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Civil law

Inheritance under the codes of continental Europe, Latin America and Japan, where children hold a reserved share a will cannot take away.

504 storiesThe law overview

How does civil law decide who inherits?

An estate inventory that lists each valuable item gives heirs the proof they need to reclaim it if it is stolen and resold years later. Families can sue the government over how it treats a body, and a jury will value that privacy in millions.

Stories
504
Years
3300 BCE to 2026
Main regions
Europe, Latin America, North America
Main subjects
Literature and art, European families, Music and sport
Updated
30 October 2026

Every civil law story, newest first

  1. 2026Valentino left his estate to a foundation in Liechtenstein that the public had never heard ofmilanofinanza.it and 2 more
  2. 2025Michael Schumacher's family has kept his condition secret since 2013, and a former guard tried to sell his medical records for €15 millionbluewin.ch and 2 more
  3. 2025Giorgio Armani's will orders his heirs to sell 15 percent of his company to a rival group within 18 monthsksl.com and 2 more
  4. 2025Najib Razak's stepson made The Wolf of Wall Street with money from Malaysia's state fund, and Najib was given 15 more years in prisonjamaica-gleaner.com and 3 more
  5. 2024Alain Delon never acknowledged the son his mother raised, and French courts ruled the claim too late after both men diedici.fr and 5 more
  6. 2024Suzuki Motor was run by four adopted sons in a row, including Osamu Suzuki, who married into the family and ran it for 43 yearsglobalsuzuki.com and 4 more
  7. 2024Alain Delon's three children fought over his care and his two wills, and in 2026 two of them were fined for secretly recording the thirdLe Monde and 6 more
  8. 2024Wahaha founder Zong Qinghou's three other children froze $1.8 billion in Hong Kong to claim trusts he wrote by handcaixinglobal.com and 2 more
  9. 2024Liam Payne fell from a Buenos Aires hotel balcony with no will, and his £24 million went to his seven-year-old sontribune.com.pk and 3 more
  10. 2024Mango's founder fell to his death on a hike with his son, and a judge has named the son the only suspectcatalannews.com and 3 more
  11. 2024Roberto Cavalli split his estate equally among his partner and six children, and the heirs accepted it only up to the value of his debtsilfattoquotidiano.it and 2 more
  12. 2024O.J. Simpson paid little of the $33.5 million judgment while alive, and in 2025 his executor accepted a $58 million claim from Ron Goldman's fatherfindlaw.com and 2 more
  13. 2024Navalny died in an Arctic prison colony, and the state held his body for eight days while investigators pressed his mother to agree to a secret burialglobalnews.ca and 1 more
  14. 2023A 2014 letter said the four Hinduja brothers owned everything jointly, and the eldest brother's daughters fought it through his dementia and deathThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 3 more
  15. 2023Robert Blake was acquitted of murdering his wife, then ordered to pay her children $30 millionCNN and 2 more
  16. 2023Gina Lollobrigida left half her estate to an assistant who was convicted of exploiting her, and her son says €10 million is gonecorriere.it and 6 more
  17. 2023Silvio Berlusconi left €100 million to his 33-year-old partner and €30 million to a friend convicted of mafia tiesansa.it and 3 more
  18. 2023Greece took its exiled king's palaces without payment, and the European Court ordered €13.7 million in compensationWikipedia (English)
  19. 2023LG's chairman adopted his nephew as heir; his widow and daughters sued to undo the share split and the adoption, and lost both in 2026The Korea Times and 3 more
  20. 2023Matteo Messina Denaro owned nothing on paper when he was caught after 30 years on the run, and gave his surname to his daughter weeks before he diedopen.online and 2 more
  21. 2023The original Hermes bag made for Jane Birkin sold at Sotheby's Paris in July 2025 for 8.58 million euros, the highest price paid for a handbag at auctionBloomberg and 3 more
  22. 2022Leonardo Del Vecchio split his holding company into eight equal shares, and his heirs are suing in Milan and Luxembourgtg24.sky.it and 8 more
  23. 2022Pelé fought a paternity case he lost, and after his death a woman claimed his estate until two DNA tests failedprimicias.ec and 3 more
  24. 2022Angola's former president died in Barcelona, a daughter fought to bury him in Spain, and a Spanish court sent the body to his widow in Luandavoaafrica.com and 5 more
  25. 2022Gal Costa's adopted son asked to exhume her and challenged her widow's claim to half the estate, then settled for an equal splitcnnbrasil.com.br and 4 more
  26. 2022A Miami businessman burned a drawing he said was Frida Kahlo's to sell 10,000 NFTs, and Mexico investigated because her work is a national monumentSmithsonian Magazine and 2 more
  27. 2021Tengelmann chief Karl-Erivan Haub vanished near the Matterhorn, and his brother bought out his widow and childrenorf.at and 7 more
  28. 2021Argentine president Carlos Menem's son from his prison-era affair was recognised by a court only in 2006, after his mother's deathpagina12.com.ar and 2 more
  29. 2021South Korea could not collect 86.7 billion won of Chun Doo-hwan's forfeiture after he diedThe Korea Herald and 8 more
  30. 2021Bernard Tapie was beaten in his home six months before he died owing the state more than 400 million euros, and his widow lost her flatthelocal.fr and 3 more
  31. 2021Equatorial Guinea's vice president bought a Paris mansion on a minister's salary, France confiscated it, and the UN court refused to stop the saleNBC News and 4 more
  32. 2021The Order of Malta's Grand Master fired his chancellor in 2016, the Pope forced the Grand Master out, and a 30-million-franc gift from a Geneva trust sat behind the fightNBC News and 2 more
  33. 2021Vicente Fernández's widow went to court to stop Televisa using his name for a biopic, and the series aired anywayinfobae.com and 5 more
  34. 2020Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee's heirs paid 12 trillion won in inheritance tax, the largest in Korean historykhan.co.kr and 3 more
  35. 2020Diego Maradona left five recognised heirs, more paternity claims, and two trials over his death and his namelacapital.com.ar and 3 more
  36. 2020Lotte's 93-year-old founder fired his younger son, the shareholders kept the son, and a court put the father under guardianshipThe Korea Herald and 2 more
  37. 2020The heir of the House of Hanover offered Marienburg Castle to the state for one euro, and his father sued him for gross ingratitudelto.de and 7 more
  38. 2020Bulgaria sued its former tsar to take back his palaces, and the Supreme Court gave him Tsarska Bistritsa but the state got Vrana parkvks.bg and 4 more
  39. 2020Banco Espírito Santo collapsed in 2014 and its chief Ricardo Salgado was sentenced to eight yearsobservador.pt and 9 more
  40. 2020Deputies and firefighters shared photos of Kobe Bryant's remains, and his widow won $28.85 million from Los Angeles Countyetonline.com and 2 more
  41. 2020A Delhi court ruled that Sushant Singh Rajput's publicity rights died with him, so his father could not stop a film about his deathLiveLaw and 2 more
  42. 2020A Bangkok dealer died under US indictment for selling looted Khmer statues, and his daughter gave the 125 pieces she inherited back to Cambodiaice.gov and 4 more
  43. 2020Pierre Cardin's great-nephew found a will naming him sole heir to an €800 million estate, and a Paris court ruled it was not a willfashionunited.fr and 2 more
  44. 2020Switzerland froze 700 million francs tied to Mubarak's circle in 2011, and after 11 years released the last 400 million to its ownerspubliceye.ch and 3 more
  45. 2019Porsche tried to buy Volkswagen and ended up owned by it, and Ferdinand Piëch was later forced out of VWporsche-se.com and 8 more
  46. 2019Goo Hara's mother left when she was a child and claimed half her estate; Korea changed its inheritance lawsoompi.com and 3 more
  47. 2019A Sinar Mas son was left 1 billion rupiah, sued his half-brothers over an estate he put at 649 trillion rupiah, and lost his status as a legitimate childfinance.detik.com and 4 more
  48. 2019João Gilberto's daughter had him declared incapable while he faced eviction, and his heirs won R$150 million from his record label after he diedrollingstone.com.br and 3 more
  49. 2019José José's older children searched Miami hospitals and funeral homes for his body, and two wills name different heirshola.com and 2 more
  50. 2019Gugu Liberato's will left nothing to the mother of his three children, and a chef who said he was Gugu's partner of eight years sued as wellagazeta.com.br and 3 more
  51. 2019Karl Lagerfeld left about €200 million to his assistant, models, his godson and his cat, and seven years later a French tax claim and a will challenge hold itvol.at and 3 more
  52. 2018Baron Empain was kidnapped in Paris in 1978, lost part of a finger, was held 63 days, and sold his stake in Empain-Schneider three years laterLe Monde and 4 more
  53. 2018A Texas-born princess was evicted from the Roman villa with Caravaggio's only mural after six auctions drew no bidsartribune.com and 6 more
