celebrity.estateAn EGRET.LAW propertyWorld map3D timeline
Home / The law / Common law
Legal tradition

Common law

Inheritance under English common law and the systems built on it, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland and India.

799 storiesThe law overview

How does common law decide who inherits?

A trust can keep a will private, but the people hired to guard the estate can still become its first litigants. A will that pours everything into a private trust keeps the shares out of the public file, but the executors' fees and payments still need court approval and any beneficiary can object to them.

Stories
799
Years
40000 BCE to 2026
Main regions
North America, Europe, Latin America
Main subjects
Music and sport, Literature and art, Hollywood and TV
Updated
30 October 2026

Every common law story, newest first

  1. 2026CIA officer Aldrich Ames paid cash for a $540,000 house on a salary under $70,000; he and his wife forfeited the proceeds, and she went to prison while their son lived in Bogotáirp.fas.org and 3 more
  2. 2026Dolly Parton's estate company sued her nephew and former security chief one month after her death, alleging threats to ruin her brandwbur.org and 5 more
  3. 2025Lord Brocket was jailed for five years for insurance fraud in 1996, and his trustees leased out Brocket Hallbrocket-hall.co.uk and 5 more
  4. 2025The Hudson's Bay Company sold Rupert's Land for £300,000 in 1869, went insolvent in 2025, and sold its 1670 charter for $18 millionmanitobamuseum.ca and 7 more
  5. 2025Gene Hackman and his wife were found dead a week apart, and his children are fighting wills that leave them nothingRolling Stone and 3 more
  6. 2025Sunjay Kapur died at a polo match, and his children say the will leaving his Rs 30,000 crore estate to his widow is forgedwionews.com and 4 more
  7. 2025Sly Stone was living in a van when a jury awarded him $5 million in stolen royalties, and the award against his manager was reversedthegrio.com and 2 more
  8. 2025Bill Gates said in May 2025 the Gates Foundation will spend its endowment and close on 31 December 2045The New York Times and 3 more
  9. 2025Nick Reiner, charged with killing Rob and Michele Reiner, sues for his $1.5 million trust fundDeadline and 5 more
  10. 2025Venezuela seized foreign oil projects in 2007, and a Delaware judge ordered its US refiner Citgo sold for $5.9 billion to pay the claimsAl Jazeera and 3 more
  11. 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
  12. 2025Brian Wilson was placed in a conservatorship after his wife died, while his first wife sued for half of a $50 million rights saledigitalmusicnews.com and 4 more
  13. 2025A year after Ozzy Osbourne died, Sharon Osbourne asked the High Court to remove his accountant of more than 40 years as executoraccountingtoday.com and 3 more
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. 2024Shannen Doherty signed her divorce settlement the day before she died of cancerCBS News and 2 more
  17. 2024Ratan Tata's will gave a third of the residue to a little-known Jamshedpur businessmanbusinesstoday.in and 3 more
  18. 2024Elon Musk gave his foundation $7.9 billion in Tesla stock in two years, and its filings show it paid out less than requiredCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
  19. 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
  20. 2024Warren Buffett's will once named the Gates Foundation; he removed it in 2024 and stopped his lifetime gifts to it in 2026wowt.com and 4 more
  21. 2024Norman Jewison's three children sued after he changed his will two months before his death in 2024; the claims were settled by mediation and never tested in courtcbc.ca and 3 more
  22. 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
  23. 2023Robert Blake was acquitted of murdering his wife, then ordered to pay her children $30 millionCNN and 2 more
  24. 2023After Mohamed Al Fayed died, more than 180 women came forward, and Harrods went to court over his estateleighday.co.uk and 3 more
  25. 2023Matthew Perry died of ketamine, and his doctor, his assistant and a dealer called the "Ketamine Queen" were prosecutedktvu.com and 2 more
  26. 2023Michael Oher of "The Blind Side" learned he was never adopted, and a judge ended the Tuohy conservatorshiptoday.com and 2 more
  27. 2023The SEC fined the LDS Church and Ensign Peak $5 million for hiding its stock portfolio behind 13 shell companiessec.gov and 2 more
  28. 2023Abby Choi's former husband and his father and brother are on trial for her murder over a flat she had put in her father-in-law's namethestar.com.my and 2 more
  29. 2023FBI spy Robert Hanssen forfeited $1.4 million from Moscow and his pension, and his plea deal left his wife the house, three cars and a survivor annuityjustice.gov and 3 more
  30. 2023People in the old county of Lancashire who die with no will and no kin leave their estates to the King, and the Guardian found the money refurbishing his rental propertytheconversation.com and 2 more
  31. 2023Tony Bennett's daughters sued their brother, his manager and trustee, saying a man who earned $100 million left under $7 millionnews4jax.com and 3 more
  32. 2023Lisa Marie Presley's mother contested her trust, then resigned as trustee in exchange for $1 million and a grave near Elvis at Gracelandunicourt.com and 10 more
  33. 2023Lisa Marie Presley's trust was told it owed $3.8 million on Graceland, and the Missouri woman who forged the loan got 57 months in prisonjustice.gov and 5 more
  34. 2023Jimmy Buffett left his widow a $275 million trust with his accountant as co-trustee, and each has asked a court to remove the othercdn.theconversation.com and 8 more
  35. 2023Rupert Murdoch tried to rewrite his family trust so Lachlan would control his companies, and a Nevada commissioner found they acted in bad faithwashoecourts.com and 8 more
  36. 2023Harry Belafonte tried to sell Martin Luther King Jr.'s papers, King's children said they were wrongfully taken, and Belafonte sued them and kept the papersupr.org and 3 more
  37. 2022Anne Heche's ex said a 2011 email was her will, and the court gave her estate to her 20-year-old sonetonline.com and 3 more
  38. 2022Wendy Williams has been under a guardianship since 2022 and is still asking a New York court to end itatlantablackstar.com and 3 more
  39. 2022Barre Seid gave his company to a new 501(c)(4) run by Leonard Leo, a $1.6 billion political gift that avoided up to $400 million in taxpropublica.org and 2 more
  40. 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
  41. 2022Angola's president made his daughter head of the state oil company; his successor fired her, and courts froze her assets in four countriesicij.org and 3 more
  42. 2022Naomi Judd's will named her husband executor, and her family sued to keep the police file on her death sealedNBC News and 5 more
  43. 2022Jerry Lee Lewis put his ranch in his manager's name to hide it from the IRS; after he died, a judge ordered his son out and the manager's heirs listed it for $1.6 millionsavingcountrymusic.com and 4 more
  44. 2022Takeoff of Migos was shot dead with no will; his mother and father are fighting over the money the bowling alley paid for his deathcomplex.com and 4 more
  45. 2022Bernie Worrell's widow sued George Clinton for half of 264 Parliament-Funkadelic recordings, and an appeals court sent the case to trialmusicbusinessworldwide.com and 4 more
  46. 2022Nichelle Nichols's son became her conservator in 2019 and fought her manager in court; after her 2022 death a jury awarded her family $13 million, capped at $400,000abqjournal.com and 4 more
  47. 2021The Barclay twins' nephews bugged the Ritz conservatory and recorded their uncle's business talksthecaterer.com and 3 more
  48. 2021Tom Girardi was put under his brother's conservatorship with Alzheimer's disease, then convicted of stealing client money and sent to prison at 86Los Angeles Times and 7 more
  49. 2021DMX died without a will, leaving 15 children, a fiancée the court would not recognize, and an estate valued under $1 millionxxlmag.com and 3 more
  50. 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
  51. 2021Bernie Madoff died in prison, his sons' estates gave up their fortunes, and the trustee recovered $15.5 billionmadofftrustee.com and 3 more
  52. 2021Larry King's handwritten 2019 will left his estate to five children, two of whom died before him, and his estranged wife Shawn contested itwsbtv.com and 3 more
  53. 2021Phil Spector died in prison serving a murder sentence; his daughter sued his ex-wife, alleging she posed as the daughter to sell his memorabiliatheblast.com and 6 more
  54. 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
  55. 2021Bunny Wailer's wife was missing when he died, his 13 children were told to take DNA tests, and his son sued to remove his brother as executorInternet Archive and 4 more
  56. 2021Trustees for the family of Mondrian's heir Harry Holtzman sued the Philadelphia Museum of Art in December 2021 for a painting the Nazis took from a Hanover museum in 1937, valued at over $100 milliongovinfo.gov and 2 more
  57. 2020Sumner Redstone's ex-girlfriend said he was incompetent, the judge disagreed, and his daughter took control of CBS and Viacomfortune.com and 2 more
  58. 2020The Marquess of Bath's trustees asked the High Court in 2026 to let his surrogate-born son into the Longleat trustsThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 3 more
  59. 2020Steve Bing's father asked a court to rule that Bing's two children born outside marriage were not his grandchildren, and lostwealthmanagement.com and 3 more
  60. 2020Zappos founder Tony Hsieh died with no will, and five years later a will appeared in the mail naming a witness who may not existyahoo.com and 3 more
  61. 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
  62. 2020Joseph Safra's son sued his mother and brothers over the family bank, alleging his father had been influenced to change his will, and settled in 2024forbes.com.br and 1 more
  63. 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
  64. 2020Venezuela's 31 tonnes of gold have sat in the Bank of England through two rival governments, a captured president and an earthquakesupremecourt.uk and 4 more
  65. 2020MF DOOM's widow sued a former label manager for 31 notebooks of lyrics and got them back in 2025musictech.com and 3 more
  66. 2020Stanley Ho sued 11 defendants, including 2 of his wives and 5 of his children, hours after saying on television he would not sue his familyhkexnews.hk and 15 more
  67. 2020Little Richard's brother emailed the buyer about elder abuse and racism, the buyer withdrew its offer for the estate's rights, and the court took away his sharetncourts.gov and 2 more
  68. 2020Charley Pride's son by a flight attendant was left out of the will, barred from the funeral, and sued the widow of 60 yearsnbcdfw.com and 3 more
  69. 2020Caroline Flack died in February 2020 before an assault trial; the coroner found the prosecution was among the causes, and her family said police and prosecutors singled her outlawgazette.co.uk and 3 more
  70. 2020Kirk Douglas left most of a $61 million estate to charity and nothing to his son MichaelInternet Archive and 3 more
  71. 2020Chadwick Boseman died in 2020 without a will, and his widow filed in Los Angeles to run an estate first listed at $938,500today.com and 3 more
  72. 2019Nipsey Hussle was shot dead outside his store, and his family took guardianship of his daughter from her motherokayplayer.com and 3 more
  73. 2019Pat Bowlen's trust was meant to keep the Broncos in his family; two daughters and his brother sued, and the team was soldcpr.org and 2 more
  74. 2019A London judge ordered Dubai's ruler to provide £554 million to the ex-wife whose phone he had hackedAl Jazeera and 1 more
  75. 2019The Sacklers drew $11 billion out of Purdue Pharma, museums removed their name, and the Supreme Court voided their release in 2024Supreme Court of the United States and 2 more
  76. 2019Jeffrey Epstein signed his will two days before he died in jail; victims' claims cut the $577 million estate to about $107 millionedition.cnn.com and 11 more
  77. 2019José José's older children searched Miami hospitals and funeral homes for his body, and two wills name different heirshola.com and 2 more
  78. 2019El Chapo was ordered to forfeit $12.6 billion, and two of the sons who inherited his cartel faction pleaded guilty in Chicagoapi-prod.gothamist.com and 2 more
  79. 2019In Knives Out, a novelist leaves everything to his nurse, his grandson frames her so the slayer rule will cut her out, and the plan failsthewealthadvisor.com and 2 more
  80. 2019Doris Day's husband died in 1968 and she learned her lawyer and her husband had lost her earnings; a court awarded the couple $26,396,511FindLaw Caselaw and 3 more
  81. 2018XXXTentacion was shot dead at 20, and his son was born seven months later outside his willnbcmiami.com and 2 more
  82. 2018Sun Hung Kai's chairman was removed by his mother and brothers, who said he was mentally ill, and cut from the family trustfamilybusinessmagazine.com and 2 more
  83. 2018Robert Indiana was sued the day before he died alone on a Maine island, and his LOVE estate spent years in courtmaine.gov and 3 more
  84. 2018Stan Lee's last manager was charged with elder abuse after the Marvel creator diednbclosangeles.com and 2 more
  85. 2018Paul Allen's will ordered his teams sold, and his sister sold the Trail Blazers for about $4 billionInternet Archive and 3 more
  86. 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
  87. 2018New York shut down the Donald J. Trump Foundation in 2018 and Trump paid $2 million to eight charitiesag.ny.gov and 1 more
  88. 2018Banking heir Matthew Mellon died with $193 million in XRP, the keys hidden under other people's names, and a deal that let his estate sell only a little each daydailydot.com and 2 more
  89. 2018Whitey Bulger hid $822,000 in the walls of his Santa Monica flat, and the Marshals sold his belongings for his victims' familiesCBS News and 3 more
  90. 2018Aretha Franklin's 2014 will was found in a notebook under her couch cushions, a jury upheld it in 2023, and her estate was still open in 2026wdet.org and 8 more
  91. 2018Burt Reynolds's 2018 will named his son Quinton as intentionally omitted and routed his assets through a trust run by his niecetmz.com and 3 more
  92. 2017Johnny Hallyday disinherited two of his children under California law, and a French court ruled French law appliedeapil.org and 3 more
  93. 2017Arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi's ex-wife won a divorce payment reported near $874 million, then the largest on recordfindlaw.com and 2 more
  94. 2017Jerry Lewis's will excluded all six sons from his first marriage and their childrenavclub.com and 1 more
  95. 2017Bill Paxton's family sued his surgeon and Cedars-Sinai after he died following heart surgeryDeadline and 2 more
  96. 2017Billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife were found strangled at their pool; police first called it murder-suicide, and the case is unsolvedthestar.com and 4 more
  97. 2017Aaron Hernandez's suicide wiped out his murder conviction, and two years later the state's top court put it backinsurancejournal.com and 1 more
  98. 2017Glen Campbell's wills cut out three of his eight children, and they challenged his capacity after Alzheimer'snewschannel5.com and 2 more
  99. 2017Tom Petty's daughters sued his widow for $5 million over control of his musicRolling Stone and 2 more
