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Case file s528 · 2015 to 2026 · 2020
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2020
Died
27 November 2020
Place
New London, Connecticut, USA (house fire)
Field
tech and retail (Zappos) · Business and finance on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law (Nevada probate) · Common law
Historical event
the death of a tech founder worth about $800 million
2015 to 2026Died without a willNowNorth AmericaUnited States
AI illustration: A will in an envelope in a mail tray, 2025
Illustration made with AI for celebrity.estate.

Zappos founder Tony Hsieh died with no will, and five years later a will appeared in the mail naming a witness who may not exist

Tony Hsieh sold Zappos to Amazon and spent his fortune remaking downtown Las Vegas. He died at 46 after a fire in New London, Connecticut. No will was found. A Clark County judge appointed his father, Richard Hsieh, administrator. The estate's own lawyers wrote that Hsieh lacked the capacity to sign contracts in the months before his death, and the estate fought and settled claims from former associates. Tony Lee sought nearly $7 million and settled for undisclosed terms. In March 2025 someone mailed a will dated March 2015 to the Clark County District Court clerk. A relative had found it in February 2025 among the belongings of Pir Muhammad, a man with Alzheimer's disease. The will names lawyers Robert Armstrong and Mark Ferrario as co-executors, plus a third man who does not appear to exist. It lists five witnesses with no proof they exist, a trust that does not exist, and drops the hyphen from Hsieh's legal middle name, Chia-Hua. Armstrong and Ferrario said they had never met Hsieh. The court still appointed them co-administrators and let them use estate money to defend the will. The estate asked the Nevada Supreme Court to intervene. A district court hearing was set for 26 January 2026; its outcome has not been reported†.

What the law took from it

Dying without a will invites a will to be found.

Sources
  1. yahoo.comPress
  2. hoodline.comPress
  3. ktnv.comPress
  4. preview.reviewjournal.comPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Zappos founder Tony Hsieh died with no will, and five years later a will appeared in the mail naming a witness who may not exist,” story s528, https://www.celebrity.estate/zappos-founder-tony-hsieh-died-with-2020, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

2015 to 2026Died without a willNowNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States