The Most Vicious Fights Over Inheritance

Transferring wealth from one generation to another can often be a very complicated process, leading to vicious disputes and awful tensions among potential heirs. In this article, we will explore five of the most vicious and vindictive fights over inheritance fortunes of all time.\r \r 1. Sir Harinder Singh Brar\r \r The story of Sir Harinder Singh Brar, the last ruler of the Faridkot state, is a prime example of how inheritance can cause disputes that can drag on for years or even decades. After Harinder died in 1989, a 31-year legal battle ensued, which involved his disinherited daughter Amrit Kaur, her two sisters, an uncle, and a cousin. The lower court ruled that Brar's latest will was a fake, much to the annoyance of his daughter Kaur. The case was finally settled in 2022 by the Indian Supreme Court, which upheld a lower court's ruling that the final will was a fake.\r \r 2. Leona Helmsley\r \r Leona Helmsley, infamously known as "The Queen of Mean," was another wealthy person whose will resulted in legal battles after her death. When she was alive, she was a successful business woman who had a reputation for her tyrannical behavior. In 2007 she fell ill and subsequently passed away due to congestive heart failure. Helmsley left the majority of her money to her estate, an amount which totaled $4 - $8 billion. She also left her Maltese dog, Trouble, a $12 million trust fund. She left two of her four grandchildren $10 million each, while her brother received $15 million. What was left was fought over by other family members.\r \r 3. Peter Thellusson\r \r Peter Thellusson's story is a cautionary tale of what can happen when a wealthy person tries to control their wealth long after they die. Thellusson was a British businessman and banker who after accumulating a vast fortune wrote a will that instructed his estate to be held in a trust. He wanted his money to grow until all his children and grandchildren passed, so that it would go to future generations. For many years his family fought for the money. The ordeal resulted in a law that prevented people from withholding inheritable assets. The case was also the inspiration for Charles Dickens’ novel Bleak House.\r \r 4. Jay Pritzker\r \r Jay Pritzker, the founder of the Hyatt hotel chain, accumulated great wealth in his lifetime. However, when he passed in 2001, a legal battle ensued when his 19-year-old niece, Liesel Pritzker, claimed that $1 billion was stolen from her and her brother's trust fund, and they were kept out of a secret agreement to sell the family's companies. The family was divided for years, and the private affair became public. After two years, a settlement was reached, with Liesel and her brother receiving roughly $560 million to walk away from the case. This allowed some notoriously private Pritzkers to return to a relatively anonymous life.\r \r 5. William Jennens\r \r William Jennens was a reclusive financier who was known as “The Richest Commoner in England”, “William the Rock” and “William the Miser”. Jennens died unmarried  without a will, leaving behind a fortune of over two million pounds sterling. This led to a century-long legal battle as people from all over the world claimed to be related to him and hoped to stake their claim to his fortune. The confusion surrounding his uncertain parentage made the inheritance battle even more complicated. After 117 years without reaching a conclusion, the legal costs (the lawyer) of Jennens’ case exhausted any inheritance that people were trying to get. The case serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of having a will.