  100. 2017An H. L. Hunt great-grandson took a nine-figure settlement and promised not to contest his father's will, then contested itca5.uscourts.gov and 3 more
  101. 2017Lil Peep's mother sued his management company for wrongful death and settled with control of his musicfoxla.com and 1 more
  102. 2017Chris Cornell's widow sued Soundgarden over his last seven recordings and called their $278,000 buyout offer "villainously low"loudwire.com and 4 more
  103. 2017Chester Bennington left everything to his widow and six children, and his first wife's claim took half of his Linkin Park royaltiesloudwire.com and 4 more
  104. 2016The 6th Duke of Westminster's £9 billion estate passed in trust to his 25-year-old son over three daughtersThe Guardian and 7 more
  105. 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
  106. 2016Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband ran her estate as conservator and moved most of her ashes to Budapesttmz.com and 3 more
  107. 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
  108. 2016A Saudi billionaire took a diplomatic post to defeat his ex-wife's claim, lost, and died nine days before he had to pay £53 millionarchive.news.stv.tv and 3 more
  109. 2016Chesapeake founder Aubrey McClendon was indicted for rigging oil lease bids and died in a crash the next day, and the claims moved to his estatefortune.com and 3 more
  110. 2016A legal secretary bought the same stocks as her bosses for decades and left more than $8 million to scholarships, and her husband may not have knownCBS News and 3 more
  111. 2016David Bowie was cremated two days after he died with no one present, and his will asked for his ashes to go to Baliultimateclassicrock.com and 4 more
  112. 2016George Michael left his £97 million estate to his sisters and nothing to his partner, who would not leave the Regent's Park housesmoothradio.com and 4 more
  113. 2016Leonard Cohen's manager emptied his retirement fund, and after his death his children found a forged page in his trustthecanadianencyclopedia.ca and 5 more
  114. 2016Prince died without a will, more than 45 people claimed to be his relatives, and his estate took 6 years and a tax court case to dividenbcwashington.com and 16 more
  115. 2016Muhammad Ali's company sued Fox for more than $30 million over a 3-minute Super Bowl LI promotional video using his image, and Fox settledrightofpublicityroadmap.com and 5 more
  116. 2016Glenn Frey's widow sued Mount Sinai for his death and was ordered to hand over the Eagles' contractslaw.justia.com and 5 more
  117. 2016Lou Pearlman built the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC on a $300 million Ponzi scheme, fled to Bali, and died in prison as investors got 6 cents on the dollarInternet Archive and 4 more
  118. 2016Zaha Hadid's business partner sued her three co-executors in London over a roughly £70 million estate and lost a key ruling in November 2020The National Archives, Find Case Law and 3 more
  119. 2016Debbie Reynolds never raised the money for her Hollywood museum, sold her 3,500-item collection in 2011, and her estate auctioned more after she died a day after Carrie Fishernbclosangeles.com and 4 more
  120. 2015Kirk Kerkorian's investigator took Steve Bing's dental floss from the trash and proved Kerkorian's "daughter" was Bing's childdailyjournal.com and 4 more
  121. 2015Lee Kuan Yew's will asked that his house be demolished, and Singapore made it a national monument over his son's objectionmccy.gov.sg and 3 more
  122. 2015Kirk Kerkorian left $2 billion to charity, and his 57-day wife was paid to go awayLos Angeles Times and 2 more
  123. 2015B.B. King's daughters accused his manager and his assistant of poisoning him; the coroner found no poison and the manager kept control of the estateCBS News and 4 more
  124. 2015Scott Weiland's 2007 will made his ex-wife executor over his widow, and she spent years settling his tax liens and lawsuitslanacion.com.ar and 5 more
  125. 2015Joni Mitchell's friend told a court the singer was unconscious while her website said she was alert, and won control of her medical carebostonglobe.com and 2 more
  126. 2014Casey Kasem's wife and children fought over his care until he died, then she took his body to Norwayabc7.com and 3 more
  127. 2014A London judge awarded a Russian oligarch's ex-wife £453 million, then found their son had helped hide itCourts and Tribunals Judiciary and 3 more
  128. 2014"Putin's banker" put $100 million into New Zealand trusts for his family, and a London judge ruled the trusts were shamsThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 2 more
  129. 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
  130. 2014Hedge fund manager Chris Hohn was ordered to pay his ex-wife about $530 million, and the judge called him a financial geniusCourts and Tribunals Judiciary and 2 more
  131. 2014The 11th Duke of Marlborough went to court in 1994 so his drug-addicted heir would never control Blenheim PalaceThe Guardian and 7 more
  132. 2014Mickey Rooney worked 90 years and left an $18,000 estate to one stepsonCNN and 2 more
  133. 2014Gabriel García Márquez said his last novel must be destroyed; his sons published it on his 97th birthdayeuronews.com and 3 more
  134. 2014Doctors declared Donald Sterling incapacitated, and his wife sold the Clippers out from under him for $2 billionNPR and 1 more
  135. 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
  136. 2014A Qatari collector died in 2014 owing auction houses millions; his heirs split over his blue diamond, and a cousin's company sued to buy itThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 2 more
  137. 2014L'Wren Scott left her $9 million estate to Mick Jagger and wrote that she had left out her family on purposeCBS News and 2 more
  138. 2014Robin Williams's widow and three children fought in a San Francisco court over his belongings, and the children got more than 85 watchesjournals.law.harvard.edu and 12 more
  139. 2014Joan Rivers's executors sued the Manhattan clinic where she stopped breathing during a throat procedure and settled in 2016 for an undisclosed sumamp.insurancejournal.com and 6 more
  140. 2014Philip Seymour Hoffman left an estimated $35 million to Mimi O'Donnell, whom he never married, and refused a trust for his three childrenfoxnews.com and 3 more
  141. 2013An oil trader hid London houses inside his companies, and the UK Supreme Court ordered them handed to his ex-wifeThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 2 more
  142. 2013Paul Walker left $25 million to his 15-year-old daughter, who then sued Porschenydailynews.com and 3 more
  143. 2013Amanda Bynes lived under her mother's conservatorship for nine yearsCNN and 1 more
  144. 2013Jerry Buss's sons tried to vote their sister off the Lakers board; she went to court and removed one of them as trusteeespn.com and 2 more
  145. 2013A granddaughter accused TV evangelists Paul and Jan Crouch in 2012 of spending their network's donations on themselvesLos Angeles Times and 2 more
  146. 2013Boris Berezovsky lost his case against Abramovich, died seven months later, and a judge called his estate hopelessly insolventThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 6 more
  147. 2013Two brothers bought life insurance to keep their company in the family, and the Supreme Court counted the payout in the dead brother's estateSupreme Court of the United States and 2 more
  148. 2013Tom Clancy signed a codicil 68 days before he died, and the top court of Maryland ruled 4 to 3 that it freed his widow's family trust from estate taxmdcourts.gov and 3 more
  149. 2013James Gandolfini's will left 80 percent of an estimated $70 million estate to his sisters and infant daughter, and a tax lawyer said about $30 million would go to taxesABA Journal and 3 more
  150. 2012Whitney Houston left everything to her daughter; three years later the daughter died and the money went to Whitney's mother and brothersabcnews.com and 3 more
  151. 2012A Tetra Pak heir kept his wife's body in their London house for two monthsForbes and 7 more
  152. 2012Sherman Hemsley's body stayed in a funeral home refrigerator for months while a half-brother contested his willCNN and 2 more
  153. 2012Thomas Kinkade's girlfriend produced handwritten notes leaving her his mansion and $10 million, and his estranged wife said he was drunk when he wrote themCBS News and 3 more
  154. 2012Jenni Rivera's children sued their grandfather's label for exploiting her music, and the family split in courtremezcla.com and 2 more
  155. 2012Switzerland's oldest bank took the American clients UBS dropped, pleaded guilty in New York, and closed after 272 yearsjustice.gov and 2 more
  156. 2012Roman Blum left about $40 million and no will in 2012, a Surrogate's Court threw out a will naming a disbarred lawyer, and a Moscow man says he is the great-grandsonCBS News and 3 more
  157. 2012Etta James's husband and her son fought in court over her $1 million while she was dying of leukemiathegrio.com and 4 more
  158. 2012Davy Jones's 2004 will left out the wife he married in 2009; she petitioned for half as a pretermitted spouse and the family sealed the filem.flsenate.gov and 2 more
  159. 2012Donna Summer's estate refused Kanye West permission to use "I Feel Love," sued when he used it anyway, and made him agree never to distribute the songthegrio.com and 3 more
  160. 2012Robin Gibb left a £93 million fortune to his wife and three children; his daughter with the housekeeper got a closing line in the willhellomagazine.com and 4 more
  161. 2012Gore Vidal changed his trust in 2011 to leave everything to Harvard, and his half-sister and nephew suedwashingtonian.com and 3 more
  162. 2012Maurice Sendak's foundation and the Rosenbach Museum fought for two years in a Connecticut probate court over his rare-book collectionSmithsonian Magazine and 3 more
  163. 2012Celeste Holm's sons sued her fifth husband over a 2002 trust, the fight ran about six years, and she died in 2012 with a $13 million estate and a settlement forcing him out of her apartmentdnainfo.com and 4 more
  164. 2011Steve Jobs swore he was sterile to avoid paying for his daughter, lost on a blood test, and later left her millionsfortune.com and 2 more
  165. 2011Jimmy Savile left £4.3 million to friends and his charity; abuse claims froze the estate and the courts approved paying it to his victimsBBC and 4 more
  166. 2011Peter Falk's daughter lost a conservatorship fight to his widow and then pushed for a lawLos Angeles Times and 1 more
  167. 2011Amy Winehouse's father sued her friends over $1.2 million from her dresses and lostwtop.com and 2 more
  168. 2011The Oppenheimers sold their 40 percent of De Beers for $5.1 billion in 2011, and in 2026 Anglo American offered its 85 percent for about $1 billionjckonline.com and 2 more
  169. 2011Huguette Clark's second will cut out her relatives and left her nurse about $30 million, and the relatives settled for $34.5 millionNBC News and 5 more
  170. 2011Gil Scott-Heron died with no will; his daughter said a DNA test showed his son was not his, and a Manhattan court ruled the son was an heirInternet Archive and 3 more
  171. 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
  172. 2011Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry sold for $137,235,575 at Christie's in December 2011, the most ever paid for a jewelry collection, with the proceeds going to her foundationguinnessworldrecords.com and 2 more
  173. 2010A German paper heiress's prenup held in London, and her French ex-husband's £5.85 million award was cut to £1 millionlawgazette.co.uk and 2 more
  174. 2010A polo club founder adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend after a fatal drunk-driving crash, giving her a share of his children's trustabcnews.com and 3 more
  175. 2010Tony Curtis left everything to his wife and named his five living children to exclude theminsideedition.com and 2 more
  176. 2010Dennis Hopper filed for divorce while dying of cancer and fought his wife over money until his deathhuffpost.com and 2 more
  177. 2010J.D. Salinger blocked an unauthorised Catcher in the Rye sequel, and his estate settled to keep it out of North America until the copyright endspublishersweekly.com and 2 more
  178. 2010Alexander McQueen died the day before his mother's funeral and left £50,000 to his dogs and most of £16 million to a charity for artiststhepinknews.com and 3 more
  179. 2009A Saudi trading family accused its son-in-law of a $9 billion fraud, and a Cayman judge found the family had authorized himcaymancompass.com and 3 more
  180. 2009Steve Cohen's first wife sued him 19 years after their divorce, alleging he hid $5.5 million, and an appeals court revived the caseThe Wall Street Journal and 2 more
  181. 2009Bernie Ecclestone put his Formula One shares in his wife's Liechtenstein trust, and the divorce and tax cases followed the trusthellomagazine.com and 2 more
  182. 2009Two barristers bought Countess Markievicz's childhood home and spent seven years in court with Sligo County Council over its avenuesThe Irish Times and 5 more
  183. 2009Ryan O'Neal took a Warhol portrait from Farrah Fawcett's home; her university sued and losttexasmonthly.com and 2 more
  184. 2009Vivian Maier was a nanny who died unknown; after her photographs sold, Cook County took over her estate to find out who owned themnews.wttw.com and 3 more
  185. 2009A woman took over a $30 million lottery winner's money, and police found him buried under a concrete slabNBC News and 2 more
  186. 2009The Staffordshire Hoard paid a jobless detectorist and a farmer £3.285 million between them, and the farmer banned him from his landhistorynewsnetwork.org and 2 more
  187. 2009Edith Windsor paid $363,053 in estate tax because the United States did not recognise her marriage to Thea Spyer, and the Supreme Court struck the law downCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
  188. 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
  189. 2009Michael Jackson's estate put its value at $5.1 million, the Tax Court set $111.5 million, and a judge later ordered $625,000 in bonuses returnedabcnews.com and 8 more
  190. 2009Michael Jackson's companies face abuse suits from Wade Robson and James Safechuck, revived on appeal in 2023 and set for trial in 2028The Guardian and 6 more
  191. 2009Brittany Murphy's father sued the coroner for her hair samples, then said a lab found heavy metals; her mother called it a smearCBS News and 5 more
  192. 2009Allen Klein managed three Beatles, sued them for $19 million after they fired him, and took $5 million to settlelaw.resource.org and 4 more
  193. 2009David Carradine was found dead in a Bangkok closet in 2009; Thai police said suicide, the family's pathologist said accident, and his widow sued the film companyabcnews.com and 3 more
  194. 2008Heath Ledger's will was written before his daughter was born and left her nothingarchive.triblive.com and 3 more
  195. 2008Jocelyn Wildenstein's divorce was reported at $2.5 billion, and the judge barred her from spending alimony on surgeryatlantablackstar.com and 2 more
  196. 2008Robert Mondavi was pushed out of his family's winery after a fight with his brother, sued, and wonwinespectator.com and 2 more
  197. 2008George Carlin's estate sued a podcast over an AI-made comedy special and won its removalThe New York Times and 2 more
  198. 2008Paul Newman left his food company to a foundation run by his adviser, his daughter said the family was pushed out, and Congress changed the law for itCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