  54. 2018A Delhi court forced a former chief minister to give blood for a paternity test; his son won, and was killed a year after the father diedindiatoday.in and 4 more
  55. 2018Japan's "Don Juan of Kishu" left his fortune to his town; his widow was acquitted of killing him and may still inherit halfInternet Archive and 3 more
  56. 2018Tom Benson's daughter and grandchildren sued to have him declared incompetent after he gave the Saints to his third wifeespn.com and 2 more
  57. 2018Ingvar Kamprad put IKEA into a Dutch foundation in 1982 that The Economist called the world's richest charity and one of its least generousThe Economist and 3 more
  58. 2018Japan hanged Aum's founder in 2018, his daughters fought over his ashes, and the state refused to hand them over until a 2026 court orderenglish.adnkronos.com and 1 more
  59. 2018Avicii died at 28 without a will; his parents inherited about $25 million and sold 75 percent of his catalogdancingastronaut.com and 2 more
  60. 2017Johnny Hallyday disinherited two of his children under California law, and a French court ruled French law appliedeapil.org and 3 more
  61. 2017Liliane Bettencourt gave a photographer about €1 billion, and her daughter's complaint ended in his convictionabcnews.com and 8 more
  62. 2017Malaysia stopped paying the Sulu sultan's heirs in 2013, and a Spanish arbitrator awarded them US$14.92 billionsagc.sabah.gov.my and 7 more
  63. 2016Esselunga founder Bernardo Caprotti took back the shares he had given his children and left control to his second wife and daughterilfattoquotidiano.it and 5 more
  64. 2016Anton Schlecker's drugstore chain collapsed in 2012, and his son and daughter went to prison for taking 7 million euros out firstbundesgerichtshof.de and 2 more
  65. 2016A former baker bought a prince's title by adult adoption, sold it on to adopted sons, and became Zsa Zsa Gabor's heirgoodmorningamerica.com and 4 more
  66. 2016Juan Gabriel left everything to one son, and a man claiming to be another son asked a court for part of his remainsloeb.com and 2 more
  67. 2016Evergreen's founder left his whole personal fortune to his youngest son, the three older half-brothers removed him from the airline, and the courts upheld the willtaiwannews.com.tw and 3 more
  68. 2016Curt Engelhorn sold Boehringer Mannheim to Roche with no German tax paid, two of his daughters were arrested, and the family settled for €135 million to €145 millionbayern.landtag.de and 4 more
  69. 2015A Korean court ordered SK Group's chairman to pay his ex-wife 1.38 trillion won, and the Supreme Court threw it outBBC and 3 more
  70. 2015Samsung's founder's eldest son sued his brother Lee Kun-hee for 4.1 trillion won in shares and lostThe Korea Times and 2 more
  71. 2015A Japanese furniture founder fired his daughter, she beat him in a proxy fight, and the company was soldamt-law.com and 2 more
  72. 2015Spain seized José María Ruiz-Mateos's Rumasa group by decree in 1983, and his second group collapsed in 2011europapress.es and 6 more
  73. 2015Hamdard split at Partition, its Pakistani founder was shot dead in Karachi, and the Delhi heirs' fight over the waqf took Rooh Afza off Indian shelveslivelawbiz.com and 3 more
  74. 2015Police found the P2 lodge's 962 names in Licio Gelli's factory in 1981, and after he died prosecutors asked a court to confiscate his villa from a dead manIl Post and 3 more
  75. 2014Vladimir Potanin's ex-wife sought billions in Moscow, then moved to London to try again, and the UK Supreme Court stopped her 3 to 2The National Archives, Find Case Law and 1 more
  76. 2014The Duchess of Alba gave her estate to her six children before marrying a civil servant 24 years youngerarchive.boston.com and 6 more
  77. 2014Spain's Supreme Court admitted a paternity suit against Juan Carlos I, then threw it out 7 votes to 3legaltoday.com and 4 more
  78. 2014Ken Takakura's adopted daughter cremated him before his family knew he had died, and inherited his estate and film rightsfriday.kodansha.co.jp and 3 more
  79. 2014A recluse found with 1,406 artworks in his Munich flat left them all to a Swiss museum, and his cousin said he was not of sound mindInternet Archive and 4 more
  80. 2014Gabriel García Márquez said his last novel must be destroyed; his sons published it on his 97th birthdayeuronews.com and 3 more
  81. 2014Spain's King Felipe renounced his father's inheritance after a $100 million Saudi payment came to light, and Juan Carlos left for Abu Dhabieuronews.com and 2 more
  82. 2014Switzerland's top court ruled that Baby Doc's family could have his frozen millions hours before the Haiti earthquake, and parliament passed a law to stop itswissinfo.ch and 3 more
  83. 2013A Belgian court ordered King Albert II to take a DNA test, and his secret daughter became a princess with inheritance rightsWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  84. 2013A Chinese couple died in a car crash five days before their embryos were to be implanted, and four years later a surrogate from Laos gave birth to their sonblogs.loc.gov and 2 more
  85. 2013Missoni's chief executive vanished in a plane off Venezuela, his father died before the wreck was found, and the family gave up the companythelocal.it and 3 more
  86. 2012A Tetra Pak heir kept his wife's body in their London house for two monthsForbes and 7 more
  87. 2012Aldi's Theo Albrecht was ransomed for 7 million marks, and his son's widow fought the family foundation for a decadeiww.de and 7 more
  88. 2012A 15-year-old died under a subway train, and her parents fought Facebook for eight years to read her messagesbundesgerichtshof.de and 3 more
  89. 2012Lacoste's chairman sued to annul his daughter's appointment, then both sides of the family sold to the Swiss partnerthelocal.fr and 2 more
  90. 2012Switzerland's oldest bank took the American clients UBS dropped, pleaded guilty in New York, and closed after 272 yearsjustice.gov and 2 more
  91. 2011A singer's son by a Suharto minister changed Indonesian law: children born outside marriage can now claim their fathersnasional.kompas.com and 2 more
  92. 2010LVMH secretly built a 17 percent stake in Hermès, and 52 family members locked half their shares together to stop itthefashionlaw.com and 2 more
  93. 2010A man says he found the only other copy of the Korean alphabet's founding book while cleaning his house, and the state that owns it cannot find itThe Korea Herald and 2 more
  94. 2010Wagner's grandson held a lifetime contract at Bayreuth, refused to leave when the board named his daughter's rival, and handed the festival to his daughters at 89historynewsnetwork.org and 5 more
  95. 2009A Doosan heir exposed his brothers' slush fund to win the chairmanship, was cast out of the family, and died by suicideKorea JoongAng Daily and 2 more
  96. 2009Franz Ulrich Kinsky sued the Czech state more than 100 times for land taken in 1945, and Strasbourg ruled his trials unfairEuropean Court of Human Rights and 3 more
  97. 2009Omar Bongo left about 300 billion CFA francs and 54 children; one daughter took his heir's birth certificate to a French court, and France charged at least nine of the childrenafrik.com and 5 more
  98. 2009Russia put a dead lawyer on trial and convicted him in 2013, and the European court ordered Russia to pay his widow and mothercsmonitor.com and 2 more
  99. 2009Maurice Jarre left his estate to his widow through a California trust, and France's highest court said his children's reserved share did not follow him abroadlegavox.fr and 4 more
  100. 2008A Geneva court ordered a Russian fertilizer billionaire to pay his ex-wife 4 billion francs, then an appeal court cut it by 86 percentswissinfo.ch and 3 more
  101. 2008The Red Duchess of Medina Sidonia married her secretary on the day she died, and her children sued over the palace foundationBoletín Oficial del Estado and 5 more
  102. 2008Indonesia's Supreme Court ordered General Suharto's Supersemar foundation to pay about 4.4 trillion rupiahnews.detik.com and 4 more
  103. 2008Deutsche Post's chief hid money in a Liechtenstein foundation, a bank clerk sold the data, and he was convicted in 2009Der Spiegel and 2 more
  104. 2008Choi Jin-sil's ex-husband regained rights over her children the day she died, and a fan stole her ashes from her graveThe Korea Times and 6 more
  105. 2008Claus von Bülow was acquitted of trying to kill his wife, then gave up her fortune to settle her children's $56 million suitUPI and 2 more
  106. 2008Yves Saint Laurent signed a civil union days before he died, and his collection sale included two bronze heads looted from Beijing in 1860lalibre.be and 7 more
  107. 2008British and French troops looted the Summer Palace in 1860; Yves Saint Laurent's estate auctioned two of its bronze heads, and the winning bidder refused to payvisualizingcultures.mit.edu and 4 more
  108. 2008A UBS banker told the US how the bank hid Americans' money, went to prison for 31 months, and the IRS paid him $104 millioncsmonitor.com and 2 more
  109. 2008A Greek Muslim left everything to his wife by notarial will, his sisters invoked sharia, and Greek courts cut her to a quarterechrcaselaw.com and 3 more
