Relatives say Huguette Clark Unwell When Signing Second Will
- July 16, 2013 20:02
New court filings say that copper mining heiress Huguette Clark was frail and unwell when she signed a second will that gives her $300 million fortune to her lawyer, accountant, and employees.
Clark could barely hold the pen to sign the will in a dark room at the Beth Israel Hospital in New York where she spent her last years, say the court papers. Her lawyer, Wallace Bock, watched over the signing along with her accountant, Irving Kamsler, a convicted sex offender.
Bock's assistant Danita Rudisill stated that Clark "mumbled" and signed with "difficulty," according to the court filings.
Documents state that Bock and Kamsler then celebrated their gain as beneficiaries with drinks at a nearby bar.
The papers filed at Manhattan Surrogate Court came from relatives of Clark, who died in 2011 at age 104. The family contests Bock's claim that his client knew what she was signing in April 2005.
A March 2005 will left $5 million to Clark’s personal nurse, Hadassah Peri, and the rest of the estate to Clark’s relatives.
Clark's massive fortune includes artwork and a grand oceanfront property in Santa Barbara, Calif., that she supposedly wished to turn into a museum.
![A 19th century Seven Piece "Chrysanthemum" Pattern Sterling Silver Coffee & Tea Service, which was exhibited in the Tiffany & Co. booth at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago](/images/c/78/96/Tiffany___Co__Makers_Seven_Piece_"Chrysanthem100x100_c.jpg "A 19th century Seven Piece \"Chrysanthemum\" Pattern Sterling Silver Coffee & Tea Service, which was exhibited in the Tiffany & Co. booth at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago")
_-Closing-the-Distance_100x100_c.jpg "Lot 204: Bob Kuhn (1920–2007),Closing the Distance, 1977, acrylic on masonite, 24 x 48 in, Sold: $409,500")