  199. 2008Badri Patarkatsishvili died in Surrey worth over $1 billion, a relative produced a copy of a will naming himself executor, and the widow called it a forgery in courts in five jurisdictionskommersant.ru and 11 more
  200. 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
  201. 2008Huntington Hartford had $90 million at 12, lost about $30 million on Paradise Island, and was found in a Brooklyn rental at 90washingtonexaminer.com and 1 more
  202. 2008A son used his dying mother's power of attorney to move $10 million into a partnership and a charity trust a week before she died, and the Tax Court undid itcurrentfederaltaxdevelopments.com and 2 more
  203. 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
  204. 2008Isaac Hayes lost his song royalties to a bank in bankruptcy; his heirs took one song back and sued Donald Trump over ittnwb.uscourts.gov and 4 more
  205. 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
  206. 2008Michael Crichton's son was born after his death and left out of his will; in 2024 his estate sued Warner Bros., calling The Pitt an ER rebootNBC News and 5 more
  207. 2008Britney Spears's father ran her money for 13 years on $16,000 a month, a judge removed him, and she paid to end the fightNPR and 4 more
  208. 2008Bo Diddley's will gave his managers 30 percent of his songs forever, a judge let them sell the catalog to pay the IRS, and 22 heirs objectedfloridaprobatelawgroup.com and 2 more
  209. 2007Brooke Astor's son was convicted of looting her estate while she had Alzheimer'sNBC News and 2 more
  210. 2007The Gallo brothers raised their younger brother after their parents' murder-suicide, then sued him for using the family namelaw.resource.org and 2 more
  211. 2007Dow Jones's family owners split over Murdoch's $5 billion offer, and adviser fees helped decide the voteCNBC and 2 more
  212. 2007The Winnie-the-Pooh rights holder sued Disney for 13 years, and lost because its investigator took Disney's trashthedailyrecord.com and 3 more
  213. 2007Isabella Blow's father left her £5,000, and after her death her estate put her McQueen wardrobe up for auctiontimeout.com and 3 more
  214. 2007Pavarotti left three wills, and his daughters challenged the share of his second wife until a 2008 settlementfoxnews.com and 3 more
  215. 2007Ike Turner wrote two handwritten wills and revoked one; a judge found he died with no valid willsandiegouniontribune.com and 1 more
  216. 2007Anna Nicole Smith's body went to her 5-month-old daughter's guardian after a Florida judge wept through the ruling, and DNA named the girl's fathercdn.ca9.uscourts.gov and 7 more
  217. 2007Leona Helmsley left $12 million in trust for her dog Trouble and nothing to 2 grandchildren, and a judge cut the dog's trust to $2 millionNBC News and 14 more
  218. 2007Nina Wang won her kidnapped husband's estate in Hong Kong's top court in 2005, then her feng shui adviser was jailed for forging her willlegalref.judiciary.hk and 8 more
  219. 2007Evel Knievel's family company sued Disney over Toy Story 4's Duke Caboom, and two federal courts held the toy daredevil transformed his likenessworldipreview.com and 7 more
  220. 2006The Satmar Rebbe's will named his younger son successor; New York's highest court refused to decide which son controls the congregationCornell Law School, LII and 4 more
  221. 2005Robert Kearns showed Ford his intermittent wiper, sued for decades, won about $30 million and lost his marriageDeseret News and 3 more
  222. 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
  223. 2005Rosa Parks left almost all her estate to her institute, her 13 nieces and nephews contested the will, and a 2007 settlement gave them 20 percentlaw.resource.org and 10 more
  224. 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
  225. 2005Hunter S. Thompson's ashes were launched from a 15-story tower at his ranch in August 2005, and a lawsuit later put the cost at $3 million paid by Johnny Deppespn.com and 3 more
  226. 2005Johnny Carson's trust gave his foundation $156 million after his death, and no public accounting of his estate has appearedthesmokinggun.com and 3 more
  227. 2004Dart Group's founder fired his son during his own divorce, then married on his deathbed and cut his children out of his willBloomberg and 3 more
  228. 2004The McCain brothers fought over which nephew would run their french fry empire, and one brother was removedInternet Archive and 2 more
  229. 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
  230. 2004Marlon Brando's $21.6 million will left out one child, and a son's girlfriend scattered part of his ashesLos Angeles Times and 1 more
  231. 2004Ray Charles gave each of his 12 children $500,000 and left the rest to a foundation; seven of them moved to take back his songsleagle.com and 3 more
  232. 2004Melita Jackson left £486,000 to animal charities and nothing to the daughter who left home at 17, and the courts argued over the daughter's share for ten yearssupremecourt.uk and 3 more
  233. 2004Ol' Dirty Bastard died without a will; his widow sued the Wu-Tang Clan for royalties while his children said they had received nothingblackenterprise.com and 1 more
  234. 2004Dimebag Darrell was shot dead on stage with no will; his girlfriend of two decades was left out, later took over his estate's trust, and lost most of its suit against Dean Guitars in 2026blabbermouth.net and 4 more
  235. 2004Rick James's trust was sued for $50 million by a woman who says he raped her at 15 in a Buffalo group homebtpm.org and 4 more
  236. 2003Strom Thurmond's family confirmed his Black daughter six months after his death, and South Carolina added her name to his monumentThe New York Times and 4 more
  237. 2003Anita Mui put her estate in a trust to keep it from her mother; the mother sued for 20 years, went bankrupt, and died in 2026 after Mui's ashes went missingtaipeitimes.com and 5 more
  238. 2003John Ritter's family collected $14 million in settlements, then lost a $67 million suit against two doctorstoday.com and 1 more
  239. 2003Elliott Smith's partner sued his estate for lifetime support, and a talent-agent law voided their whole agreementdir.ca.gov and 2 more
  240. 2003Johnny Cash's trust sued Coca-Cola for using a tribute singer who sounds like himfox10phoenix.com and 2 more
  241. 2003Barry White never divorced the wife he separated from in 1988; she became his executor, and 2 of his children later sued her over stopped paymentsthegrio.com and 3 more
  242. 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
  243. 2002Twins conceived after their father's death were denied his Social Security benefits by a unanimous Supreme CourtCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
  244. 2002Hall of Famer Mike Webster lived in his truck, died at 50, and his estate won his NFL disability pay after his deathThe New York Times and 3 more
  245. 2002A Jersey accountant sued to open Princess Margaret's sealed will to prove he was her secret sonThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 1 more
  246. 2002The Queen Mother left her estate to her daughter free of inheritance tax under a 1993 deal between the palace and the TreasuryGOV.UK and 2 more
  247. 2002Ted Williams's will asked for his ashes to be scattered at sea, two of his children had him frozen in Arizona, and an ex-employee said his head was severedInternet Archive and 14 more
  248. 2002Layne Staley's mother was paid his Alice in Chains share for ten years, then sued his bandmates when they ended itblabbermouth.net and 3 more
  249. 2002John Entwistle's executors sold his guitars, his cars, his house and its last 700 lots within three years of his death; his ashes stayed in the groundsInternet Archive and 5 more
  250. 2001Lord Wraxall's will gave Tyntesfield to 19 relatives and ordered a fast sale, and the public raised millions to buy itBBC News and 4 more
  251. 2001The JCB founder's sons litigated in three countries over the company, then a cousin's £30 million fee claim failedThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 3 more
  252. 2001Dale Earnhardt's widow got Florida to seal his autopsy photos, and 18 states copied the lawNBC News and 3 more
  253. 2001A doctor patented a cell line from John Moore's spleen, and California's Supreme Court ruled that Moore did not own his cellsscocal.stanford.edu and 2 more
  254. 2001Aaliyah's uncle owned her masters, and most of her music stayed off streaming for 20 years after her deaththefader.com and 3 more
  255. 2001George Harrison's estate sued his cancer doctor for making him sign a guitar two weeks before he diedfoxnews.com and 4 more
  256. 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
  257. 2000A Hong Kong buyer asked twice whether anything had happened in the flat; a boy had fallen to his death from its balconyvlex.hk and 3 more
  258. 2000Big Pun's widow sued Fat Joe for his posthumous royalties, saying payments stopped in 2005thesource.com and 4 more
  259. 2000Hedy Lamarr's adopted son sued in Florida in 2000 over a will that left him nothing from her $3.3 million estateUPI and 3 more
  260. 1999U-Haul's founder lost his company to his sons, a daughter-in-law was shot dead, and a jury awarded his side $1.47 billionphoenixnewtimes.com and 2 more
  261. 1999The 7th Marquess of Bristol spent a fortune of up to £35 million on drugs and died at 44 after selling the Ickworth leasenationaltrust.org.uk and 5 more
  262. 1999Rabbi Joseph Halpern's family settled his estate before a Beth Din in Zurich, then fought in London over whether Jewish law governed the dealThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 3 more
  263. 1999Fred Trump's grandchildren contested his will in 2000, and Donald Trump and 2 siblings cut off health insurance for them and an ailing babygibsondunn.com and 4 more
  264. 1999Curtis Mayfield's manager ran his estate; his widow said the manager borrowed against the songs and took about $920,000 in commissionsfoxnews.com and 3 more
  265. 1998A forged will leaving £386,000 to Dr Harold Shipman exposed Britain's worst serial killercrimeandinvestigation.co.uk and 3 more
  266. 1998Four governments returned more than $780 million of General Sani Abacha's money to Nigeriajustice.gov and 3 more
  267. 1998Tammy Wynette's daughters sued her husband for $50 million, and her body was exhumed for an autopsymtv.com and 2 more
  268. 1998Frank Sinatra's will disinherited any family member who challenged it, listing 13 forbidden legal actionsDeseret News and 2 more
  269. 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
  270. 1998Sonny Bono's widow used a 2016 copyright termination notice to stop paying Cher her half of his song royalties, and a federal judge ruled for CherCourtListener and 15 more
  271. 1998Phil Hartman was shot dead by his wife in 1998; their wills left $1.23 million to two children, and a 1999 suit blamed Zoloftspokesman.com and 2 more
  272. 1997The Butlers sold Kilkenny Castle to the town for £50 in 1967, and the Ormonde earldoms went dormant in 1997kilkennycastle.ie and 5 more
  273. 1997Michael Hutchence left half his estate to his baby daughter, and the money went into offshore trusts she did not controltheage.com.au and 3 more
  274. 1997Jack Kent Cooke's will ordered the Redskins sold to fund his foundation, and his son was outbid by Daniel Snyderphilanthropy.com and 3 more
  275. 1997Princess Diana's executors changed her will after her death and gave each godchild one item instead of a quarter of her possessionsWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  276. 1997The Notorious B.I.G.'s mother and widow co-owned his catalog; after the mother died, her trustee sued the widow and wonthegrio.com and 5 more
  277. 1997Townes Van Zandt's ex-wife ran his estate, his eldest son questioned her title to the songs, and the family spent 11 years fighting the label that held his mastersaustinchronicle.com and 2 more
  278. 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
  279. 1997James Michener gave away about $117 million and left the bulk of his estate to Swarthmore CollegeInternet Archive and 3 more
  280. 1996Tupac Shakur's estate forced Drake to delete a song that used an AI copy of Tupac's voiceNBC News and 2 more
  281. 1996Tupac's mother beat his absent father in court and built his estate; her executor was then sued by Tupac's sisterLos Angeles Times and 4 more
  282. 1996Shearn Moody Jr. was accused of making Moody Foundation grants to himself, and the IRS sought $14 millionInternet Archive and 2 more
  283. 1996Bradley Nowell had registered the name Sublime to himself, and his estate got a federal injunction against his own bandmatesnews.pollstar.com and 4 more
  284. 1995The Duke of Northumberland agreed to sell a Raphael to the Getty for £35 million, and the government blocked itInternet Archive and 5 more
  285. 1995A British widow had her dead husband's sons abroad, then fought until Parliament let his name go on their birth certificateslegislation.gov.uk and 3 more
  286. 1995Lana Turner left her daughter $50,000 and the rest of a $1.7 million trust to her maid of 45 yearsLos Angeles Times and 1 more
  287. 1995Bob Ross left his name to his son, and his business partners won it in courtCourtListener and 3 more
  288. 1995Selena was shot by her fan club president; her father later sued her widower to stop a TV show about herksat.com and 2 more
  289. 1995Eazy-E married on his deathbed and left Ruthless Records to his bride; his son challenged the marriage 21 years latertheblast.com and 2 more
  290. 1995Jerry Garcia's widow barred his ex-wives from his funeral and stopped paying his $5 million divorce settlementus.cnn.com and 3 more
  291. 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
  292. 1995An IRS auditor who said she was held back as a Jewish woman left $22 million in stock to Yeshiva University, a school she had no ties tojweekly.com and 2 more
  293. 1995Seymour Durst passed over his eldest son, the family bought Robert out for about $65 million, and Robert died a convicted murdererpressdemocrat.com and 2 more
  294. 1995J. Howard Marshall II's widow Anna Nicole Smith won $474 million in a bankruptcy court, and after two Supreme Court cases her estate got nothingCornell Law School, LII and 8 more
  295. 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
  296. 1994Russborough House was robbed four times from 1974 to 2002, and Sir Alfred Beit gave his stolen Vermeer to Ireland before it was foundrte.ie and 10 more
  297. 1994A court removed 17-year-old Frances Bean Cobain from Courtney Love's care, and she took control of her father's imageusatoday30.usatoday.com and 2 more
  298. 1994A son-in-law moved 98 percent of a dying Texan's fortune into a family partnership the day after a "Fortress Plan" seminar, and the IRS taxed all of itFindLaw Caselaw and 1 more
  299. 1994Kurt Cobain left no will; his widow sued his bandmates for Nirvana, sold a quarter of his songs, and his Unplugged guitar went to his daughter's ex-husbandThe Seattle Times and 7 more
  300. 1994Harry Nilsson's business manager stole his savings, and he died in Chapter 11 owing 75 creditorsThe Seattle Times and 2 more
  301. 1994Jack Kirby's heirs served 45 copyright termination notices on Marvel; the Second Circuit ruled his work was for hire in 2013 and the case settled in 2014leagle.com and 3 more
  302. 1994Martha Raye married a man 33 years younger and left him her $2 million estate, after her daughter sued for conservatorshipamericanhistory.si.edu and 3 more
  303. 1993Doris Duke left $1.2 billion with her butler as executor, and a court-appointed lawyer said her doctor hastened her deathCornell Law School, LII and 3 more
