,000

Laura Ingalls Wilder's will left her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, the proceeds of her literary estate "during her natural life," with the Wright County library in Mansfield to receive them afterward. Lane died in late 1968, aged 81, with no children or husband. Her will left her entire estate to Roger Lea MacBride, a lawyer she called her adopted grandson. The library alleged that MacBride, as executor and sole heir, renewed the copyrights of Wilder's books in his own name and those of his lawyers instead of passing the rights to the library. It said the library received one payment of about $28,000, in 1972. MacBride died in 1995, and his estate passed to his daughter, Abigail MacBride Allen. The library sued in federal court in October 1999 against Allen, MacBride's estate and HarperCollins, seeking an accounting. The defendants argued the library waited too long. A federal judge dismissed its claim to royalties from six books. In January 2001 a Jackson County probate judge ruled the library had a legitimate claim on two others. In April 2001 the parties reached a tentative settlement of $875,000 from HarperCollins and Wilder's heirs.