Disney heirs' £235m legacy fued gets ugly

Twins Brad and Michelle Lund before the split

IF THIS tumultuous tale was a film made by their famous grandfather, Disney twins Brad and Michelle Lund would be looking forward to a fairytale ending.

Yet a bitter feud between the brother and sister is growing nastier by the day as they fight it out for a £235million inheritance.

A year from now, on their 45th birthdays, they are due to receive a huge payout from the Magic Kingdom. However, they are questioning each other’s mental competence and entitlement to the money.

As accusations, lawsuits and appeals mount up, it looks like a turbulent 12 months ahead.

Just as the huge Hollywood empire is celebrating smash-hit family movies such as Frozen and Maleficent, the Disney feud is casting a long shadow over the successes.

The twins, whose late mother was Walt Disney’s daughter Sharon Lund, have spent years battling each other in court and are no longer on speaking terms.

Both went to schools for children with learning disabilities, and in adult life have stayed away from the running of the corporate empire.

While awaiting the really big money, they have been living off smaller payments from the Disney estate.

Brad has worked as a table clearer in a restaurant, on the counter of a parcel delivery office and making drinks in a cafe, but now considers himself retired. Michelle has never held a job, but has seen more of the family money so far.

Walt Disney created the Hollywood empire

Their mother’s will stated that most of the family fortune due to them would be held in trust and paid in three instalments on their 35th, 40th and 45th birthdays as long as they could demonstrate “maturity and financial ability to manage such funds in a prudent and responsible manner”.

Michelle has had her two large shares so far – despite claims made against her of drug use and concentration problems following a brain aneurysm.

Brad, however, hasn’t yet received either of his payments. Following reports from medical experts who said he had a “chronic cognitive disability”, the trustees ruled that he lacked the mental abilities to oversee so much cash.

As they are due to vote again next year on whether to turn over money to both grandchildren on their 45th birthdays – including the millions Brad has not yet received – the war is well and truly on.

Brad recently lost a court case in which he claimed the trustees were only denying his money to line their own pockets.

He said: “The trustees keep my trust hostage and refuse to hand me over what is legally and rightfully mine.”

A judge in the Los Angeles Superior Court, Mitchell Beckloff, ruled: “The trustees are legitimately concerned about Mr Lund’s ability to protect himself from those around him who may wish to take financial advantage of him.”

Walt Disney died in 1966, having established a unique entertainment company that has continued to grow. It now boasts an equity value of more than £80billion.

The twins’ mother died from breast cancer 20 years ago. Before her death she set up a trust fund for her children, administered by a group of well-paid trustees.

Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, was a dedicated family man who once said: “A man must never neglect his family for business.

“The important thing is the family, if you can keep the family together. That’s the backbone of our whole business, catering to families.”

Now his own family are fighting over that business...and it is becoming more ugly by the minute.

Full Article & Source:
Disney heirs' £235m legacy fued gets ugly

Woman fights to keep family resort open amid battle over trust, estate

TANNERSVILLE, N.Y. — It was 54 years ago when a family of immigrants from Trieste, Italy brought their brand of comfort food and hospitality to the Catskill Mountains, opening a resort called Villa Vosilla.

Natalina and John Vosilla, Junior eventually moved their two daughters, Doria and Susan, to the resort full time—after they’d spent their early years in Brooklyn.

“When we were here, we had to work,” Doria Vosilla McGunnigle said recently. “I started with the housekeepers, making beds.”

Now, Vosilla McGunnigle is fighting to keep the resort open, because of a battle over the will left by her younger sister, Susan.

Susan Vosilla was only 55 years old, when she died in September 2011.

Doria claims a long-time Tannersville attorney saw an opportunity with Susan, who was diabetic, had suffered multiple strokes, and battled drug and alcohol abuse at various times in her life.

The trust and will that Susan ultimately signed in 2010 cut Doria out of Susan’s portion of the Villa Vosilla estate—giving that half to six other people, including a 17.5 percent to the lawyer’s wife.

“He writes his wife in the will, Harriet Bucca,” Doria’s husband, Lee McGunnigle, said of veteran lawyer, Anthony Bucca.

“I never knew an attorney’s wife could be written into a will.”

PIX11 met Anthony Bucca near his old law office in Tannersville, and he gave his version of what happened.

“She hated her sister,” Bucca said of Susan Vosilla. “She hired me the day her mother died.”

Bucca initially filed papers to be Susan’s guardian, and $430,000 in cash assets were supposed to be allocated toward Susan’s care.

Within three months, though, Susan Vosilla was signing a “Last Will and Testament” that named Anthony Bucca as trustee and executor of her portion of the estate.

The legal language attributed to Susan said, “I have deliberately made no provision herein for the benefit of my sister Doria McGunnigle or her issue, and I direct that they shall not share in my estate as a distributee or otherwise.”

“She was mistreated by her sister,” Bucca said to PIX11. “They didn’t include her in events; she was persona non grata at the hotel. She suffered a lot, because of the lack of love and affection.”

The McGunnigles told PIX11 this is not an accurate portrayal of the family dynamic. Susan was godmother to their second son. They said when Susan suffered the strokes in her early 30’s, she embraced sobriety for 15 years and family life was much better.

“For 15 years, during her sobriety, it was a loving family,” said Lee McGunnigle, who’s helped run Villa Vosilla for 35 years and also serves as the long-time Mayor of Tannersville, New York.

Doria McGunnigle claimed she helped to save her sister’s foot from amputation by tending to Susan’s wounds when the foot got infected due to complications from diabetes.

McGunnigle said the people named in Susan’s will weren’t taking such good care of her when she died.

The McGunnigles videotaped the 5,000 square foot home where Susan was discovered dead in September 2011.

“There was dog feces everywhere. Her recliner was eaten up by the dogs,” Doria Vosilla McGunnigle said.

Leigh McGunnigle is the oldest of Doria and Lee’s four children. He’s now serving as general manager at the resort, part of the 4th generation to carry on the family tradition.

“There’s a couple of employees that have worked here over 30 years,” Leigh McGunnigle said, noting a closure of Villa Vosilla would have a “trickle down” effect on the Tannersville and Hunter Mountain community.

“I met my wife here,” Leigh McGunnigle said. “This is my home.”

“When Susan died, all of a sudden he presents an elaborate will and trust,” Lee McGunnigle said of the lawyer, Anthony Bucca. “He wants to sell it!” McGunnigle said of Bucca’s intentions.

Bucca denies this and said he “pledged his cooperation to preserve the hotel.”

Doria Vosilla McGunnigle said Bucca turned down an offer for beneficiaries to take $750,000 and walk away.

Doria’s battle with Anthony Bucca has captured the interest of Kerri Kasem, daughter of the late radio legend, Casey Kasem. Kerri Kasem battled with her step-mother, Jean Kasem, during her father’s dying days.

The McGunnigles say the Villa Vosilla battle is a text book case of lawyers looking for an opportunity to exploit a vulnerable person.

“The making of the will was Susan’s decision; she did it voluntarily,” said Bucca.

He has won every legal challenge to the will. When PIX11 asked if he may have benefitted from having his son in the Green County District Attorney’s office at one point, Bucca said, “No.”

For now, Villa Vosilla is still operational, and it’s getting ready for the winter season.

Full Article & Source:
Woman fights to keep family resort open amid battle over trust, estate