  304. 1993Walt Disney's twin grandchildren split over a $400 million trust after the trustees paid one twin and refused the otherazcourts.gov and 4 more
  305. 1993Audrey Hepburn's two sons ended up on opposite sides of a lawsuit over who controls her imagenbclosangeles.com and 1 more
  306. 1993Gail Zappa left two of her children control of Frank Zappa's estate, and Dweezil was told he could not use his own surname for his bandRolling Stone and 2 more
  307. 1993Audrey Walton put about $200 million of Wal-Mart stock into two trusts reported as gifts worth nothing, and the Tax Court ruled for her against the IRSirs.gov and 2 more
  308. 1993Brandon Lee was killed on the set of The Crow in 1993 by a bullet fragment fired from a prop gun, and his mother and fiancee settled with the producers for an undisclosed sumhistory.com and 4 more
  309. 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
  310. 1993Raymond Burr left everything to his partner Robert Benevides, and a judge threw out his niece's claim of undue influence in 1994pressdemocrat.com and 3 more
  311. 1992Gina Rinehart's children sued her for control of a $5 billion family trust, and her daughter replaced her as trusteeInternet Archive and 2 more
  312. 1992Freddie Bartholomew's parents lost a court fight with his aunt over the boy and his MGM salaryCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 1 more
  313. 1992Francis Bacon's sole heir sued Bacon's dealer for up to £100 million, then dropped the case two weeks before trialThe Art Newspaper and 4 more
  314. 1992Eddie Mabo died five months before the High Court upheld Meriam title to his island, and his grave was defaced the day after his memorialslq.qld.gov.au and 4 more
  315. 1992Alex Haley died owing about $1.5 million, his estate auctioned his Pulitzer for $50,000, and Betty Shabazz sued over the Malcolm X manuscriptstuff.mit.edu and 3 more
  316. 1992Benny Hill left an estate of 7,548,192 pounds to seven nieces and nephews, and his grave was broken into in 1992 over a rumour of buried goldprobatesearch.service.gov.uk and 3 more
  317. 1991A Los Angeles man willed 15 vials of his sperm to his girlfriend before killing himself, and his children asked the court to destroy themCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  318. 1991A fugitive baron died in Manila with two infant sons by two women, and the Lords gave his title to his half-brother after DNA ruled out one boy and bigamy the otherpublications.parliament.uk and 4 more
  319. 1991Publisher Robert Maxwell went overboard from his yacht, and his sons inherited companies that had used the staff pension fundsThe New York Times and 4 more
  320. 1991Dr. Seuss's widow ran his licensing for 27 years; three years after her death his estate pulled six of his booksWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  321. 1991Freddie Mercury left his house and half his fortune to his ex-girlfriend, who buried his ashes in a place only she knowsThe Independent and 1 more
  322. 1991Electra Waggoner Biggs sued in 1991 to sell her family's oil-and-cattle ranch, and after 25 years a court receiver sold it to Stan Kroenkefoxnews.com and 2 more
  323. 1991Miles Davis's will left nothing to two of his sons, and the eldest wrote a book blaming his aunt and sisterdigital.bentley.umich.edu and 6 more
  324. 1991A lawyer sued KISS in the name of Eric Carr's estate, and Carr's family said they had never authorized itloudwire.com and 4 more
  325. 1991Jerzy Kosiński was accused of plagiarism and ghostwriting in 1982 and killed himself in 1991 with a plastic bag over his headEncyclopaedia Britannica and 3 more
  326. 1991The IRS seized Redd Foxx's Las Vegas home, seven vehicles and bank accounts in 1989, and his estate was still in probate with an IRS lien in 2006probatelawyerblog.com and 4 more
  327. 1991Gene Roddenberry's first wife sued his estate for Star Trek profits and lost 2-1 on appeal in 1996; his widow's 2009 trust left their son $60 million and the dogs a $4 million home trustDeseret News and 2 more
  328. 1991Martha Graham left her dances to Ron Protas in 1991, and federal courts ruled from 2002 to 2006 that her own center owned themFindLaw Caselaw and 3 more
  329. 1991Margot Fonteyn died in Panama in 1991 after her savings went to her paralysed husband's care, and a 1990 gala raised 250,000 pounds for herThe Seattle Times and 3 more
  330. 1990Joe Robbie's nine children sued each other, his widow claimed her 30 percent, and a $47 million tax bill forced the sale of the DolphinsTampa Bay Times and 2 more
  331. 1990Armand Hammer built his museum with Occidental Petroleum money and died with shareholders, his son and USC in courtLos Angeles Times and 2 more
  332. 1990Malcolm Forbes spent 25 years buying the tsars' Fabergé eggs, his family sold all nine to a Russian billionaire before the auction, and the US sanctioned the buyer in 2018home.treasury.gov and 5 more
  333. 1990An Wang put his son in charge of a $3 billion company, the son was out by 1989, and Wang Laboratories went bankrupt in 1992scholar-dev.cloud.lib.vt.edu and 4 more
  334. 1990Halston sold his name with his company for $16 million and was then barred from itUPI and 2 more
  335. 1990Death duties forced an earl's family to sell Leonardo's notebook in 1980, and a widow's niece's lawsuit forced its next owner's museum to sell it againhistory.com and 2 more
  336. 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
  337. 1990Navajo uranium miners died of radiation, and their widows had to prove marriages made by Navajo custom to collect $100,000Cornell Law School, LII and 4 more
  338. 1990The IRS seized Willie Nelson's ranch, studio and guitars over a $16.7 million tax bill, and fans bought them backUPI and 3 more
  339. 1990Sammy Davis Jr. died owing the IRS about $7 million, and his widow lost the rights to his name and musicDeseret News and 6 more
  340. 1990Stevie Ray Vaughan's mother and brother sued the helicopter company; his fiancée was left out of the estate, and thieves later took his belongings from Jimmie's storage unitorlandosentinel.com and 4 more
  341. 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
  342. 1990Netflix bought the Roald Dahl Story Company in September 2021 for a reported 500 million pounds, about $686 millionfinance.yahoo.com and 3 more
  343. 1990Jim Henson died during a $150 million sale to Disney, his children ended the deal and sued Disney, and the Muppets went to Disney anyway in 2004The Seattle Times and 4 more
  344. 1989August Busch III ousted his father from Anheuser-Busch in a boardroom coup, and 33 years later the family lost the companyGoogle Books and 3 more
  345. 1989Bette Davis wrote her daughter, her adopted daughter and two grandsons out of her will after "My Mother's Keeper"Internet Archive and 2 more
  346. 1989A New York court ruled the Nyack house "haunted as a matter of law" and let the buyer walk away from $650,000blogs.loc.gov and 3 more
  347. 1989Robert Mapplethorpe inherited three quarters of Sam Wagstaff's $7 million estate over the sister's challenge, left his own parents nothing, and was tried posthumously in Cincinnatimentalfloss.com and 4 more
  348. 1989Edward Abbey wrote instructions to be buried without a coffin or permit, and friends buried him in the Arizona desert two days after he diedabbeyweb.net and 3 more
  349. 1988The Binghams sold the Louisville Courier-Journal after a daughter demanded her shares be bought outpulitzer.org and 2 more
  350. 1988Basquiat died at 27; his estate shut its authentication board, and the FBI later seized 25 fake Basquiats from a museumitsartlaw.org and 4 more
  351. 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
  352. 1987Andy Warhol's foundation valued his art at $95 million; a court said $390.9 million, and his estate lawyer was paid on the differenceThe Art Newspaper and 3 more
  353. 1987Clint Murchison Jr. inherited an oil fortune, bought the Dallas Cowboys for $550,000, and died $100 million short of his debtsUPI and 2 more
  354. 1987Liberace's doctor signed a death certificate that hid AIDS; the coroner pulled his embalmed body back for an autopsyLos Angeles Times and 5 more
  355. 1987Peter Tosh died without a will; his ten children fought in a Manhattan court over his royaltiesblackamericaweb.com and 3 more
  356. 1987Jaco Pastorius died broke after a club bouncer beat him, his estate nearly closed with debts, and his stolen bass took four years of litigation to get backbpb-experimental.voicemediagroup.com and 3 more
  357. 1987Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali was shot in London in 1987, Britain expelled Israeli officials after a Mossad double agent was jailed, and no one has been charged with the murderAl Jazeera and 2 more
  358. 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
  359. 1986Max Feinberg's trust treated any grandchild who married outside Judaism as dead, and the Illinois Supreme Court let it standCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  360. 1986Thieves stole Henry Moore's 2-ton Reclining Figure, valued at 3 million pounds, from his foundation in 2005 and police believe it was sold for scrap worth under 3,000 poundstate.org.uk and 3 more
  361. 1986L. Ron Hubbard was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea within a day of his death in January 1986, after his son had sued to have him declared deadcs.cmu.edu and 4 more
  362. 1985A jury found Rock Hudson hid his AIDS from his lover and awarded $21.75 million against his estateLos Angeles Times and 2 more
  363. 1985Philip Larkin's secretary shredded his 30 volumes of diaries after he died, on an instruction his will did not spell outprod.archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk and 3 more
  364. 1985Ricky Nelson died in a plane fire owing money; his ex-wife tried to take over the estate, lost, then fought her brother Mark Harmon for custody of their sonUPI and 4 more
  365. 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
  366. 1984Lord Brooke sold Warwick Castle to Madame Tussauds for £1.3 million in 1978, ending 374 years of Greville ownershipThe New York Times and 7 more
  367. 1984Jackie Coogan earned $3 million as a child; $252,000 was left when he sued his mothergov.ca.gov and 1 more
  368. 1984Truman Capote's ashes were divided, stolen at a party, returned in a garden hose, and auctioned in 2016Wikipedia (English)
  369. 1984Marvin Gaye was shot dead by his father, left no will and $9 million in debt, and his children won the "Blurred Lines" caseinvestmentnews.com and 2 more
  370. 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
  371. 1984Jackie Wilson spent eight years in a coma under a court-appointed guardian, died $300,000 in debt, and was buried in an unmarked gravealbanyherald.com and 4 more
  372. 1983A Johnson & Johnson heir left $400 million to the maid he married, and his six children suedUPI and 3 more
  373. 1983Muddy Waters' heirs spent 35 years fighting his manager over his copyrightsChicago Tribune and 2 more
  374. 1983The FBI believed Meyer Lansky had $300 million hidden; he died in Miami with less than $35,000 in the bankthemobmuseum.org and 2 more
  375. 1983Dennis Wilson's estranged wife had him buried at sea with White House help, against his brother's plan to bury him beside their fatherreaganlibrary.gov and 2 more
  376. 1983Arthur Koestler and his wife Cynthia died together in 1983; his 1 million pound estate paid for a parapsychology chair after four universities declined itpsi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk and 3 more
  377. 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
  378. 1983Balanchine's 1983 will split the rights to about 100 ballets among a handful of friends, and the heirs formed a Trusteasthamptonstar.com and 3 more
  379. 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
  380. 1982Alfred Bloomingdale's mistress sued his dying body for palimony, was beaten to death a year later, and her estate won $200,000UPI and 3 more
  381. 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
  382. 1982Randy Rhoads's mother gave filmmakers his photos for a documentary that never came out, and an appeals court let them publish a book insteadblabbermouth.net and 4 more
  383. 1982Ayn Rand's heir kept the first and last pages of The Fountainhead manuscript; the Library of Congress took them from his home in January 2002peikoff.com and 2 more
  384. 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
  385. 1981Bob Marley died without a will, and his widow forged his signature to move his companies into her nameFindLaw Caselaw and 3 more
  386. 1981Charles Harpur-Crewe died in 1981, an £8 million tax bill fell on Calke Abbey, and the house went to the nation with everything in itUK Parliament, Hansard and 5 more
  387. 1981Joe Louis owed the IRS more than $1 million and ended his life as a casino greeter in Las Vegasnmaahc.si.edu and 3 more
  388. 1981Natalie Wood drowned off Santa Catalina Island in 1981, and in 2012 the Los Angeles coroner changed her death certificate to "drowning and other undetermined factors"The Hollywood Reporter and 4 more
  389. 1980Peter Sellers signed a trust for his daughter the day he collapsed; his widow kept a £4 million estateBBC and 1 more
  390. 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
  391. 1980H.L. Hunt's sons bought a third of the world's silver, lost more than $1 billion, and filed for bankruptcy after a Peruvian state company won in courtDeseret News and 2 more
  392. 1980A Hungarian soldier was found hanged beside an empty pit in 1980, and the Roman silver he is believed to have dug up sold for €43 millionplone.unige.ch and 3 more
  393. 1980A father and son found a medieval church hoard with metal detectors; the High Court gave them £5.5 million, and the Supreme Court gave the state the hoardarchivesearch.library.universityofgalway.ie and 2 more
  394. 1980John Lennon's will left everything to a trust run by Yoko Ono, and his son Julian sued for 16 yearsbeatlesbible.com and 3 more
  395. 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
  396. 1979Charles Clore moved to Monaco to avoid tax, and the Revenue proved after his death that he was still Englishuniset.ca and 5 more
  397. 1979Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom drowned, his widow inherited 70 percent of the team, fired his son and moved the team to St. LouisTampa Bay Times and 3 more
  398. 1979Conrad Hilton left his hotel shares to his foundation, and his son Barron spent 10 years in court winning them backLos Angeles Times and 3 more
  399. 1979Peggy Guggenheim's grandsons sued the Guggenheim Foundation in Paris to undo her gift of the Venice collection and losthyperallergic.com and 6 more
  400. 1979Barbara Hutton inherited the Woolworth fortune at 21, married seven times, and died with $3,500 in the banklegacy.suntimes.com and 2 more
  401. 1979The IRS valued Samuel Newhouse's newspaper shares at $1.32 billion and sought a $305 million fraud penalty, and the Tax Court sided with his sonscase-law.vlex.com and 2 more
  402. 1979John Wayne's heirs ended an 11-year trademark fight with Duke University after agreeing that no letter of DUKE on their liquor will be bluettabvue.uspto.gov and 14 more
  403. 1979Sid Vicious asked to be buried beside Nancy Spungen; her mother said no, and his mother scattered his ashes on the grave anywayThe Independent and 3 more
  404. 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
