The Terms of Huguette Clark’s $400 Million Estate
Bulk of the estate goes to her nurse and a charity Huguette Clark, the 104 year old daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the United States, died last month leaving a question over what would become of her estate. Clarity was provided this week when her lawyer filed Clark’s 2005 will with the Surrogate Court in Manhattan. Most of her $400 million estate has been left to her nurse and personal friend and to a charity which promotes the arts.
Make-up of the estate John D. Dadakis, a lawyer from the firm Holland & Knight who filed the will, explained that Clark’s estate is made up of an art collection which includes works by Monet, Renoir, John Singer Sargent and William Merritt Chase. Her will also included her real estate and financial investments as well as a large doll collection from porcelain to Barbies.
Huguette Clark Huguette Clark was not a woman that many knew well. For the past several decades she had lived in various hospitals in New York with her only contact being with chosen medical professionals and staff. She had no children and no close relatives. Speaking to the New York Times Dadakis said “When you understand who Mrs. Clark was, I think you clearly see that this is a lady that was very strong willed. Her will speaks for that being strong willed, the way she was.”
Benefactors The will revealed that Hadassah Peri, Clark’s nurse and close friend, has inherited her doll collection which is potentially worth millions as well as 60 percent of various assets worth $40 million. Clark’s goddaughter, Wanda Styka, will receive 25 percent. She also left $1 million to the Beth Israel Medical Center where she lived in her final years. She left $500,000 to her assistant and $100,000 to a doctor. A foundation established to promote the arts will receive her Santa Barbara estate, most of her art collection, all her musical instruments and her rare book collection. Her lawyer Wallace Bock, and to her accountant, Irving H. Kamsler were left $500,000 each. There was also an explicit note that said no family members would receive anything because of their minimal contact with her.
The Monet Ms. Clark’s 1907 original Claude Monet painting from the “Water Lillies” series was given to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. This painting alone is probably worth $100 million.
Investigation The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is investigating Bock and Kamsler and how they have handled Clark’s money. Dadakis who is representing Bock and Kamsler in the surrogate court proceedings said the men had done what the heiress had asked them to do. She left them money because they were close to her.
Artist Huguette Clark was a musician and an artist who, in 1929, exhibited seven of her paintings at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The last known photograph of her was taken in 1930 and she was rarely seen in public following the death of her mother in 1963. She reportedly had a very small group of friends. Her closest friend and former employee, Suzanne Pierre, died in February 2011.
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