  110. 2007Two men took a Leonardo off the wall at Drumlanrig Castle, and the lawyers who arranged its return were tried for extortionThe Art Newspaper and 8 more
  111. 2007Rudolf-August Oetker's eight children from three marriages split the Dr. Oetker group in two in 2021wiwo.de and 5 more
  112. 2007Pavarotti left three wills, and his daughters challenged the share of his second wife until a 2008 settlementfoxnews.com and 3 more
  113. 2006Thieves stole the coffin of Friedrich Karl Flick, heir to a Nazi-era fortune, from his Austrian mausoleumsueddeutsche.de and 6 more
  114. 2006Chile's Supreme Court forfeited Pinochet's assets in 2018 after the US Senate exposed his Riggs Bank accountslatercera.com and 2 more
  115. 2006Stroessner's family wealth was never prosecuted, and human bones were found in his former house in 2019NBC News and 5 more
  116. 2006Muriel Spark left her entire estate to her companion Penelope Jardine and took steps to leave her only son nothingmanuscripts.nls.uk and 3 more
  117. 2005Sal. Oppenheim survived the Nazis under another name, then lost its independence over loans to the Karstadt heiressau.news.yahoo.com and 8 more
  118. 2005Lilly Cassirer gave up her Pissarro to the Nazis for an exit visa in 1939, and her heirs' suit against Spain's Thyssen museum went to decision in October 2026Cornell Law School, LII and 3 more
  119. 2004Stieg Larsson's partner of 30 years got nothing from the Millennium fortune because they never marrieddagensps.se and 2 more
  120. 2004The 10th Earl of Shaftesbury was strangled by his wife's brother in Cannes, and his heir died six months laterfrance24.com and 4 more
  121. 2004Portugal vetoed António Champalimaud's bank deal with Santander until Brussels overruled it for the first timeEuropean Commission and 10 more
  122. 2004Prince Bernhard denied a secret daughter to the Lockheed inquiry, then left her and a second one a sixth of his estate eachnos.nl and 4 more
  123. 2004The heir to the Santos docks fortune spent it all and died on a state pension in the Rio hotel his family built and soldThe Seattle Times and 2 more
  124. 2004Theo van Gogh was killed on an Amsterdam street on 2 November 2004, and Mohammed Bouyeri was sentenced to life without parole as a terroristAl Jazeera and 3 more
  125. 2003Margherita Agnelli sued her three children over her mother's estate, and Turin prosecutors charged her son John Elkann with tax fraudnews.bgov.com and 6 more
  126. 2003Alberto Sordi's sister left his €50 million to a foundation, relatives accused nine people of exploiting her, and all nine were acquittedIl Post and 2 more
  127. 2003Arnaud Lagardère inherited control of his father's group in 2003, lost it to Vivendi in 2023, and was charged with using company money to pay inheritance debtfortune.com and 2 more
  128. 2003Russia jailed Yukos owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky and auctioned his oil company for back taxes, and the Dutch Supreme Court made a $50 billion award to its shareholders finalyahoo.com and 2 more
  129. 2003Nina Simone left most of her estate to a trust for African children; the California Attorney General said her daughter diverted it, and the daughter resigned and gave up the rightsoag.ca.gov and 5 more
  130. 2002Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza sued over his family's Bermuda trust and sold his collection to Spain for $350 millionForbes and 7 more
  131. 2002Freddy Heineken was kidnapped for 35 million guilders, and his only daughter inherited control of the brewerydigibron.nl and 8 more
  132. 2001Hyundai's founder split his empire between feuding sons, and the heir he chose jumped from his office during a corruption probeKorea JoongAng Daily and 2 more
  133. 2001Daniel Wildenstein's widow said his sons hid the art fortune in trusts, and France prosecuted the heir for tax fraudArtnet News and 2 more
  134. 2001Japan's Supreme Court struck down the half-share rule for children born outside marriage in 2013, 18 years after upholding itcourts.go.jp and 2 more
  135. 2001Shuji Nakamura was paid ¥20,000 for the blue LED patent, a Tokyo court awarded him ¥20 billion, and he settled for ¥840 millioncompoundsemiconductor.net and 2 more
  136. 2001A dying man in Luzhou left his savings and his ashes to the woman he lived with, and the court gave everything to his wifeInternet Archive and 2 more
  137. 2001Anthony Quinn bought 29 acres on Rhodes in 1960, a Greek court cancelled the sale in 1984, and he died before he was repaidtovima.com and 4 more
  138. 2000Rome's last Doria Pamphilj princess adopted two English babies, and her daughter went to court to keep her brother's surrogate-born children out of the inheritanceadvocate.com and 6 more
  139. 2000René Favaloro, who developed coronary bypass surgery, shot himself after his foundation went unpaid by Argentina's health insurersAl Jazeera and 3 more
  140. 1999Banker Edmond Safra died in a fire his nurse set in Monaco while his bank was being sold to HSBCCBS News and 8 more
  141. 1999Nicola Trussardi and his son Francesco died in car crashes four years apart, and the family lost the Trussardi companyIl Post and 3 more
  142. 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
  143. 1998Four governments returned more than $780 million of General Sani Abacha's money to Nigeriajustice.gov and 3 more
  144. 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
  145. 1997Gianni Versace was shot dead in Miami and left half his fashion house to his 11-year-old niecesec.gov and 5 more
  146. 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
  147. 1997Switzerland released Mobutu Sese Seko's frozen money to his heirs, and his body stays in Rabatswissinfo.ch and 7 more
  148. 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
  149. 1996François Mitterrand's secret daughter walked behind his coffin after the state had paid to hide herfr-academic.com and 3 more
  150. 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
  151. 1995Maurizio Gucci was shot dead in Milan in 1995 on the order of his ex-wife Patrizia ReggianiUPI and 12 more
  152. 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
  153. 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
  154. 1994Robert Tönnies sued his uncle Clemens to take back a 5 percent gift in the family meat groupafz.fleischwirtschaft.de and 8 more
  155. 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
  156. 1993Albert II of Monaco acknowledged two children born outside marriage, and Monaco's constitution keeps both off the thronelegimonaco.mc and 2 more
  157. 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
  158. 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
  159. 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
  160. 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
  161. 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
  162. 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
  163. 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
  164. 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
  165. 1989Prince Paul Esterházy made his widow sole heir, and the Esterházy family lost Burgenland's largest estate to her foundationskurier.at and 5 more
  166. 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
  167. 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
  168. 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
  169. 1988Chiang Ching-kuo never acknowledged his twin sons, and one of them took the Chiang name 63 years latercna.com.tw and 5 more
  170. 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
  171. 1988Aristotle Onassis's only granddaughter inherited half his fortune at 18, after her father and the trustees fought for yearsUPI and 2 more
  172. 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
  173. 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
  174. 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
  175. 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
  176. 1986Borges left everything to the woman he married seven weeks before he died; she died without a willThe New York Times and 3 more
  177. 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
  178. 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
  179. 1985A jury found Rock Hudson hid his AIDS from his lover and awarded $21.75 million against his estateLos Angeles Times and 2 more
  180. 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
  181. 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
  182. 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
  183. 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
  184. 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
  185. 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
  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. 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
  188. 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
  189. 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
  190. 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
  191. 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
  192. 1980Nicaragua's Decree 3 confiscated Somoza family property in 1979, and Somoza was killed in Asunción in 1980nicaragua.justia.com and 4 more
  193. 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
  194. 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
