That’s the legal stance the executors of her estate are now taking as they seek the return of $105 million in gifts the wealthy recluse gave to doctors and employees in her last decades of life.
After three years of litigation, it’s the first time the executors have used the insanity argument.
The move is “a measure of their desperation,” Lawrence Fox, an attorney for Beth Israel Hospital, said in recent court papers.
Executors would have to prove that she did not have a single “lucid episode” from age 84 until she died in 2011 — even though she closely tracked the 2000 Bush vs. Gore election recount and the stock market, Fox argues.
This current court fight comes eight months after Clark’s 20 distant relatives won a $34.5 million settlement in a separate will contest. Other payouts in that previous estate battle include $85 million to a California arts foundation established in the heiress’ memory, $35 million to the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, and a whopping $24.5 million in legal fees.
Now the executors, on behalf of the family, are going after over $100 million that Clark gave away during her lifetime.
The executors’ attorney, John Morken, criticized Fox and the other defendants for seizing on the salacious term “insane.”
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Executors of Huguette Clark’s estate claim she was insane
Not a prayer they win that case!
ReplyDeleteI didn't think much would shock me, but this got my attention first thing this morning.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Clark was confined in that hospital by some means and she probably did lavish gifts on her captors (the Stockholm syndrome).
and IF INSANE ?
ReplyDeleteso what.
how many under the legal definition of incapacitated FREELY ROAMING THE STREETS ?
they cannot be institutionalized THE SAME as it is against their protected rights. They have NO crappola from these probate courts either--now exactly why is that ?
they qualify for SSI SSD whatever- how are THEIR RIGHTS PROTECTED ?
if her loiyuuuhas have a clue,they definitely should approach this under the very same LAWS letting those that cannot help themselves BE FREE.
Somewhere in this saga lies the truth why Huguette Clark would voluntarily decide to remain in a bleak hospital setting rather than a more desirable residence with assistance that most people require and welcome as they age.
ReplyDeleteVery curious for sure but I'm betting Ms. Clark was on medications and we know the side effects while I'm wondering about a list of 'allowed visitors' vs 'banned visitors' as evidence.
Sadly but it's the American way, lawyers are in a win win win situation financially while this case drags on what a shame but the reality is if the more valuable a person is that puts the wealthy person at higher risk for becoming prey.
Somewhere in this saga lies the truth. The only person who can tell her side of the story is the late Huguette Clark.
She “was an eccentric recluse living in chaos and in an old, soiled bathrobe, and weighed 75 pounds,” Morken writes in court papers.
Her doctors still described Clark as “extremely frightened” of the outside world and lacking any “concept of money.”
The hospital’s attorney counters that the heiress had “remarkable mental faculties” and was in “full control of her affairs.”