  405. 1979A French woman sued Darryl F. Zanuck's estate for $15 million in 1980, saying his son had her cut from the will; the case ended in 1988 with her claim going to a universityUPI and 4 more
  406. 1978Norman Rockwell's sons sued to stop the Berkshire Museum selling paintings he gave it, and Shuffleton's Barbershop went to George Lucas's museumberkshiremuseum.org and 10 more
  407. 1978Bob Crane was bludgeoned to death in 1978, left everything to his estranged second wife, and the 1994 acquittal and 2016 DNA retest never named a killerCNN and 3 more
  408. 1977An heiress and her nurse were killed inside Glensheen, and the adopted daughter who stood to inherit $8 million was acquittedInternet Archive and 4 more
  409. 1977Jacqueline Onassis paid to stop her aunt's eviction from Grey Gardens, and the house sold for $220,000 on condition it not be torn downThe New Yorker and 5 more
  410. 1977Joan Crawford's will left out Christina and Christopher "for reasons which are well known to them"Internet Archive and 6 more
  411. 1977Groucho Marx's companion lost the fight over his estate, and his heirs lost the rights to his actCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  412. 1977Bing Crosby's sons waited for a trust they could not touch until 65, and their mother's trust went brokeCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  413. 1977Lynyrd Skynyrd's widows and survivors used a 1988 court order to block a film about the plane crash, and lost on appealThe Hollywood Reporter and 1 more
  414. 1977A Beverly Hills oil widow's will told her brother-in-law to bury her in her Ferrari or lose his inheritance, and a court held her to itjalopnik.com and 2 more
  415. 1977Elvis Presley's probate judge ruled that Colonel Parker's 50 percent share "shocks the conscience of the court" and ordered the estate to sue himCourtListener and 10 more
  416. 1976Gordon Getty, sole trustee of the family trust, sold Getty Oil to Texaco, and his nieces petitioned to remove himFindLaw Caselaw and 3 more
  417. 1976J. Paul Getty paid part of his kidnapped grandson's ransom and lent the rest to his son at 4% interestIl Post and 7 more
  418. 1976The 7th Duke of Leinster sold his future inheritance to a moneylender and died in a London bedsitInternet Archive and 5 more
  419. 1976Getty Trust chief Barry Munitz resigned in 2006 and paid back $250,000 after reports on his spendingLos Angeles Times and 2 more
  420. 1976Fort Worth oil heir Cullen Davis was tried for killing his stepdaughter and for hiring a hitman to kill his divorce judge, was acquitted, and later listed $865 million in debtsUPI and 4 more
  421. 1976Florence Ballard was put out of the Supremes, barred from using the name for a $139,804 payment, and was on welfare seven years laterlegacy.com and 3 more
  422. 1976Howard Hughes left no valid will, a jury found the Mormon will naming Melvin Dummar a forgery, and Texas and California fought over his death taxesCornell Law School, LII and 11 more
  423. 1976Agatha Christie gave her grandson the rights to The Mousetrap as a child, and the company holding her estate was sold three timesagathachristie.com and 3 more
  424. 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
  425. 1975Beryl Buck left oil stock for Marin County, Shell's purchase made it worth $253 million, and a court kept it in Marinsfgate.com and 1 more
  426. 1974Charles Lindbergh had seven secret children in Germany, confirmed by DNA 29 years after his deathmnhs.org and 2 more
  427. 1974Lord Lucan vanished the night his children's nanny was killed in 1974, and the High Court declared him dead in 2016legislation.gov.uk and 5 more
  428. 1974The government refused Mentmore for £2 million, and Sotheby's sold its contents for more than £6 million in 1977Internet Archive and 8 more
  429. 1974Oilman H.L. Hunt had three families with 15 children, and the wife from his bigamous marriage sued his heirs four years after his deathUPI and 3 more
  430. 1974A court had ordered Sherman Gordon to support his daughter, but Illinois gave his only asset, a $2,500 car, to his parents and siblingsCornell Law School, LII
  431. 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
  432. 1974Duke Ellington's grandchildren beat their father's estate for his royalties, then lost to EMI over foreign earningsnycourts.gov and 5 more
  433. 1974Nick Drake's estate stopped the auction of six unheard 1967 recordings claimed by his friend Beverley Martynudiscovermusic.com and 4 more
  434. 1974Anne Sexton's psychiatrist gave about 300 therapy tapes to her biographer after her death, with her daughter's consent as literary executor, and ethicists condemned itpsych.upenn.edu and 2 more
  435. 1974Christine Chubbuck shot herself on live television in 1974, and her station's tape has been held privately sinceaol.com and 2 more
  436. 1973Marjorie Merriweather Post deeded Mar-a-Lago to the nation, and Congress handed it back in a Lake Tahoe land billgovinfo.gov and 6 more
  437. 1973Christabel Russell said she was a virgin when her son was conceived, and the House of Lords made him heir to the Ampthill baronyUK Parliament, Hansard and 3 more
  438. 1973Mario Lalli called Robert "my son" in a notarized paper, and the Supreme Court still let New York shut him out of the estateCornell Law School, LII and 1 more
  439. 1973About 50 distant cousins of Henry Darger sued the landlords who saved his art, 49 years after his deathThe Art Newspaper and 3 more
  440. 1973The Tolkien estate sued New Line for $150 million, saying it had received nothing from three films that earned billionsawn.com and 3 more
  441. 1973Gram Parsons' road manager stole his body from Los Angeles airport and burned it in Joshua Treeamericansongwriter.com and 3 more
  442. 1973An Ohio doctor's will gave his son seven years to marry a Jewish woman or lose his share to the State of Israel, and the court upheld itCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  443. 1973Jim Croce's widow sued his producers and their lawyer over the contracts he signed in 1968, and won only against the lawyerquimbee.com and 2 more
  444. 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
  445. 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
  446. 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
  447. 1972Edward VIII gave up the throne, sold Sandringham and Balmoral to his brother, and hid how much money he hadWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  448. 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
  449. 1971Jim Morrison left everything to Pamela Courson; she died three years later without a will, and both sets of parents fought for The Doors' moneyhackardlaw.com and 2 more
  450. 1971RCA fought Philo Farnsworth for the television patent, lost, paid him royalties, and he died in debt while television made others richcensus.gov and 4 more
  451. 1971Arbenz's land law took 234,000 acres from United Fruit; after the 1954 coup the junta seized the Arbenz family farm, and Guatemala apologised to his family in 2011history.state.gov and 3 more
  452. 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
  453. 1971Louis Armstrong's will said he had no children, his widow's nieces contested her will, and his letter called a girl born in 1955 his "Little Satchmo"wealthmanagement.com and 3 more
  454. 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
  455. 1970Jimi Hendrix died with no will, and his father's will later cut his brother out of an $80 million estateThe Seattle Times and 3 more
  456. 1970Janis Joplin changed her will two days before she died and left $2,500 for her friends to throw a partyultimateclassicrock.com and 4 more
  457. 1969A Florida judge ruled that the will giving Jack Kerouac's estate to his widow's family was forged, and the ruling changed nothingnbcmiami.com and 3 more
  458. 1969A Schiele portrait lent to MoMA was seized in New York as Nazi loot, and the Vienna museum paid the owner's heirs $19 million to keep itThe New York Times and 3 more
  459. 1969Judy Garland's fifth husband buried her in New York; 48 years later her children moved her to HollywoodCBS News and 3 more
  460. 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
  461. 1969After Sharon Tate's murder her mother Doris backed California's 1982 Victims' Bill of Rights and became the first victim's relative to speak at a state parole hearingthe-line-up.com and 4 more
  462. 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
  463. 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
  464. 1968Three women claimed to be Frankie Lymon's widow, and New York courts had to decide who owned his share of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love"law.resource.org and 3 more
  465. 1968Martin Luther King Jr.'s estate sued his daughter in 2014 to take his Nobel medal and Bible for sale, and a judge locked both in a bank boxlaw.resource.org and 12 more
  466. 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
  467. 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
  468. 1967Prince Felix Yusupov sold two Rembrandts to Joseph Widener with a buy-back option, raised the money, and lost them in courtCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 5 more
  469. 1967Three days after Hyderabad surrendered in 1948, its minister moved £1 million to Pakistan's envoy; a London court gave it back to the Nizam's heirs 71 years laterThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 5 more
  470. 1967Bill Koch sold his stake for $1.1 billion, sued his brothers for more, lost, and settled after 20 yearscase-law.vlex.com and 2 more
  471. 1967A cousin with only a life estate sold John Coltrane's Philadelphia house for $100,000, and his sons sued to take it backinquirer.com and 2 more
  472. 1967Brian Epstein died at 32 owed 25 percent of the Beatles' royalties for nine years, and his mother sold that claim to a City investment trustthe-paulmccartney-project.com and 3 more
  473. 1967Jo Hopper left the Whitney more than 3,000 Edward Hopper works in 1968; a critic alleges a Nyack minister who shared the residue took hundreds more, and the museum has declined to pursue itbostonglobe.com and 3 more
  474. 1967Jayne Mansfield's estate was appraised at $600,000 in 1967; by 1977 her children found about $500,000 in debts and the estate insolventThe New York Times and 2 more
  475. 1966Guinness heir Tara Browne died at 21 before his £1 million inheritance, and his mother won custody of his sonsau.rollingstone.com and 2 more
  476. 1966Lenny Bruce died broke in 1966 with an appeal pending, and New York pardoned him in 2003Internet Archive and 4 more
  477. 1965King Farouk left Egypt on his yacht, and one of his gold coins later sold for $18.9 millionWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  478. 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
  479. 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
  480. 1964Ian Fleming had two heart attacks during the Thunderball trial, settled, and died nine months laterWikipedia (English) and 2 more
  481. 1964Philippine Executive Order No. 1 paid MacArthur $500,000 in 1942, and the payment stayed secret until 1979vtechworks.lib.vt.edu and 6 more
  482. 1964Sam Cooke was shot by a motel manager who then sued his estate, and his manager's company already owned his recordingsInternet Archive and 2 more
  483. 1963Sylvia Plath died separated but not divorced, so Ted Hughes inherited her work and destroyed her last journalnybooks.com and 3 more
  484. 1963Patsy Cline's brother sued her sister over Patsy's stage clothes, and a judge ordered the dresses sold to pay the lawyeroocities.org and 2 more
  485. 1963A Lewis scholar says he saved C. S. Lewis's papers from a bonfire; a critic charged in 1988 that the story and an unfinished novel were a hoaxchristianitytoday.com and 2 more
  486. 1962Ernie Kovacs's mother sued his widow, Edie Adams, over how she paid his tax debtsCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  487. 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
  488. 1962Marilyn Monroe's executor told tax officials she lived in New York, so a court barred her estate's company from claiming California image rightsCourtListener and 8 more
  489. 1961The US government seized Dashiell Hammett's royalties for back taxes, and after he died Lillian Hellman took control of his copyrightsLondon Review of Books and 3 more
  490. 1961Ranch heiress Sarita Kenedy East left her fortune to a foundation controlled by a Trappist monk, and more than 200 people claimed to be her heirsInternet Archive and 2 more
  491. 1960Loretta Young hid her daughter by Clark Gable in orphanages, then "adopted" her, and admitted the truth only in a book published after her deathThe New York Times and 2 more
  492. 1960Mary Roy's brother told her to leave their father's cottage, she sued, and the Supreme Court gave Kerala's Syrian Christian daughters equal shares back to 1951LiveLaw and 3 more
  493. 1960A yardman burned Zora Neale Hurston's belongings after she died in a county welfare home in 1960, and a deputy sheriff put out the firearchive.news.ufl.edu and 3 more
  494. 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
  495. 1959A Kentucky man adopted his own wife so she could inherit from his mother's trust, and the court refusedCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 1 more
  496. 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
  497. 1959Billie Holiday died under arrest in a hospital bed with 70 cents in the banklegacy.com and 2 more
  498. 1959Cuba seized the Arechabala family's Havana Club rum company in 1959, and the family's lapsed US trademark has been in court ever sincecongress.gov and 2 more
  499. 1959Robert Kaufmann left his fortune to the man he lived with, and two New York juries gave it to his brothersCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  500. 1959Buddy Holly's widow charged Lubbock to use his name, and the city renamed its festival and walk of famekcbd.com and 3 more
  501. 1958Jack Warner took control of Warner Bros. in 1956 after his brothers sold out; Harry died two years laterInternet Archive and 1 more
  502. 1957Laura Ingalls Wilder left her book royalties to a Missouri library after her daughter's death; the daughter's heir renewed the copyrights, and a 2001 settlement paid the library $875,000The Seattle Times and 2 more
  503. 1956Bela Lugosi's widow and son sued Universal over Dracula merchandise and lost in 1979Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  504. 1956Jackson Pollock's mistress Ruth Kligman claimed he painted Red, Black & Silver for her weeks before his 1956 crash, and his widow Lee Krasner and the Pollock-Krasner board rejected itThe Art Newspaper and 3 more
  505. 1955Calouste Gulbenkian left his oil fortune to a Lisbon foundation and his son Nubar about $2.5 millionTime and 6 more
  506. 1955Peary and Henson each fathered a son in Greenland, and Henson was moved beside Peary at Arlington in 1988arlingtoncemetery.mil and 3 more
  507. 1955Charlie Parker's wife, his partner and his mother fought over his body, and he was buried where he asked not to beInternet Archive and 3 more
  508. 1955Ann Woodward shot her husband, the owner of Nashua, a grand jury cleared her in 30 minutes, and both her sons later killed themselvesbiography.com and 2 more
  509. 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
  510. 1955James Dean died without a will, his father inherited, his wrecked Porsche vanished in 1960, and his estate sued Twitter over @JamesDeanThe Seattle Times and 5 more
  511. 1954Edwin Armstrong jumped from his apartment after years of suing RCA over FM radio, and his widow, once Sarnoff's secretary, won the caseslemelson.mit.edu and 3 more