  195. 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
  196. 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
  197. 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
  198. 1979Peggy Guggenheim's grandsons sued the Guggenheim Foundation in Paris to undo her gift of the Venice collection and losthyperallergic.com and 6 more
  199. 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
  200. 1977Two men stole Charlie Chaplin's coffin for ransom, and his widow refused to payhistory.co.uk and 3 more
  201. 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
  202. 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
  203. 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
  204. 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
  205. 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
  206. 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
  207. 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
  208. 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
  209. 1974Charles Lindbergh had seven secret children in Germany, confirmed by DNA 29 years after his deathmnhs.org and 2 more
  210. 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
  211. 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
  212. 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
  213. 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
  214. 1973Picasso died with no will and about 43,000 works, and the French state took its tax in paintingsInternet Archive and 3 more
  215. 1973Chile dug up Pablo Neruda 40 years after the 1973 coup, and scientists found botulism bacteria in his toothjurist.org and 3 more
  216. 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
  217. 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
  218. 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
  219. 1972Edward VIII gave up the throne, sold Sandringham and Balmoral to his brother, and hid how much money he hadWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  220. 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
  221. 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
  222. 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
  223. 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
  224. 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
  225. 1970Two brothers spent eight years in jail for refusing to leave their grandfather's heirs' property on Silver Dollar Roadabc11.com and 3 more
  226. 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
  227. 1970Mishima's widow boycotted Paul Schrader's 1985 film, and his children won a copyright suit over his lettersavclub.com and 2 more
  228. 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
  229. 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
  230. 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
  231. 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
  232. 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
  233. 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
  234. 1967Prince Janusz Radziwiłł lost about 43,700 hectares to Soviet and communist seizure, and his wife died in NKVD custodyprzystanekhistoria.pl and 6 more
  235. 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
  236. 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
  237. 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
  238. 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
  239. 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
  240. 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
  241. 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
  242. 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
  243. 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
  244. 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
  245. 1962Juan March bought Barcelona Traction bonds, had the company declared bankrupt in Reus and took Catalonia's power networklegal.un.org and 4 more
  246. 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
  247. 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
  248. 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
  249. 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
  250. 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
  251. 1959Cigarette heir Jan Philipp Reemtsma sold his inheritance and was kidnapped for a 30 million mark ransomdeutsche-biographie.de and 8 more
  252. 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
  253. 1957Mexico's Supreme Court annulled Pedro Infante's second marriage six days before he died in a plane crashinfobae.com and 2 more
  254. 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
  255. 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
  256. 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
  257. 1955The Nazis held Louis de Rothschild hostage in Vienna in 1938 and released him for the family's assetsjta.org and 6 more
  258. 1955Calouste Gulbenkian left his oil fortune to a Lisbon foundation and his son Nubar about $2.5 millionTime and 6 more
  259. 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
  260. 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
  261. 1954The Quandt fortune behind BMW used about 50,000 forced labourers, a 2011 family-funded study foundInternet Archive and 8 more
  262. 1954Diego Rivera locked Frida Kahlo's bathroom after she died, and her clothes and papers stayed sealed for 50 yearsgetty.edu and 3 more
  263. 1954Hitler paid his field marshals 4,000 Reichsmarks a month and gave Guderian a confiscated Polish estatejournals.uchicago.edu and 3 more
  264. 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
  265. 1952Argentina's military seized Eva Perón's embalmed body and buried it in Milan under a false nameIl Post and 3 more
  266. 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
  267. 1951Pétain's property was confiscated in 1945 and his coffin was stolen from Île d'Yeu in 1973ina.fr and 3 more
  268. 1948US Army papers show Hideki Tojo's ashes were scattered over the Pacific in 1948wjla.com and 4 more
  269. 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
  270. 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
  271. 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
  272. 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
  273. 1945The Anne Frank Fonds named Otto Frank a co-author of the diary to extend its copyright past 2016jta.org and 3 more
  274. 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
  275. 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
  276. 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
  277. 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
  278. 1944Charles Bedaux hosted the Windsor wedding at Candé, died in FBI custody awaiting treason charges, and his widow gave the château to Francedomainecande.fr and 2 more
  279. 1944Louis Renault died in custody before trial, and France took his company without paying his heirsconseil-etat.fr and 6 more
  280. 1944Banker Fritz Gutmann was killed at Theresienstadt, and his heirs sued an American collector to get back his DegasDutch Restitutions Committee and 6 more
  281. 1944Rommel took poison on 14 October 1944 in exchange for a state funeral and pensions for his familyifz-muenchen.de and 3 more
  282. 1944Japan hanged Soviet spy Richard Sorge and Moscow refused to claim him; his Japanese partner moved his body to her own grave plot and tended it until she diednippon.com and 2 more
  283. 1944Armed men took Munch's The Scream and Madonna from Oslo's Munch Museum in 2004, a court ordered two thieves to pay the city 750 million kroner, and police recovered both in 2006The Irish Times and 3 more
  284. 1943Credit Suisse demanded a death certificate for a banker killed at Majdanek; his daughter waited until 1998 for his accountjweekly.com and 6 more
  285. 1943Russia's culture minister demanded Rachmaninoff's remains back from New York, and his descendants said noSmithsonian Magazine and 3 more
  286. 1942Thessaloniki destroyed its 450-year-old Jewish cemetery in December 1942, used the stones to build, and put a university on the landtheworld.org and 2 more
  287. 1941Franz Koenigs lost his drawings to a bank five weeks before the German invasion; Hitler bought 528 and the Dutch state has refused his heirs four timesDutch Restitutions Committee and 5 more
  288. 1941The Kaiser's heirs claimed thousands of artworks and compensation, dropped the suits over the Nazi question, and settled after 99 yearspreussischer-kulturbesitz.de and 2 more
  289. 1941Thailand's finance ministry sued its abdicated king for 6.27 million baht in 1939 and won an order freezing everything he ownedth.wikisource.org and 4 more
  290. 1941Fritz Grünbaum died at Dachau owning about 70 Schieles; his heirs won them back in New York, then one heir sued Christie's over the restpaw.princeton.edu and 2 more
  291. 1940Jacques Goudstikker died fleeing the Nazis, Göring took his paintings, and the Netherlands returned 202 of them in 2006cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov and 2 more
  292. 1940Stalin's agents killed Trotsky and members of his family; he sealed his exile papers at Harvard until 1980, and the grandson who survived kept his house as a museumguides.library.harvard.edu and 5 more