  512. 1953The 12th Duke of Bedford was found shot in 1953, and the son he had cut off opened Woburn Abbey to paying visitors to meet a £4.5 million tax debtbedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk and 7 more
  513. 1953Jim Thorpe's widow sold his body to two Pennsylvania towns, which renamed themselves after himpenntoday.upenn.edu and 3 more
  514. 1953Hank Williams' daughter was born five days after his death, made a ward of the state, and won half his estate 34 years laterpeople.com and 2 more
  515. 1953The Rosenbergs were executed in 1953, child-care agencies petitioned for custody of their sons and the boys' trust fund, and the sons have spent 70 years on their mother's casearchives.gov and 5 more
  516. 1953The CIA gave Army scientist Frank Olson LSD without telling him, he fell from a New York hotel nine days later, and the $750,000 his family accepted later blocked their murder suitABA Journal and 2 more
  517. 1953Eugene O'Neill disowned his daughter Oona in 1943, and his widow Carlotta released Long Day's Journey Into Night in 1956 against his 25-year bantheatermania.com and 2 more
  518. 1953Dylan Thomas lost the Under Milk Wood manuscript in a Soho pub, his producer found it and sold it for £2,000, and his widow Caitlin lost her suit to get it backarchives.library.wales and 4 more
  519. 1952The author of Goodnight Moon left her royalties to a neighbour's nine-year-old son, who spent the millionsThe New Yorker and 3 more
  520. 1951Hearst's will locked his company in a trust until every relative alive in 1951 dies, and the company gave his castle to Californiaohp.parks.ca.gov and 7 more
  521. 1951Doctors took Henrietta Lacks's cells without her knowledge in 1951, and her estate has settled with Thermo Fisher and Novartisthebanner.com and 2 more
  522. 1951Iraq took the property of the Jews who left in 1951, US troops found their community's books in a flooded secret-police basement in 2003, and the books have stayed in Americajns.org and 3 more
  523. 1950The 10th Duke of Devonshire died in 1950 before his tax plan matured, and his heirs took 17 years to pay 80 percent death dutychatsworth.org and 5 more
  524. 1950The Lubavitcher Rebbe's grandson sold books from the movement's library as his inheritance; a federal court ruled the library was never the Rebbe's to leaveCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  525. 1950Calumet Farm passed to a widow for life, then to a grandson-in-law who ran up $127 million in debt and went to prisonThe Seattle Times and 3 more
  526. 1950George Bernard Shaw's will ordered a new 40-letter alphabet; the High Court found the trust not charitable in 1957, and the National Gallery of Ireland received a third of his royalties until 2020oxbridgenotes.co.uk and 3 more
  527. 1950George Orwell married Sonia Brownell in a hospital in October 1949 and died in January 1950; his estate's accountant ran his rights until she sued in 1979washingtonmonthly.com and 3 more
  528. 1949Margaret Mitchell's estate sued to stop a novel retelling Gone With the Wind from the view of a slave, and ended up funding a Black collegeopenjurist.org and 3 more
  529. 1949In Kind Hearts and Coronets, a disowned daughter's son sets out to kill the eight relatives ahead of him in line and becomes a dukeProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  530. 1949Lead Belly's family trust sued his publishers in 2026 over 49 songs it took back by copyright terminationmusicbusinessworldwide.com and 1 more
  531. 1948The government ordered opencast mining up to Wentworth Woodhouse, and the Fitzwilliam earldom ended in 1979wentworthwoodhouse.org.uk and 6 more
  532. 1948Zelda Fitzgerald died locked in a fifth-floor room when fire destroyed Highland Hospital in 1948; nine women died and no one was chargeddncr.nc.gov and 2 more
  533. 1947The Fords put 90% of Ford Motor into a foundation and kept the votes, and Henry Ford II quit its board in 1976Internet Archive and 3 more
  534. 1947Joan Irvine Smith fought the foundation that controlled her grandfather's Irvine Ranch for 33 years and left with $256 millionLos Angeles Times and 2 more
  535. 1947Bolivia seized the tin king's mines in 1952, and his heir offered the government a 5 million dollar loan for a law that would let him divorceTime and 3 more
  536. 1947Harry Thaw's mother spent the family fortune to free him after he shot Stanford White, and his will left Evelyn Nesbit $10,000encyclopedia.com and 4 more
  537. 1947Al Capone went to prison for tax evasion and paid every cent, a live TV search for his vault found nothing, and his family sold his pistol for $860,000fbi.gov and 3 more
  538. 1947A colonel took the trousers off the solicitor who wrote himself into a client's will, went to prison, then beat him in the House of Lords without a lawyeralrc.gov.au and 2 more
  539. 1947The Hope Diamond's curse story was sold with the stone in 1911; its owner's will put it in trust for her grandchildren, and her trustees sold it to pay her debtsthe-cartiers.com and 2 more
  540. 1947The Collyer brothers died in their inherited Harlem house under more than 100 tons of hoarded goods, and 56 people claimed the estatemessynessychic.com and 2 more
  541. 1947Aleister Crowley died with £430 and left his writings to his order, and a federal court decided in 1985 which of the rival orders owned themaleistercrowleytimeline.com and 3 more
  542. 1946W.C. Fields paid his son's mother $20,000 to deny he was the father, and his will's orphan college lost to the wife he never divorcedThe New York Times and 2 more
  543. 1946William S. Hart left his only son nothing and his ranch to Los Angeles County; the son fought for a decadeCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  544. 1945Hungary's crown guard handed the Holy Crown to the US Army in 1945, it sat in Fort Knox for 33 years, and Carter gave it to a communist governmenthistory.state.gov and 3 more
  545. 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
  546. 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
  547. 1945Béla Bartók's New York estate was in court for 22 years, and the trustee claimed his manuscriptsCourtListener and 4 more
  548. 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
  549. 1944Banker Fritz Gutmann was killed at Theresienstadt, and his heirs sued an American collector to get back his DegasDutch Restitutions Committee and 6 more
  550. 1944Glenn Miller vanished over the English Channel; his widow licensed his name for $1, and his children lost it in courtcacd.uscourts.gov and 1 more
  551. 1943Oscar Hartzell sold shares in a $22 billion Sir Francis Drake estate that did not exist, and about 70,000 Midwesterners paidCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 4 more
  552. 1943Credit Suisse demanded a death certificate for a banker killed at Majdanek; his daughter waited until 1998 for his accountjweekly.com and 6 more
  553. 1943The US government sealed Nikola Tesla's papers after he died, his nephew took them to Belgrade, and the church and scientists later fought over his ashesCornell Law School, LII and 4 more
  554. 1943Russia's culture minister demanded Rachmaninoff's remains back from New York, and his descendants said noSmithsonian Magazine and 3 more
  555. 1943Beatrix Potter left more than 4,000 acres and 14 or 15 farms to the National Trust, with a life interest for her husbandbeatrixpottersociety.org.uk and 3 more
  556. 1942A ploughman and his employer kept the Mildenhall Treasure at home for four years, used the dishes, and got a reduced rewardmildenhallmuseum.co.uk and 2 more
  557. 1942L.M. Montgomery's death certificate said coronary thrombosis; her granddaughter wrote in 2008 that she took her own lifecbc.ca and 3 more
  558. 1941Oklahoma oilman E.W. Marland annulled his adoption of his wife's niece and married her, then lost his company to J.P. Morgan's bankersokhistory.org and 4 more
  559. 1941James Joyce's grandson destroyed his aunt Lucia's letters and threatened scholars until the copyrights ran out in 2012historynewsnetwork.org and 4 more
  560. 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
  561. 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
  562. 1940The Vestey meat brothers left Britain over income tax, set up a Paris trust and bought a peerageThe Gazette and 7 more
  563. 1940F. Scott Fitzgerald left an estate of about $35,000 in 1940, and the Catholic church refused his burial plot until his daughter petitioned in 1975blogs.library.duke.edu and 3 more
  564. 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
  565. 1938Robert Johnson died in 1938 with nothing, and a Mississippi court found his heir 62 years laterThe Seattle Times and 3 more
  566. 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
  567. 1938Comstock heir Clarence Mackay cut his daughter out of his will for marrying Irving Berlin, and after her baby died he took her backnnbw.com and 2 more
  568. 1937George Gershwin died at 38 without a will, and the Gershwin trusts lobbied Congress for 20 more years of copyrightLibrary of Congress and 5 more
  569. 1937H. P. Lovecraft's literary executor died in 1951, his papers went to August Derleth, and no court has settled who owns his copyrightsfindingaids.library.tamu.edu and 3 more
  570. 1936John Ringling left his Venetian mansion and art museum to Florida and died with $311 in the bank, and the state fought his creditors for ten yearsringlingdocents.org and 4 more
  571. 1936Lenin's 1918 decree took Sergei Shchukin's 258 paintings, and his heirs' claims in Paris and Los Angeles failedkommersant.ru and 6 more
  572. 1936George V's doctor injected him with morphine and cocaine so his death would make the morning papersThe New York Times and 1 more
  573. 1936Henry Wellcome left his drug company to trustees in 1936, and in 1995 they sold it to its rival GlaxoWikipedia (English) and 2 more
  574. 1936Four states and the United States claimed $37.7 million in death taxes from Hetty Green's son's $36 million estateCornell Law School, LII and 3 more
  575. 1936Robert E. Howard shot himself in June 1936 and his mother died a day or two later; a will naming a friend was reportedly lost, and the Conan rights passed to a nurse's daughterUPI and 2 more
  576. 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
  577. 1935Kazimir Malevich's heirs sued Amsterdam over 84 works held since 1958; in April 2008 the city returned five paintingsstedelijk.nl and 4 more
  578. 1934Hungary seized Baron Herzog's collection of 2,000 artworks in 1944, and US courts ended his heirs' 15-year lawsuit in 2026CourtListener and 5 more
  579. 1934A woman married "the world's richest Indian", the Interior Secretary gave away $1.1 million of his oil money, and the courts took it backCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
  580. 1934Göring took over "the Petschek question" in 1938, Flick's companies got the mines, and the Nuremberg court said the seizure was outside its jurisdictiondeutsche-biographie.de and 5 more
  581. 1933Anti-Treaty IRA men burned Moore Hall in 1923 because a Moore brother backed the Treaty, and the novelist's ashes lie on Castle Island in Lough Carracon-telegraph.ie and 3 more
  582. 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
  583. 1932A recluse died in a New York hotel with a fortune in cash, 1,103 people claimed it, and the 10 real heirs had never met herSmithsonian Magazine and 2 more
  584. 1932Paul Bern was found shot two months after marrying Jean Harlow, his common-law wife Dorothy Millette drowned days later, and a judge made Harlow executor of his estateebsco.com and 5 more
  585. 1931John Wendel kept his sisters from marrying to hold the family's Manhattan land together, and more than 2,000 people claimed the last sister's estateTime and 2 more
  586. 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
  587. 1930A Philadelphia widow left $17 million and no will, and 26,000 people claimed to be her heirsCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  588. 1930Arthur Conan Doyle's heirs charged licence fees for Sherlock Holmes until a court ruled the character was free to uselaw.justia.com and 2 more
  589. 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
  590. 1929The oil heir who carried $100,000 to the Interior Secretary was shot dead in his new mansion five months after moving infjc.gov and 4 more
  591. 1928Thomas Hardy's heart was buried in his first wife's grave and his ashes in Westminster Abbey after his executor overruled his wish; a legend says a cat ate the heartarchive.spectator.co.uk and 3 more
  592. 1926Rudolph Valentino's will gave his ex-wife $1, and his body went into a borrowed cryptCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  593. 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
  594. 1926A shipowner's widow reportedly tore up a will leaving her £1 million, inherited about £5.5 million, and died without a will of her ownTime and 2 more
  595. 1926Charles Vance Millar left his estate to the Toronto mother with the most babies in 10 years, and 4 mothers with 9 children each split itWikisource (primary text) and 5 more
  596. 1926Houdini's great-nephew and two authors announced a 2007 plan to exhume his body to test for poisonwildabouthoudini.com and 2 more
  597. 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
  598. 1925A judge took 10-year-old Gloria Vanderbilt from her mother and gave her and her trust to her auntencyclopedia.com and 3 more
  599. 1923Nan Britton lost her libel suit over Warren Harding's daughter in 1931, and DNA proved the daughter was his in 2015The New York Times and 4 more
  600. 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
  601. 1922Shackleton died about £40,000 in debt, his widow chose his grave on South Georgia, and his brother went to prison for fraudsgmuseum.gs and 7 more
  602. 1922Sarah Winchester inherited a rifle fortune and built a San Jose mansion; the medium who supposedly ordered it was invented in 1967skeptoid.com and 2 more
  603. 1921Princess Isabel sued Brazil for her Rio palace in 1895, and her heirs lost the case 125 years laterjota.info and 4 more
  604. 1921Ivan Morozov's great-grandson sued Yale and the Met for a Van Gogh and a Cézanne seized by the Bolsheviks, and lost both casesCourtListener and 7 more
  605. 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
  606. 1919Griffith J. Griffith gave Los Angeles a 3,015-acre park, shot his wife and went to prison, and used his will to build the Griffith Observatorycdcr.ca.gov and 3 more
  607. 1917Queen Liliʻuokalani sued the United States for Hawaii's crown lands and lostWikipedia (English) and 2 more
  608. 1917The Bolsheviks sold the tsars' Fabergé eggs abroad, and one sold in New York in 1964 as a gold watch turned up with a man who had bought it for scrapvam.ac.uk and 3 more
  609. 1917Henry Flagler's widow left $5 million to her new husband in a codicil signed eight days before she died, and her family dug up her bodyebsco.com and 2 more
  610. 1917Scott Joplin died in a state hospital without a will, his papers were lost in a trustee's estate, and his widow's trust won $177,980 in 1977academic.oup.com and 3 more
  611. 1917Buffalo Bill's 1913 will gave everything to Louisa; Denver newspaper owners held his $20,000 debt, and Wyoming has claimed his body since 1917cowboystatedaily.com and 2 more
  612. 1916Ishi asked to be cremated by Yahi custom, and the university sent his brain to the Smithsonian, which returned it 84 years laterhearstmuseum.berkeley.edu and 2 more