  293. 1940German units emptied the French Masonic headquarters in June 1940, the Red Army took the archives to Moscow, and France got them back in 2001gadlu.info and 3 more
  294. 1940Paul Klee's widow sold his estate for SFr120,000 two days before dying; his son sued the foundation that received it, and the case settled after four yearsarchive.zpk.org and 3 more
  295. 1939Banker Fritz Mannheimer died ten weeks after his wedding, his bank failed, and Hitler bought his collection from the creditorsresources.huygens.knaw.nl and 2 more
  296. 1939The Wittgenstein siblings gave the Reichsbank their Swiss-held fortune in 1939 for "half-Jewish" status, and Vienna paid Paul's heirs €7,400 in 2008entschaedigungsfonds.org and 3 more
  297. 1939Switzerland made bank secrecy a crime in 1934, and the night guard who took bank files from a UBS shredder in 1997 had to seek asylum in the United Statesdaily.jstor.org and 3 more
  298. 1939The Wertheims lost Berlin's Leipziger Platz store under Nazi laws, Germany gave the land to Karstadt in 1991, and Karstadt paid €88 million in 2007jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com and 3 more
  299. 1938Atatürk left his İş Bankası shares to his party, and the state took them twicesozcu.com.tr and 3 more
  300. 1938Mexico expropriated the foreign oil companies in 1938, crowds brought chickens and jewelry to help pay, and Mexico paid the companies in fullhistory.state.gov and 2 more
  301. 1937Brazil's largest industrial group lost its chosen heir in a car race, passed to the founder's twelfth child, and filed for court protection in 1983vivant.it and 4 more
  302. 1936Lenin's 1918 decree took Sergei Shchukin's 258 paintings, and his heirs' claims in Paris and Los Angeles failedkommersant.ru and 6 more
  303. 1936Federico García Lorca was shot with three other men in August 1936, and a 2009 dig at the supposed grave in Alfacar found no remainsforoporlamemoria.info and 4 more
  304. 1935Carlos Gardel's will said he was born in Toulouse and left everything to his mother, and his estate passed from her to his agent's family while Uruguay says he was born theretodotango.com and 4 more
  305. 1935Moïse de Camondo left his Paris house to France in memory of his son; the Nazis deported his daughter and grandchildren, and his ex-wife sold her Renoir portraitmadparis.fr and 6 more
  306. 1935A US consul bought Chichén Itzá for 200 pesos and shipped the Sacred Cenote's offerings to Harvard; his heirs won the land back in Mexico's Supreme Courtresearch.cgu.edu and 4 more
  307. 1935Max Liebermann's widow Martha killed herself in March 1943 as police came to deport her, and in 2025 a Dutch committee advised returning a Liebermann drawing from the Rijksmuseum to her heirsDutch Restitutions Committee and 3 more
  308. 1935Kazimir Malevich's heirs sued Amsterdam over 84 works held since 1958; in April 2008 the city returned five paintingsstedelijk.nl and 4 more
  309. 1935Alban Berg's widow kept the third act of Lulu unfinished for 41 years, and a composer finished it in secret for the publishernybooks.com and 2 more
  310. 1934Hindenburg's Neudeck estate was put in his son's name, and Hitler's government added tax-free landtext-message.blogs.archives.gov and 5 more
  311. 1932Portugal's last king left his collections to the nation, and Salazar's government put the whole Bragança estate into a state foundation over the claimant's protestfiles.diariodarepublica.pt and 4 more
  312. 1932Ivar Kreuger shot himself in Paris in 1932, and auditors found his match empire rested on forged Italian bondsfortune.com and 5 more
  313. 1932Tomáš Baťa died in a plane crash, his half-brother took the shoe company, and the family litigated for 15 yearszpravy.aktualne.cz and 8 more
  314. 1931Lillian Leitzel fell to her death in 1931, and her widower Alfredo Codona shot his third wife and himself in 1937 during a property splitcircusringoffame.org and 3 more
  315. 1930Sakichi Toyoda sold his loom patents to a British firm, the money started Toyota, and the loom company went to an adopted son-in-lawtoyota-global.com and 3 more
  316. 1930D. H. Lawrence was exhumed in France in 1935 and cremated for a New Mexico shrine, and a scholar reported that the man who carried the ashes said he threw them awaydhlawrenceranch.unm.edu and 2 more
  317. 1926A Merck grandson handed the family's American shares to the US government in 1917, and the two Merck companies have fought over the name ever sinceThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 4 more
  318. 1925Adele Bloch-Bauer's will asked for her Klimt portraits to go to Austria; the Nazis took them, and her niece won them back in 2006plone.unige.ch and 4 more
  319. 1925Max Linder and his wife died in a Paris hotel in 1925, a letter said "He will kill me," and his brother won custody of his daughter and her fortuneThe New York Times and 3 more
  320. 1925Sergei Yesenin was found hanged in the Hotel Angleterre in 1925, his heirs went to court for three years, and his secretary died at his gravecalend.ru and 5 more
  321. 1924Kafka told Max Brod to burn his papers; Brod saved them, and the fight over them ended in a Swiss bank vault in 2019historynewsnetwork.org and 3 more
  322. 1924Hugo Stinnes had a hand in more than 4,000 companies when he died in 1924, and his sons lost most of them within a yeardeutsche-biographie.de and 2 more
  323. 1924Puccini's fortune passed to his son's widow, then her brother, then reportedly a butler, before the son's illegitimate daughter won it in courtcsmonitor.com and 5 more
  324. 1923Pancho Villa's grave was opened in 1926 and his head taken, and his widows' court fight ended with the government seizing his haciendarevistabicentenario.com.mx and 2 more
  325. 1923Villa's soldiers took Luis Terrazas's son from the British consulate for ransom, and Mexico bought the family's estates for 13.6 million pesos in 1922history.state.gov and 5 more
  326. 1922Proust's sister-in-law burned his papers after her husband died in 1935, and a perfume heir bought his furniture for 1,500 francsbnf.fr and 3 more
  327. 1921Princess Isabel sued Brazil for her Rio palace in 1895, and her heirs lost the case 125 years laterjota.info and 4 more
  328. 1921Enrico Caruso's body lay in a glass-topped coffin in Naples for years, and his estate was split by a Naples decree that two New Jersey courts reopenedcase-law.vlex.com and 2 more
  329. 1920Prince Paolo Borghese lost the family fortune in the Rome building crash, and the state bought the Borghese collection for 3.6 million lireTreccani and 5 more
  330. 1920Modigliani died poor, his partner jumped from a window the next day, and Italian police later closed a Modigliani show for fakesitsartlaw.org and 4 more
  331. 1920Roche's founder lost control of his company in the 1919 crisis, and his heirs used a voting pool and a $20.7 billion buyback from Novartis to hold itassets.roche.com and 3 more
  332. 1919Germany paid the last interest on its 1920s reparation loans on 3 October 2010, 92 years after the First World War endedpeacepalacelibrary.nl and 2 more
  333. 1919Anenecuilco gave Zapata its colonial land titles in 1909; the man he left them to was killed in a land fight with Zapata's soninehrm.gob.mx and 2 more
  334. 1918Russia buried the last tsar's family 80 years after the shooting, the Church has not accepted the bones, and two of the children's remains have been in archive boxes since 2007meduza.io and 3 more
  335. 1918After Gustav Klimt died in 1918, the mothers of his children claimed support from his estate and were paid 4,000 to 10,000 crowns eachklimt-database.com and 4 more
  336. 1917Germans gave Count Zeppelin 6 million marks after his airship burned, and his great-grandson has spent ten years trying to take the foundation back from a cityaerointernational.de and 5 more
  337. 1917Russia repudiated the tsar's bonds, France settled for $400 million in 1997, and the holders' association tried to seize a Russian sailing ship and a cathedralmoneyvox.fr and 3 more
  338. 1917The priest of Rennes-le-Château put his buildings in his servant's name, a restaurant owner spread a treasure story in 1956, and Pierre Plantard tied it to an invented secret ordercesnur.org and 2 more
  339. 1917Rodin gave all his works and reproduction rights to France in 1916, and the Musee Rodin spent 18 years in court over about 1,700 casts it called fakesmusee-rodin.fr and 3 more
  340. 1917Mata Hari's body went unclaimed after her 1917 execution, and the embalmed head kept in a Paris anatomy museum was found missing in 2000library.georgetown.edu and 3 more
  341. 1914Ambrose Bierce vanished in Mexico in 1913 or 1914, and a priest put a plaque in a Sierra Mojada cemetery in 2004 for the grave a witness describeddonswaim.com and 1 more
  342. 1913Rudolf Diesel vanished from a Channel steamer in 1913 and left his wife a bag of money with papers showing his debtsSmithsonian Magazine and 3 more
  343. 1912Bram Stoker's widow sued over Nosferatu, and a German court ordered every copy of the film destroyedEncyclopaedia Britannica and 3 more
  344. 1911Alma Mahler held Mahler's unfinished Tenth Symphony for decades and first demanded a veto over Deryck Cooke's completionmahlerfoundation.org and 2 more
  345. 1910Tolstoy signed a secret will in the woods to give his copyrights to the publicProject Gutenberg and 4 more
  346. 1909Leopold II owned the Congo personally, married his 26-year-old mistress five days before he died, and his daughters sued for the moneyWikipedia (English) and 2 more
  347. 1909A Bengal prince was cremated in 1909, a holy man claimed to be him, and the Privy Council confirmed it in 1946; he died two days laterCaseMine and 3 more
  348. 1907Ilia Chavchavadze was shot dead on the road to his Saguramo estate in 1907, and the Georgian church made him a saint in 1987oca.org and 3 more
  349. 1906Cézanne's 1902 will left everything to his son and nothing to his wife Hortense, and they sold his studio to Vollard for 275,000 francsspectator.com and 3 more
  350. 1905Savva Morozov's mother pushed him out of the family mills, he was found shot in Cannes, and his insurance went to a Bolshevik actressgw2ru.com and 3 more
  351. 1905Ernst Abbe gave the Zeiss works to a foundation, and after 1945 a western and an eastern Zeiss sued each other over the name for 17 yearscarl-zeiss-stiftung.de and 2 more
  352. 1905Jules Verne's son rewrote his posthumous novels, and Verne's lost 1863 novel stayed in a locked safe until his great-grandson forced it open in 1989depauw.edu and 3 more
  353. 1904Germany sent the heads of Herero and Nama prisoners to Berlin for race research, and the Charité returned 20 skulls to Namibia in 2011thenationalnews.com and 2 more
  354. 1903Paul Gauguin died in the Marquesas with no will, the colony auctioned his paintings for a few francs, and his widow Mette got about 4,000 francsgiquelloetassocies.fr and 3 more
  355. 1902A 1953 newspaper said a chimney sweep blocked Émile Zola's flue in 1902, and the Panthéon ceremony for his remains ended with a gunman wounding Dreyfushistorytoday.com and 3 more
  356. 1901Giuseppe Verdi's villa was closed by a Parma court in 2022 over an heirs' fight, then taken by the state for about 7.6 million euros against a 30 million appraisalquotidiano.net and 4 more
  357. 1900Nietzsche's sister took control of his papers while he was insane, published The Will to Power, and Hitler came to her funeralWikipedia (English)
  358. 1899Johann Strauss II gave up Austrian citizenship and his church to remarry, then left his fortune to a music society instead of his familyprojekt-gutenberg.org and 3 more
  359. 1897The last Prince of Condé was found hanged after willing Chantilly to an 8-year-old prince, who later gave it to the Institut de France while in exileWikipedia (English) and 5 more
  360. 1896Alfred Nobel gave 94 percent of his fortune to prizes, and his relatives and the King of Sweden tried to stop itnobelpeacecenter.org and 3 more
  361. 1896Baron Maurice de Hirsch left his fortune to his widow, who gave it away and passed the rest to an adopted sonjewishencyclopedia.com and 4 more
  362. 1895Dutch troops took a quarter tonne of gold from the Lombok palace in 1894, and with it the only manuscript of Majapahit's royal chronicleamsterdam.wereldmuseum.nl and 4 more
  363. 1894Gustave Caillebotte left France more than 60 Impressionist works in 1894; the state refused part and hung 38 in 1897musee-orsay.fr and 3 more
  364. 1893Bismarck's banker Gerson von Bleichröder left a fortune to his sons; his son's painting went to Göring, and Bavaria returned it in 2017 and bought it back the same daydeutsche-biographie.de and 2 more
  365. 1891Moltke bought Kreisau with his 1866 war grant; his great-grandnephew was hanged in 1945 and the family lost the estatekrzyzowa.pl and 4 more
  366. 1891Pedro II's heirs still collect 2.5 percent of every land sale in central Petrópolis, 137 years after the empire fellub.edu and 2 more
  367. 1890Van Gogh's brother died six months after him, and Theo's widow built the reputation from the paintings she inheritedvangoghmuseum.nl and 3 more
  368. 1890The Dominican landlords evicted José Rizal's family from Calamba in 1890, and the United States bought the friar estates in 1903Project Gutenberg and 2 more
  369. 1890Schliemann smuggled Priam's Treasure out of the Ottoman Empire and gave it to Berlin, the Red Army took it in 1945, and Moscow kept it secret for 50 yearssmb.museum and 2 more
  370. 1888The Nobel brothers built Russia's largest oil company in Baku; Ludvig's son fled the Bolsheviks disguised as a peasant and sold half the shares to Standard Oilaapg.org and 4 more
  371. 1887Carlsberg's founder gave his brewery to a foundation after a feud with his son, who built a rival brewery beside itJournal article (DOI) and 3 more
  372. 1885Victor Hugo left 50,000 francs to the poor and asked for their hearse; France gave him a state funeral that drew more than two million peopledeslettres.fr and 2 more
  373. 1883France seized Chambord in 1915 because its owner served Austria, while his half-brothers, who fought for the Allies, sued him for a bigger sharechambord.org and 6 more
  374. 1880Japanese scientists dug up more than 1,600 Ainu remains for study, and Ainu groups sued universities to bring them home47news.jp and 4 more
  375. 1880Gold was found on John Sutter's land in 1848, his son built Sacramento on it against his wishes, and he died in a Washington hotel waiting for Congress to pay himWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  376. 1879Thérèse Humbert borrowed for 20 years against an inheritance from an American millionaire who never existed, and the safe held almost nothingcomplaintes.criminocorpus.org and 2 more
  377. 1877Argentina confiscated Rosas's property and sentenced him to death; he died a tenant farmer in England and was reburied in 1989infobae.com and 3 more
  378. 1877Gustave Courbet was billed 323,000 francs to rebuild the Vendôme Column and died in Swiss exile in 1877bonjourparis.com and 2 more
  379. 1876Santa Anna sold La Mesilla to the United States for $10 million, mortgaged his estates from exile, and Illinois keeps his leghistory.state.gov and 3 more
  380. 1874James Addison Reavis forged a Spanish barony covering 12 million acres of Arizona, presented a ranch girl as its heiress, and went to prisonarizonahighways.com and 2 more
  381. 1867Juárez refused to hand over Emperor Maximilian's body after the 1867 execution, and his widow's fortune went home to Belgium with her under her brother's controlhistory.state.gov and 4 more
  382. 1867Maximilian made the two-year-old grandson of Mexico's first emperor a prince and his ward, and the boy died a Georgetown language teacher with no childrenes.wikisource.org and 2 more
  383. 1860Napoleon annulled his brother's Baltimore marriage, and Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte's son lost his claim to the Bonaparte inheritance in a Paris courth-france.net and 2 more
  384. 1860Julia Pastrana's husband sold her embalmed body after she died in 1860, and it was exhibited, stolen and stored in Oslo until Mexico buried it in 2013publicdomainreview.org and 3 more
  385. 1857Insurers paid for the SS Central America's gold in 1857 and claimed it again when it was found in 1988; the finder spent ten years jailed over 500 missing coinslaw.resource.org and 2 more
  386. 1855Prince Diponegoro was arrested at peace talks in 1830, and the kris the Dutch returned in 2020 had been missing for decadesthejakartapost.com and 3 more
  387. 1852Belgium bought out the Duke of Wellington's "perpetual" Waterloo rent in 1988 and kept a right to take back the landBoletín Oficial del Estado and 3 more
  388. 1852Gogol burned the second part of Dead Souls nine days before he died; in 1931 his coffin was opened, and legend says the skull was missingweekend.rambler.ru and 3 more
  389. 1850John McDonogh left two cities a fortune for free schools, his heirs said Louisiana law voided the gift, and New Orleans pulled down his statue in 2020law.resource.org and 2 more
  390. 1847Kenesary Khan was beheaded in 1847 and his skull sent to Omsk as a trophy; in 2021 Putin promised to return itrferl.org and 2 more
  391. 1845Karl Wilhelm Naundorff sued the Bourbons as the lost son of Louis XVI, and DNA from the boy's heart ended the claim in 2000Wikipedia (English) and 2 more
  392. 1842Mexico seized the Jesuit mission fund for California in 1842, and the claim ran 125 years through the first case at The Haguehistory.state.gov and 3 more
  393. 1840The Church refused Paganini burial, and his embalmed body was moved from cellar to cellar for 36 yearshekint.org and 3 more
  394. 1840Beau Brummell spent his inheritance on clothes and cards, fled London by night, and died in a paupers' asylum in Caenenglish-heritage.org.uk and 2 more
  395. 1839Stephen Van Rensselaer III's will ordered $400,000 in back rents collected, and his tenants answered with the Anti-Rent WarAmerican Heritage and 4 more
  396. 1834Pedro I left his heart to Porto, the city council and a church brotherhood fought over where to keep it, and Brazil borrowed it in 2022repositorio-aberto.up.pt and 3 more
  397. 1834The heiress to the land around New Orleans's main square was shot four times by her father-in-law over her fortune, survived, and built the Pontalba Buildingslouisianastatemuseum.org and 3 more