  613. 1916Britain hanged Roger Casement in 1916 and buried him in quicklime, returned him to Dublin in 1965 on condition he stay out of the North, and in October 2026 his supporters applied to move himirishnews.com and 2 more
  614. 1916Jack London left nearly his entire estate to his wife Charmian in 1916; she kept the ranch, evicted a biographer, and her 1938 will turned it into a state parkparks.ca.gov and 3 more
  615. 1915Talaat asked the US ambassador for the list of Armenians insured by American companies, and 89 years later New York Life paid $20 million to their heirsProject Gutenberg and 3 more
  616. 1914George Vanderbilt's widow sold most of Biltmore's land to the United States, and his grandsons split the house from the dairyncpedia.org and 5 more
  617. 1914Senator Bacon left Macon a park for white people only; when the courts opened it to all, it went back to his heirs and became a strip mallCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
  618. 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
  619. 1913Adolphus Busch's widow stayed in Germany during World War I, and the US Alien Property Custodian took her share of the brewery until she came homemissourioverthere.org and 3 more
  620. 1912Scott's last plea raised £76,000: widows were paid by their husbands' rank, and £10,000 founded the Scott Polar Research Institutespri.cam.ac.uk and 5 more
  621. 1911Nine Americans won $41.3 million from China on 1911 imperial railway bonds, and the judgment was set aside after Beijing protestedcase-law.vlex.com and 3 more
  622. 1910A duke bought Kylemore Castle with an American heiress's family money, lost it to debts, and later went to prisonThe Irish Times and 5 more
  623. 1910A prince left the family emeralds to his mistress in 1910, and every senior British royal will has been sealed sinceCourts and Tribunals Judiciary and 4 more
  624. 1910Dr Crippen was hanged for killing his wife, and the court refused to let his mistress take the wife's estate through his willThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 3 more
  625. 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
  626. 1909Geronimo's descendants sued Skull and Bones in 2009 for the skull a member's 1918 letter says was taken from his grave, and a federal judge dismissed the casehistorynewsnetwork.org and 5 more
  627. 1908Lord Sackville's son by a married Spanish dancer sued for Knole and the peerage, and the court ruled all her children illegitimateInternet Archive and 4 more
  628. 1908Cyrus Teed's followers watched his body waiting for him to rise, until the county health officer ordered him buried; a hurricane later took the tombwrldrels.org and 2 more
  629. 1907Cassie Chadwick said she was Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter, borrowed against forged Carnegie notes, and broke an Ohio bankcase.edu and 3 more
  630. 1906John D. Rockefeller's father lived 50 years as "Dr. Levingston" with a second wife and was buried under the false nameLibrary of Congress and 4 more
  631. 1905Jane Stanford, sole funder of Stanford University, died of strychnine in 1905 and the university president said it was natural causesInternet Archive and 2 more
  632. 1905The Bishop Museum lent 83 burial objects to a Hawaiian group for one year, the group sealed them in a cave, and a federal judge jailed its leader until they came outarchive.archaeology.org and 4 more
  633. 1904Stanley was refused burial beside Livingstone in Westminster Abbey, and his papers were sold to Belgium in four partsafricamuseum.be and 6 more
  634. 1902Parliament cancelled the Kaiser's 15 Rhodes Scholarships in 1916, and Zimbabwean officials called for Rhodes's body to be removedInternet Archive and 5 more
  635. 1900Oscar Wilde died bankrupt in Paris; his friend Robbie Ross bought back the rights and gave the income to Wilde's sonsthecanadianencyclopedia.ca and 1 more
  636. 1900A lawyer and a valet killed William Marsh Rice in 1900 to take the fortune he left to found Rice Institutechroniclingamerica.loc.gov and 2 more
  637. 1900The Golden Dawn expelled its founder in 1900, his envoy Aleister Crowley tried to seize the London vault in a mask, and Yeats and the landlord threw him outholythornpress.com and 2 more
  638. 1899The House of Lords gave the Poulett earldom to the 6th Earl's 15-year-old son over the elder son the Earl disownedUK Parliament, Hansard and 6 more
  639. 1898Peary brought six Inuit to New York in 1897, and the museum faked a funeral and kept Minik's father's skeleton until 1993nunatsiaq.com and 3 more
  640. 1898A Wapping butcher's son claimed the Tichborne baronetcy, and a 188-day perjury trial sent him to prison for 14 yearsUK Parliament, Hansard and 4 more
  641. 1898Lewis Carroll's diaries lost four volumes and ten pages before reaching the British Library in 1969; his Alice manuscript sold at Sotheby's in 1928contrariwise.info and 3 more
  642. 1897Diamond magnate Barney Barnato went overboard from a mail steamer in 1897, a blackmailer shot his nephew Woolf Joel dead the next year, and his son inherited at twojewishencyclopedia.com and 4 more
  643. 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
  644. 1896The British Museum bought the Broighter gold boat for £600, and the Crown sued the Museum in 1903 to send it to DublinInternet Archive and 2 more
  645. 1894California's last Mexican governor signed what he said was a mortgage, the courts called it a sale, and he lost his last ranch at 90homesteadmuseum.blog and 2 more
  646. 1894Senator James Fair locked his fortune in a trust, a school principal produced a pencil will and a marriage contract, and his children turned on hercslfdn.org and 2 more
  647. 1892The 3rd Duke of Sutherland left his fortune to his second wife, and she went to Holloway prison for contemptUK Parliament, Hansard and 4 more
  648. 1892Lizzie Borden was acquitted of killing her father and stepmother, inherited his fortune with her sister, and wrote her sister out of her willus-data.org and 1 more
  649. 1892Borley Rectory passed from father to son for 64 years, drew ghost hunters for a decade, and burned in 1939 with the insurers suspecting arsonpsi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk and 2 more
  650. 1892Walt Whitman's brain was removed at his autopsy for a brain club and was destroyed within a yearpubs.lib.uiowa.edu and 2 more
  651. 1891Jacob Waltz died in 1891 and his carer sold maps to his supposed gold mine; searchers have died looking for it sinceazstateparks.com and 2 more
  652. 1891Herman Melville's widow tied his unpublished papers in bundles in 1891, and Billy Budd stayed in a breadbox until a biographer opened it in 1919harvardfilmarchive.org and 3 more
  653. 1891P.T. Barnum's will paid a grandson to take the Barnum name; sources give the sum as $25,000 or a share of the estatecollections.ctdigitalarchive.org and 4 more
  654. 1890Richard Burton's widow burned his manuscript of The Scented Garden and his diaries after he diedgrolierclub.omeka.net and 2 more
  655. 1890William Waldorf Astor built a hotel beside his aunt's house over who was "Mrs. Astor", and her son built a taller one on hersmentalfloss.com and 3 more
  656. 1890Louis Le Prince filmed moving pictures in 1888, vanished from a train in 1890, and his son died after testifying against Edisonmuseumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk and 4 more
  657. 1889Antonio Meucci could not pay $10 to renew his telephone caveat, Bell got the patent, and Meucci died before the courts ruledgovinfo.gov and 2 more
  658. 1888John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, sold it off in pieces while addicted to morphine, and died poor in 1888, leaving his widow a pauperhistorynet.com and 2 more
  659. 1886Emily Dickinson's poems were edited by her brother's mistress, and her sister sued the mistress for a strip of landarchive.emilydickinson.org and 3 more
  660. 1885Glenveagh's builder evicted 244 people in three days, a later owner vanished in a storm, and the last owner gave the castle to Irelandnationalparks.ie and 5 more
  661. 1885A Georgia planter left his estate to his daughter by an enslaved girl, and his white relatives lost their challenge in 1887Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  662. 1885Grant lost his savings in the Grant & Ward fraud and wrote memoirs that paid his widow about $450,000US National Park Service and 5 more
  663. 1885Sarah Althea Hill produced a marriage contract and a will from San Francisco's richest man, federal judges ruled them forged, and her husband was shot dead attacking a Supreme Court justiceCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
  664. 1885Jumbo the elephant was killed by a train in 1885; his skeleton, hide, heart and ashes went to four different ownerstufts.edu and 3 more
  665. 1882A 16-year-old poisoned his grandfather to stop him changing his will, and New York's highest court took the farm from him in 1889Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  666. 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
  667. 1879A widow said the Duke of Portland had faked his own death as a London shopkeeper, and the coffin was opened to settle itUniversity of Nottingham and 2 more
  668. 1877Cornelius Vanderbilt left nearly all of $100 million to one son, and the son he passed over argued spiritualism had unhinged himAmerican Heritage and 3 more
  669. 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
  670. 1877Caroline Norton's husband claimed her book earnings and her inheritance from her mother, and her campaign changed English property lawthegenealogist.com and 2 more
  671. 1876Thieves stole A. T. Stewart's body from his New York vault, and his widow paid $20,000 for a satchel of bonescambridge.org and 2 more
  672. 1875Isaac Singer left a sewing-machine fortune to children by five women, and a former partner claimed to be his widowtorbay.gov.uk and 3 more
  673. 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
  674. 1873The Army hanged Captain Jack, shipped his head to Washington in a barrel marked "specimens of natural history," and exiled his people to Oklahomaou.edu and 3 more
  675. 1870Dickens left £1,000 to the actress he hid for 12 years, and burned 20 years of letters in his gardengresham.ac.uk and 3 more
  676. 1868William Morton patented ether anaesthesia, never collected a royalty, and died in debt while his rivals died by suicide and in an asylumcollection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk and 2 more
  677. 1866Bombay Khoja dissidents sued the first Aga Khan for control of the community's funds, and a British judge ruled in 1866 that he was their hereditary imamEncyclopaedia Britannica and 1 more
  678. 1865Hetty Robinson produced a will page giving her all of her aunt's $2 million, and a Harvard mathematician testified the signature was tracedCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  679. 1865John Banks believed devils and a dead man were pursuing him, left his cottages to his niece, and the court upheld the willThe Gazette and 2 more
  680. 1864David Sassoon's sons split his firm in two, his daughter-in-law Flora was pushed out, and his great-grandson Victor lost Shanghaismu.edu and 3 more
  681. 1862Uriah Levy willed Monticello to the United States, the Confederacy auctioned it, and New York's highest court voided the giftCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 7 more
  682. 1861The 2nd Duke of Buckingham owed £1.46 million, fled his creditors, and Christie's sold the contents of Stowe in 1848Google Books and 5 more
  683. 1860Charles Goodyear patented vulcanized rubber, spent the profits in court, and died $200,000 in debt on the way to his dying daughterlemelson.mit.edu and 2 more
  684. 1857The Lee family lost Arlington over a $92.07 tax, the Army buried soldiers on it, and the Supreme Court awarded $150,000Cornell Law School, LII and 5 more
  685. 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
  686. 1856The 17th Earl of Shrewsbury left his estates to the Duke of Norfolk's baby son; a distant cousin won the earldom and Alton TowersUK Parliament, Hansard and 6 more
  687. 1853One wave took a Manchester family off the wreck of the Dalhousie, and their estates went to strangers because no one could say who died firstThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 2 more
  688. 1852Parliament bought Wellington an estate, and the 7th Duke gave Apsley House to the nation in 1947 while keeping a family flatThe Gazette and 5 more
  689. 1852In Dickens's Bleak House, the Jarndyce will case runs for generations until the legal costs have swallowed the estateProject Gutenberg and 3 more
  690. 1851Begum Samru's heir was declared insane on his wife's petition, and after his death she contested his will leaving £200,000 to an Indian collegeUK Parliament, Hansard and 3 more
  691. 1851Audubon's widow sold the Birds of America copper plates in 1870 and buyers melted most of them for scrapyalealumnimagazine.com and 3 more
  692. 1850Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson's daughter was ruled illegitimate, and a Kentucky court gave his estate to his brothersLibrary of Congress and 4 more
  693. 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
  694. 1850Margaret Fuller, her husband and their son drowned 100 yards from Fire Island in 1850, and her manuscript history of the Roman Republic was lostWikipedia (English)
  695. 1849Edgar Allan Poe's self-appointed literary executor was his enemy, who wrote his obituary under a false name and rewrote his lettersbpl.org and 3 more
  696. 1847In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff takes both families' estates through a mortgage, a marriage and a dying boy's will, and a lawyer showed in 1926 the law holds uplegislation.gov.uk and 3 more
  697. 1842A Bellary liquor contractor died without a will, his brother claimed the estate as a Hindu joint family, and the Privy Council asked how the family livedassets.cambridge.org and 2 more
  698. 1842Families who had inherited unpaid Mississippi bonds for 90 years gave them to the Prince of Monaco to sue, and the Supreme Court said a foreign state cannotCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
  699. 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
  700. 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
  701. 1839A banker's nephews fought ten years over his jewels, and the heir who got the Hope Diamond could sell it only with the court's permissiongia.edu and 4 more
  702. 1834A house painter's daughter claimed to be a royal princess, and a jury ruled her proofs forged in 1866 without hearing the Crown's full replyWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  703. 1833Settlers cut off Yagan's head for a £30 reward, it was shown in London and buried in a Liverpool grave, and Noongar elders buried it in the Swan Valley in 2010abc.net.au and 2 more
  704. 1832Jeremy Bentham willed his body to be dissected and displayed, and students stole his head in 1975ucl.ac.uk and 3 more
  705. 1831Stephen Girard left $7.5 million for "poor white male orphans", and courts fought over the word "white" until 1968Cornell Law School, LII and 3 more
  706. 1830Thomas Lawrence died in debt in 1830 and the nation refused his Old Master drawings for £18,000, so a dealer who was his main creditor took themarchive.spectator.co.uk and 3 more
  707. 1829A duke's illegitimate son left his fortune to the United States, which used it to found the Smithsoniansiris-sihistory.si.edu and 2 more
  708. 1827Rose Hall's heir died in debt, his widow sold her rights for £200, and a novel later made her the "White Witch" who killed three husbandsjamaicanfamilysearch.com and 2 more
  709. 1827Jamaican legend says the mistress of Rose Hall murdered her husbands; the records say her husband died in debt and she sold her claim for £200jamaicagreathouses.com and 2 more
  710. 1827George Hudson inherited £30,000 from a great-uncle in "suspicious circumstances," became the Railway King, and died with less than £200british-history.ac.uk and 2 more
  711. 1826Thomas Jefferson's will freed his two youngest sons by Sally Hemings, and his debts sent 130 enslaved people to auctionnature.com and 4 more
  712. 1826Worrall held Fisher's power of attorney, said Fisher had sailed for England, and sold his property; Fisher was in a grave on Worrall's landcampbelltown.nsw.gov.au and 2 more
  713. 1826Masons took William Morgan from a New York jail in 1826 to stop his exposé, and a stranger's body was buried in his namehistory.nycourts.gov and 3 more
  714. 1824Byron's friends tore up and burned his memoirs in his publisher's fireplace four weeks after he diedamdigital.co.uk and 3 more
  715. 1822Shelley's father would fund his widow only if she published no biography, and she kept the remains of his heart in her deskmentalfloss.com and 3 more
  716. 1821Keats's letters to Fanny Brawne were published in 1878 over objections and sold at Sotheby's in 1885 for £543 17slibrary.harvard.edu and 3 more
  717. 1817Bounty mutineers' descendants argued in 2004 that burning the ship in 1790 put Pitcairn outside British law, and the Privy Council rejected it in 2006search.sl.nsw.gov.au and 4 more
  718. 1817Kelly Clarkson bought Jane Austen's ring for 152,450 pounds in 2012, and Britain barred export until a museum raised the same summuseumsassociation.org and 3 more
  719. 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
  720. 1812William Clark became court guardian of Sacagawea's two children in 1813 and freed York only years after the expeditionUS National Park Service and 5 more
  721. 1811John Knill's will pays ten girls to dance round his empty tomb in St Ives every five years, and they danced again in July 2026stivestowncouncil-cornwall.gov.uk and 2 more
  722. 1810The Earl of Berkeley's eldest son was ruled illegitimate in 1811 after the church register entry for a secret 1785 marriage proved forgedInternet Archive and 3 more
  723. 1809Thomas Paine's bones were dug up by an admirer, shipped to England and lostAmerican Heritage and 3 more
  724. 1809Meriwether Lewis died insolvent with his drafts refused by the War Department, and 198 relatives have not been allowed to exhume his bodyUS National Park Service and 7 more
  725. 1805Nelson left Emma Hamilton to the nation; Parliament paid his brother and Emma died in debt in CalaisUK Parliament, Hansard and 7 more
  726. 1804A Spanish frigate blew up in 1804 with Captain Alvear's wife and seven children aboard, and in 2007 his descendants sued for its silvermedia.ca11.uscourts.gov and 4 more
  727. 1801Benedict Arnold was paid £6,315 for changing sides and died in debt; his widow paid the debtsAmerican Heritage and 1 more
  728. 1801A sea captain's son willed his Manhattan farm to retired sailors, a Loyalist's son sued as heir to the Supreme Court, and the ground rents housed 1,000 sailorsCornell Law School, LII and 3 more
  729. 1799Washington's will freed 123 people, his heir sold 54 more, and the family sold Mount Vernon for $200,000founders.archives.gov and 3 more
  730. 1798William Jennens died with an unsigned will in his pocket, and claimants fought over his fortune until 1915Journal article (DOI) and 5 more
  731. 1797Peter Thellusson locked his fortune away for three generations, and Parliament changed the law to stop anyone copying himlbs.ucl.ac.uk and 3 more
  732. 1797Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill collection was sold off over 24 days in 1842 after heirs spent the family fortuneThe Guardian and 1 more
  733. 1793Legend says a monk cursed the family given Battle Abbey's lands to end by fire and water; in 1793 Cowdray burned and its young owner drowned in the Rhine within weekscowdray.co.uk and 3 more
  734. 1790Benjamin Franklin left Boston and Philadelphia £1,000 each for 200 years, and his heirs, a school and the state fought over itCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
  735. 1788The House of Lords convicted the Duchess of Kingston of bigamy, and she left England with the Duke's fortuneWikisource (primary text) and 4 more
  736. 1783Charles Byrne arranged to be buried at sea to escape the anatomists, and John Hunter got his body and displayed his skeleton for 200 yearsThe Irish Times and 2 more
  737. 1781Virginia confiscated Lord Fairfax's Northern Neck, and his heir's land claim reached the Supreme Court twiceCornell Law School, LII and 5 more
  738. 1779Captain Cook's body was returned in pieces, and his widow outlived all six children and destroyed his letters before she died in 1835register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk and 6 more
  739. 1775A Bengali official accused Warren Hastings of bribery, was charged weeks later with forging a dead banker's bond, and was hanged under an English statuteWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  740. 1771Lord Baltimore was acquitted of rape in 1768, left Maryland to his illegitimate son in 1771, and the son lost it to the RevolutionMaryland State Archives and 6 more
  741. 1770William Beckford inherited a Jamaican sugar fortune at 10, built Fonthill Abbey, and sold it before its tower felllbs.ucl.ac.uk and 3 more
  742. 1760An uncle shipped his 12-year-old nephew to America as a servant to take the Anglesey titles, and a Dublin jury found for the nephew in 1743Internet Archive and 2 more
  743. 1760Kent inherited his dead lover's money, and her "ghost" accused him of poisoning her; a London jury convicted the ghost's handlers in 1762Project Gutenberg and 2 more
  744. 1757Admiral John Byng was shot under the Articles of War, his family kept his estate, and no pardon has been grantedRoyal Museums Greenwich and 3 more
  745. 1738Descendants of a 1640s settler sued Trinity Church for downtown Manhattan, and courts ruled the church's 230 years of possession beat their claimCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
  746. 1737The last Medici left the Florentine Diamond to Tuscany, the Habsburgs took it to Vienna, and it surfaced in a Quebec bank vault in 2025theglobeandmail.com and 4 more
  747. 1736Parliament confiscated South Sea director Edward Gibbon's £106,543 in 1721 and left him £10,000; he rebuilt the fortune and willed it past his sonProject Gutenberg and 3 more
  748. 1727Isaac Newton died without a will, and his heirs held his alchemy and theology papers for 209 years before selling them for £9,000newtonproject.ox.ac.uk and 2 more
  749. 1726Dorothy Walpole married the man her father forbade, died of smallpox at Raynham in 1726, and became the Brown Lady photographed on its stairs in 1936derehamtimes.co.uk and 2 more
  750. 1724Thomas Guy sold his South Sea stock at the top of the 1720 bubble and left the profit to found Guy's Hospitalkingspast.kcl.ac.uk and 2 more
  751. 1722Marlborough's £5,000 Post Office pension was paid to his heirs for 178 years, and Blenheim's builders went unpaid in 1712UK Parliament, Hansard and 3 more
  752. 1721Edward Colston's charities carried his name for 300 years, until protesters threw his statue in Bristol harbourCourts and Tribunals Judiciary and 3 more
  753. 1718William Penn went to debtors' prison while he owned Pennsylvania, and his heirs later traded 24 million acres for £130,000 and a £4,000 British annuitybedsarchivescat.bedford.gov.uk and 11 more
  754. 1716The Earl of Derwentwater was beheaded in 1716, Parliament gave his estates to Greenwich Hospital, and in 1868 a woman calling herself his heir moved into the ruined castlenorthumberlandarchives.com and 4 more
  755. 1710Christopher Codrington willed his Barbados plantations to a Church of England missionary society, which held enslaved people on them from 1710 to 1836Wikisource (primary text) and 3 more
  756. 1703Robert Hooke said he would endow the Royal Society, died without a will, and cousins he barely knew took the moneymathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk and 2 more
  757. 1701Captain Kidd buried treasure on Gardiners Island to bargain for a pardon, and the governor who had backed his voyage dug it upEncyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more
  758. 1692Salem pressed Giles Corey to death under stones for refusing a jury trial, and his land went to his sons-in-law under a will he had already signedsalem.lib.virginia.edu and 3 more
  759. 1688Henry Morgan left his plantations and 131 enslaved people to his wife and nephews, and four years later his grave went under the sealbs.ucl.ac.uk and 3 more
  760. 1677The Earl of Arundel's heir went insane in Padua, his younger brothers fought over the family settlement, and the case created the rule against perpetuitieslegislation.gov.uk and 4 more
  761. 1658England dug up Oliver Cromwell, hanged his corpse and put his head on a pole, and collectors sold the head for 300 years until a college buried it in secret in 1960olivercromwell.org and 2 more
  762. 1632The House of Lords ruled the Earl of Banbury's sons were not his, and the Knollys family lost the earldom after 152 years of claimsInternet Archive and 2 more
  763. 1622Mel Fisher lost his son and daughter-in-law hunting the Atocha, found its main treasure ten years to the day later, and beat Florida in the Supreme CourtCornell Law School, LII and 3 more
  764. 1620Burton Agnes Hall has passed by inheritance since 1610, and its builder's daughter is said to be bricked into a wallburtonagnes.com and 2 more
  765. 1618James I gave Walter Raleigh's Sherborne estate to his favourite over a missing phrase in a trust deed, and Raleigh's widow kept his embalmed head for 29 yearsSmithsonian Magazine and 5 more
  766. 1617Pocahontas's son inherited Virginia land, and Virginia's 1924 race law made an exception that kept families claiming descent from her legally whiteUS National Park Service and 3 more
  767. 1616Shakespeare left his wife his "second best bed" and struck his new son-in-law out of the willnationalarchives.gov.uk and 3 more
  768. 1611England's richest commoner left his fortune to a hospital, and his nephew and Francis Bacon tried to break the willthecharterhouse.org and 3 more
  769. 1596Francis Drake promised his estates to his wife, then signed them to his brother 2 days before dying at sea, and the brother won the lawsuitsbeta.nationalarchives.gov.uk and 7 more
  770. 1593Christopher Marlowe was stabbed to death in a Deptford house on 30 May 1593 by a man later pardoned in 28 days, and the inquest record was found in 1925archive.spectator.co.uk and 3 more
  771. 1583Gaelic law gave Gráinne O'Malley nothing from two husbands, so she sailed to Elizabeth I and won a pension from her sons' landsliverpoolmuseums.org.uk and 2 more
  772. 1579Thomas Gresham left London a free college, and Parliament sold the building for a tax office in 1768gresham.ac.uk and 2 more
  773. 1558England made Conn O'Neill's son by a blacksmith's wife his heir, and Conn's son Shane had the heir killedlibraryireland.com and 4 more
  774. 1547Henry VIII's will was signed with a stamp, not his hand, and its validity was disputed for 20 yearsdiscovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk and 3 more
  775. 1537Robert Aske's rebels demanded the repeal of the law that stopped landowners leaving land by will; Aske was hanged in chains, and Henry VIII gave way in 1540familyrecords.awh.durham.ac.uk and 5 more
  776. 1535Henry VIII beheaded Thomas More and took the family's property, and his daughter bribed a man for his head, which a Canterbury parish voted in 2025 to dig upcanterbury-archaeology.org.uk and 4 more
  777. 1485Richard III's bones were found under a car park, and his distant relatives sued the government over where to bury himle.ac.uk and 1 more
  778. 1485Malory says Uther's heir was raised in secret, the lords refused the boy who pulled the sword, and the common people made him kingProject Gutenberg and 3 more
  779. 1459John Paston claimed Sir John Fastolf's lands under a deathbed spoken will, and the Duke of Norfolk besieged Caister Castle to take themthisispaston.co.uk and 4 more
  780. 1450The Gest of Robyn Hode says a knight pledged his lands to an abbot for £400 and Robin paid the debt; a 1598 play made Robin an earl robbed by his uncleboldoutlaw.com and 4 more
  781. 1423Richard Whittington left no children and his fortune to London; his executors rebuilt Newgate prison and founded almshouses that still operatethe-orb.arlima.net and 2 more
  782. 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
  783. 1343Edward III did not repay the Bardi and Peruzzi, and both Florentine banks failed in the 1340sbritish-history.ac.uk and 4 more
  784. 1330Edward III hanged Roger Mortimer without a trial and took his lands, and Mortimer's grandson won them back in 1354Wikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  785. 1296Edward I took Scotland's coronation stone in 1296; four students took it back on Christmas Day 1950 and broke it in twoperthmuseum.co.uk and 4 more
  786. 1244Henry III took a third of David of Oxford's estate in 1244 and held his widow Licoricia in the Tower until it was settledmajw.uvic.ca and 5 more
  787. 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
  788. 1213Georgia's King George III had no son and crowned his daughter Tamar co-ruler, and the place of her grave is still disputedgeorgianencyclopedia.ge and 3 more
  789. 1186When Aaron of Lincoln died in 1186, Henry II took his whole estate and set up a separate exchequer to collect his debtsJournal article (DOI) and 4 more
  790. 1150Tradition says a dying Lady Tichborne crawled round 23 acres for a bread dole and cursed the family if it ever stoppedhistoric-uk.com and 4 more
  791. 1136A bishop's son ran England's oldest almshouse for decades on an income Trollope turned into The Wardenbritish-history.ac.uk and 6 more
  792. 1134Tradition says conjoined twins left Biddenden 20 acres for bread and cheese, and the rector sued to take the landengland.prm.ox.ac.uk and 2 more
  793. 1066Domesday shows Count Alan holding 33 of the 40 estates of Edith the Fair, and in 1094 Archbishop Anselm wrote to her daughter, King Harold's daughter, who had left Wilton Abbey with Alanpase.ac.uk and 4 more
  794. 879Two detectorists sold a Viking-age hoard with coins showing Alfred the Great beside Ceolwulf II of Mercia, and about 270 coins are still missingthehistoryblog.com and 2 more
  795. 800Pueblo Bonito's richest crypt held one maternal line for 330 years, and scientists sequenced it without asking the Pueblo tribespar.nsf.gov and 2 more
  796. 624A 1939 inquest ruled the Sutton Hoo ship burial was Edith Pretty's property, and she gave it to the nationnationaltrust.org.uk and 3 more
  797. 1279 BCESeti I's empty sarcophagus was sold to the architect John Soane in 1824, and Soane obtained an Act of Parliament so his son could not inherit itUK Parliament, Hansard and 5 more
  798. 7000 BCEScientists and five tribes fought for 20 years over a skeleton about 9,000 years old, a court gave it to the scientists, and Congress gave it to the tribeslaw.resource.org and 2 more
  799. 40000 BCEMungo Man and Mungo Lady, Australia's oldest known people, came home after decades in Canberra, and their reburial split the three nations who own themSmithsonian Magazine and 3 more