  398. 1833Nicéphore Niépce died before photography paid, his partner named it the daguerreotype, and France gave Niépce's son the smaller pensionhrc.utexas.edu and 2 more
  399. 1832Heirs of a Mexican land grant raided the Tierra Amarilla courthouse in 1967 to arrest the district attorneyDeseret News and 3 more
  400. 1830Simón Bolívar's will left only the Aroa copper mines, his sisters sold them in 1832, and Hugo Chávez had his bones dug up in 2010es.wikisource.org and 4 more
  401. 1828Goya's grave in Bordeaux was opened in 1888 and his skull was missing; he was reburied in Madrid in 1919 without itSmithsonian Magazine and 2 more
  402. 1827Beethoven took his nephew from the boy's mother in court; the nephew shot himself, then inherited everythingInternet Archive and 2 more
  403. 1825France made Haiti pay 150 million francs in 1825 to compensate its former slaveholders, and Haitians paid on the debt until 1947csmonitor.com and 3 more
  404. 1825France refused to take back Jacques-Louis David's body in 1825, so he lies in a Brussels cemetery under an obeliskpatrimoine.brussels and 2 more
  405. 1821Napoleon's will left 10,000 francs to the man who tried to shoot the Duke of Wellingtonnapoleon.org and 3 more
  406. 1819Soviet soldiers emptied Blücher's mausoleum in 1945, and his family lost the Silesian estatetvn24.pl and 3 more
  407. 1815France passed a law in 2002 to return Sarah Baartman's remains to South Africasahistory.org.za and 4 more
  408. 1814The manuscript of Sade's 120 Days of Sodom was smuggled into Switzerland in 1982, sold for 7 million euros in 2014, and bought by France for 4.55 million euros in 2021thelocal.ch and 3 more
  409. 1813Myra Clark Gaines sued for 51 years over her father's lost will and the New Orleans land sold from his estate, and her heirs collected after she diedhnoc.org and 3 more
  410. 1812Mayer Amschel Rothschild's 1812 will shut his daughters and sons-in-law out of the bank; the Frankfurt house closed in 1901 for lack of a male heirrothschildarchive.org and 5 more
  411. 1809Phrenologists stole Haydn's head after burial, and it was reunited with his body 145 years laterclassical-music.com and 2 more
  412. 1806The Revolution guillotined Nicolas Leblanc's patron, seized his soda works and published his patent, and the state paid his heirs 49 years after his suicidethechemicalengineer.com and 2 more
  413. 1805Weimar buried a skull as Friedrich Schiller's in 1827; DNA tests in 2008 showed it and the skeleton were not hisNBC News and 2 more
  414. 1803Russia's richest count married his serf actress in secret, she died weeks after their son's birth, and the boy inherited about 150,000 serfsru.wikisource.org and 5 more
  415. 1800Georgia's last king asked Russia for protection, Russia abolished his dynasty, and his heirs were suing each other over the royal name in 2019acgs.ug.edu.ge and 5 more
  416. 1800When the last Jesuit in Canada died in 1800 the Crown took the order's estates, and 88 years later the Pope divided the compensationDictionary of Canadian Biography and 2 more
  417. 1796Chica da Silva, born enslaved, made a will naming 14 children as heirs and divided enslaved people among themtjmg.jus.br and 1 more
  418. 1795A doctor stole the heart of the boy king Louis XVII, and DNA in 2000 ended 200 years of impostorsJournal article (DOI) and 1 more
  419. 1794The Revolution guillotined Lavoisier and seized his notebooks, and his widow fought until she got back the property and nearly all his papersnews.cornell.edu and 2 more
  420. 1793The Revolution auctioned Versailles's furniture in 17,000 lots, and a top expert was convicted in 2025 of forging royal chairs for the buy-back marketThe Art Newspaper and 6 more
  421. 1792Portugal's 1792 sentence declared Tiradentes's children and grandchildren infamous, and Brazil later paid pensions to people who said they descended from himpt.wikisource.org and 3 more
  422. 1791Mozart's widow passed off a Requiem finished by his student as his own and sold it twicedme.mozarteum.at and 2 more
  423. 1781A Cuzco chief sued for four years to be recognised as the last Inca's heir, then led the 1780 rebellion with the case still undecidedrevistas.pucp.edu.pe and 3 more
  424. 1778Voltaire was refused a Paris burial in 1778, buried in secret, moved to the Panthéon in 1791 with his heart kept apart, and a legend says his bones were thrown away in 1814jackboulware.substack.com and 3 more
  425. 1774Ivan VI's brothers and sisters were born in prison, held at Kholmogory for 36 years, and sent to Denmark in 1780 on a Russian pensionru.wikisource.org and 4 more
  426. 1764Jean-Marie Leclair was found stabbed three times at his Paris door in October 1764, and his ex-wife sold his belongings and unpublished musicinterlude.hk and 2 more
  427. 1741Antonio Vivaldi was buried in Vienna for 19 florins 45 kreuzer, and his manuscripts were sold off, then found at a school in 1926finestresullarte.info and 2 more
  428. 1718Peter the Great had his son tortured to death, changed the law so he could pick any heir, and died without naming oneWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  429. 1715Louis XIV's will gave power to his illegitimate son, and the Paris Parlement annulled it the day after he diedWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  430. 1704Danjūrō I was stabbed to death in his dressing room by a rival actor, and his 15-year-old son took the name that is now in its 13th generationkabuki21.com and 3 more
  431. 1700Spain's childless Charles II left his whole empire to a French prince in his will, and Europe went to war for 13 yearsWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  432. 1680Louis XIV jailed Fouquet for life 19 days after his party at Vaux-le-Vicomte, and in 2019 robbers tied up its 90-year-old owner with his own necktiesthelocal.fr and 5 more
  433. 1680Pierre-Paul Riquet spent his fortune on the Canal du Midi, died eight months before it opened, and left his heirs the canal and its debtsstructurae.net and 3 more
  434. 1677A Falun copper miner vanished in 1677, his body came out of the mine 42 years later, his old fiancée named him, and he was put on showsok.riksarkivet.se and 2 more
  435. 1675Vermeer died with 11 children and debts; his widow paid creditors in paintings and petitioned for bankruptcyWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  436. 1673Molière died in 1673 after collapsing in his own play; priests refused him last rites, and Louis XIV allowed a night burialEncyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more
  437. 1661France sold its crown jewels in 1887 to stop a king returning; the Louvre bought one back for €6.72 million, and thieves took it in eight minutes in 2025gia.edu and 6 more
  438. 1651Bhutan's founder died in 1651, and his officials kept the death secret for 54 years while issuing orders in his namecountrystudies.us and 2 more
  439. 1648A Dutch water board still pays interest on dike bonds sold in 1638 and 1648, and Yale collected 12 years of it in 2015coinbooks.org and 2 more
  440. 1642Saskia's will let Rembrandt use their son's inheritance only if he never remarried, and he lived unmarried and went bankruptassets.cambridge.org and 4 more
  441. 1641Legend: Domenichino died in Naples in April 1641 and was said to have been poisoned by rival painters; the one early biographer cited blames his relativesArtnet News and 3 more
  442. 1635Champlain named the Virgin Mary as his heir in 1635; his cousin sued in Paris and the will was annulled in 1639Dictionary of Canadian Biography and 4 more
  443. 1616Spain announced in March 2015 that it had found Cervantes among bones of 15 to 17 people in a Madrid convent, with no DNA to confirm itInternet Archive and 3 more
  444. 1599In Shakespeare's Hamlet, an uncle kills the king, marries the widow and is chosen king over the son, and the crown ends with a foreign princeProject Gutenberg and 3 more
  445. 1596The Inquisition burned the heir to Nuevo León's governorship with his mother and three sisters in 1596, and his stolen memoir went back to Mexico in 2017tshaonline.org and 3 more
  446. 1560An impostor lived as Martin Guerre for three years, took his wife and land, and was hanged when the real Martin walked into courtInternet Archive and 3 more
  447. 1560An Inca princess was married to the captain who captured her uncle, their daughter got a Spanish marquisate with the Inca estate of Yucay, and Inca claimants fought for it after the line died outBoletín Oficial del Estado and 4 more
  448. 1560Malinche's daughter sued her father's widow for the encomienda of Xilotepec, citing her mother's service to the Crown in the conquestcambridge.org and 2 more
  449. 1560Burma's king offered a fortune for the Buddha's tooth, Goa's archbishop ground it to powder, and two new teeth appeared within six yearsmanushi.in and 2 more
  450. 1559Chenonceau was taken for a royal debt, taken from a king's mistress by his widow, and auctioned to a bank after its owner's ruinchenonceau.com and 2 more
  451. 1553Pedro de Valdivia's wife waited 27 years in Spain, learned on her voyage that he was dead, and the governor married to his former mistress did not pay her pensionmemoriachilena.gob.cl and 3 more
  452. 1552A Nahua healer's 1552 herbal was sent to Spain, passed through a royal pharmacist and a cardinal to the Vatican, and a pope returned it to Mexico in 1990library.csun.edu and 2 more
  453. 1550Pedrarias's grandsons killed the bishop of Nicaragua and raided Panama in 1550 to recover their father's lost wealthProject Gutenberg and 3 more
  454. 1547Cortés's heir was tried for treason, Mexico seized and sold the estate, and Lucas Alamán hid his bones from 1823 to 1946Boletín Oficial del Estado and 8 more
  455. 1546Charles V gave the Welser bank Venezuela for its loans, and a Spanish governor had the head of the firm's son killed there in 1546deutsche-biographie.de and 4 more
  456. 1542De Soto's body was sunk in the Mississippi, and his widow governed Cuba and fought his business partner over the estate until 1546 to 1550revistascientificas.us.es and 3 more
  457. 1541Pizarro's daughter and heir married her imprisoned uncle, his skull was found in a lead box in 1977, and Spain reissued his marquisate in 2019Boletín Oficial del Estado and 5 more
  458. 1541Pedro de Alvarado's widow took over his governorship of Guatemala and died in a mudflow two days laterprensalibre.com and 3 more
  459. 1539The Inquisition burned a lord of Texcoco in 1539 after his own relatives testified against him, and the map drawn for the fight over his land is in the Library of CongressLibrary of Congress and 4 more
  460. 1538Diego de Almagro willed his governorship of New Toledo to his mestizo son, Pizarro ignored the will, and the son's followers killed Pizarrorevista.agn.gob.pe and 2 more
  461. 1526Elcano was granted 500 ducats a year for the first circumnavigation, was never paid, and left church bequests payable only from what the King owed himaunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus and 3 more
  462. 1525Jakob Fugger fixed the Fuggerei's rent at one guilder a year in 1521, and the rent has not changed in 505 yearsblogs.loc.gov and 2 more
  463. 1524Vasco da Gama was ordered out of his home town of Sines in 1507 and asked to leave Portugal before the King made him a count in 1519Project Gutenberg and 4 more
  464. 1521Magellan left a hereditary governorship to his son, but his wife and sons died, and his brother-in-law was still claiming the estate in 1540sevilla.2019-2022.org and 3 more
  465. 1520Spain and then Mexico paid Moctezuma's heirs for Tacuba lands until a 1934 decree, and a Spanish dukedom still carries his nameboe.gob.es and 4 more
  466. 1519Pedrarias Dávila had Balboa, his son-in-law by proxy, beheaded at Acla in 1519 for treasoneldebate.com and 4 more
  467. 1519Leonardo da Vinci's legitimate half-brothers cut him out of their father's estate, and his will still left them money and landTreccani and 2 more
  468. 1506Columbus's 1502 will disappeared while his descendants fought over the Veragua estate from 1578 to a final ruling in 1793revistas.ucm.es and 4 more
  469. 1506Columbus's heirs sued the Spanish Crown for 28 years over his promised tenth and viceroyalty, and settled for a dukedom and 10,000 ducats a yearEncyclopaedia Britannica and 4 more
  470. 1506Spain and the Dominican Republic both claim Columbus's body; a 2006 DNA test matched the Seville bones, and Santo Domingo refused testinghistorynewsnetwork.org and 4 more
  471. 1504Isabella of Castile's will made her daughter Joanna queen, and Joanna's father and son kept her locked in Tordesillas for 46 yearscapillarealgranada.com and 2 more
  472. 1481A Turkish court ruled in 2020 that Mehmed II's endowment deed still bound Hagia Sophia as a mosque, while an Armenian foundation could not recover its confiscated Istanbul innharvardlawreview.org and 2 more
  473. 1477Charles the Bold died at Nancy, the King of France seized Burgundy from his 19-year-old heiress, and her marriage gave the Netherlands to the Habsburgsdeutsche-biographie.de and 2 more
  474. 1456Jacques Coeur financed Charles VII's war, then the king charged him with poisoning the royal mistress and confiscated everythingWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  475. 1450Kyoto Imperial University took bones from a Ryukyuan royal tomb, descendants sued for them, and the university gave them to the village in 2025 on condition they never be buriedryukyushimpo.jp and 4 more
  476. 1440Gilles de Rais sold his castles to the Duke of Brittany, seized a priest in church, and was hanged; his heirs then claimed the lands backfamous-trials.com and 1 more
  477. 1409France's grand master was beheaded and hung at Montfaucon; his son won back his name and body, then died at Agincourtherodote.net and 4 more
  478. 1393The last king of Armenia was ransomed from Cairo, made lord of Madrid for life, and his title passed to the kings of Cypruspublications.gov.cy and 5 more
  479. 1362Tradition says Pedro the Cruel took the "Black Prince's Ruby" from a Granadan sultan he killed with his own lance; it is a spinel in the front of Britain's crowngia.edu and 4 more
  480. 1349A Jewish moneylender's silver lay under his Erfurt cellar from the 1349 massacre until archaeologists found it in 1998juedisches-leben.erfurt.de and 3 more
  481. 1330Korean thieves stole a Buddha from a Japanese island temple, a Korean temple claimed pirates had stolen it first, and Korea's Supreme Court sent it backculturalpropertynews.org and 2 more
  482. 1315Philip IV's treasurer was hanged on the Montfaucon gallows he had built, and the king who let him hang left legacies to his childrenEncyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more
  483. 1238A bankrupt emperor of Constantinople pawned the Crown of Thorns to Venetian lenders, and a fire chaplain carried it out of burning Notre-Damenewadvent.org and 4 more
  484. 1229Monks scraped Archimedes off the page in 1229, a Paris family kept the book in a damp cellar, and a judge let them sell it hours before a church's claim could stop itarchive.archaeology.org and 4 more
  485. 1164Emperor Sutoku lost the throne to his brothers, died in exile, and was brought home as a spirit in 1868archived.writersinkyoto.com and 2 more
  486. 1099El Cid's widow carried his body out of Valencia, and his bones were moved five times between 1102 and 1921encyclopedia.com and 4 more
  487. 1000Beowulf says a dying king won a dragon's hoard with no son to leave it to, and his people buried the gold with himProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  488. 935Egil's saga says a queen's men cut the court ropes to stop Egil's inheritance suit, and Egil later won the land by biting a man's throat outviking.ucla.edu and 6 more
  489. 718A Japanese inn passed father to son for 46 generations since 718, and the heir's death put a daughter in line for the first timepublishing.insead.edu and 3 more
  490. 656Tradition says Caliph Uthman was killed while reading this Quran; Russia took it as a trophy, and Lenin gave it backcambridge.org and 3 more
  491. 578The Kongō family built temples for 40 generations from 578, and lost the company to debt in 2006kongogumi.co.jp and 4 more
  492. 400Archaeologists flew the Ukok princess to Novosibirsk in 1993, the Altai people blamed her removal for an earthquake, and she came home to a museum mausoleum in 2012culturalsurvival.org and 2 more
  493. 250Looters emptied a Moche tomb at Sipán in 1987, police shot their leader, and the archaeologist called in found the Lord of Sipán untouched below itmotherjones.com and 3 more
  494. 100Pliny tells of an Athens house let cheap because of its ghost; the philosopher who took it found a chained skeleton in the yardProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  495. 322 BCEAristotle's heirs hid his library in a trench to keep it from the kings of Pergamum, and Sulla carried it to Romeperseus.tufts.edu and 2 more
  496. 335 BCEAlexander razed Thebes and sold its people into slavery, but spared the house and descendants of the poet Pindarlivingpoets.awh.durham.ac.uk and 2 more
  497. 456 BCELegend: Aeschylus died at Gela in 456 or 455 BC when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his headperseus.tufts.edu and 2 more
  498. 587 BCEHerodotus says Periander killed his wife, lost his heir over it, and stripped the women of Corinth to get her ghost to say where a deposit wasProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  499. 1250 BCEThe plays say Oedipus's sons agreed to rule Thebes in alternate years, then killed each other, and the new king forbade burial of one of themclassics.mit.edu and 2 more
  500. 1250 BCETheseus forgot to change his black sail, his father Aegeus threw himself down from the Acropolis, and Theseus became king of AthensUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 3 more
  501. 1340 BCEThe Nefertiti bust left Egypt in 1913 listed as a plaster princess, and Berlin has kept it through a century of Egyptian demandspreussischer-kulturbesitz.de and 2 more
  502. 1600 BCETreasure hunters sold the Nebra sky disc for 32,000 marks, and the museum director who posed as a buyer had the dealers arrested in a Basel hotelarchive.archaeology.org and 2 more
  503. 3300 BCETwo hikers found Ötzi in 1991, a survey put him 92 metres inside Italy, and the finders fought South Tyrol in court until 2010 over the rewardarchive.archaeology.org and 5 more
  504. Hermès heir Nicolas Puech planned to adopt his gardener, then said his $15 billion in shares was goneThe Guardian and 3 more