IndyStar.com:  “Bren Simon says her late husband and billionaire shopping-mall magnate Melvin Simon changed his will in part to prevent his three children from having a say over their stepmother's personal finances after he died.  The allegation of distrust within one of Indiana's most well-known and moneyed families comes in a 24-page court document Bren Simon filed Wednesday, vehemently denying a stepdaughter's complaint that she coerced her gravely ill husband to change his will to reduce the amount of money his children would inherit.”

The New York Observer:  “Neil Bender, Greenwich Village's largest private landlord, caretaker of and disputed heir to the William Gottlieb real estate empire-which includes more than 100 individual properties in what has become one of the most valuable residential neighborhoods in New York City-is a reclusive, 54-year-old Springsteen fan with a thick shock of silver hair that he's wont to run his fingers through, a limp handshake, a stocky build, an affection for old cars, and a stable of critics that includes his tenants, his late Uncle Billy's old friends, his sister and nephew and his former osteopath.  “If Billy heard and found out all the things that were going on right now, he'd find it very deplorable,” said Michael Corbett, Mr. Bender's nephew and Gottlieb's grandnephew, who is now in an extended legal fight with his uncle to reclaim what he considers partly his inheritance.”

The Probate Lawyer Blog:  “CNN's Fortune Magazine recently had a fascinating article about Ron Perelman's efforts to drag his paralyzed, infirm, and elderly ex-father-in-law through one of the most vicious estate battles we've seen in a while.  Perelman built most of his billion-dollar fortune through a hostile takeover of Revlon. In the process, he married and divorced four women, one of whom was Claudia Cohen (actress Ellen Barkin was another). Cohen came from a wealthy family herself. Her father and brother own and control Hudson Media, a powerful magazine company that is a long-time partner of Time, Inc.”

London Evening Standard:  “The squalor in which the 30-year-old pharmaceuticals heiress Casey Johnson spent the final days of her life was very different from the splendour in which she had been raised.  According to reports, the rented Mulholland Drive mansion in Los Angeles where Casey's dead body was discovered by a housekeeper had no water, electricity or gas; dirty dishes were piled in the kitchen and the pool was a rat-infested swamp.  By contrast, when Casey was three years old her family moved from Florida to a five-bedroom apartment on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, where nannies, butlers and chefs busied themselves around the gilded Johnson progeny.”

Daily Pilot:  ‘The California Supreme Court this week rejected a Jewish organization’s appeal against the estate of Joey Bishop, the late entertainer and member of the ‘Rat Pack.'  But the legal battle over his fortune isn’t over yet, an attorney for the Newport Beach Chabad Center said Friday.   The center filed several lawsuits and claims against Bishop’s estate, alleging that the entertainer’s advisors and live-in caretaker blocked his final wishes to have part of his estate go toward setting up a charity for special-needs children in Orange County.  A longtime resident of Newport Beach, Bishop died Oct. 17, 2007, at his Lido Isle home at the age of 89.”

Vanity Fair:  “On receiving an estimated $2 billion inheritance after the death of her father, legendary Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli, in 2003, Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen asked for a full accounting of his vast estate.  She claims she never got it.  Five years later, de Pahlen is a dynastic outcast and has rocked the family empire—now run by her 32-year-old son, John Elkann—with a lawsuit against her father’s three longtime consiglieri.  Hearing both sides, the author reports on a search for truth, a battle for control, and the possibility of a hidden Agnelli fortune.”

The Probate Lawyer Blog:  “Whitney Houston is no stranger to family fights in court.  In 2002, the entertainment company owned by her father, John Houston, sued her. John Houston said publicly that his company was owed $100 million and he expected his daughter to repay it.  He died in February of 2003, and the case was dismissed not long thereafter. Reportedly, Whitney Houston did not attend her father’s funeral service or burial.”

Newobserver.com:  “A bitter estate battle over the company that makes Johnston County's trademark fire-engine red hot dogs troubles the faithful leaving Cricket Grill with grease-stained paper bags stuffed with their lunchtime favorite.  Every week, Cricket sells thousands of Bright Leaf dogs — made for decades just a few miles down the road at Carolina Packers.  The dispute over the estate of John ‘Buck' Jones, the majority shareholder and president of Carolina Packers, centers on who will control this home-grown culinary institution — the widow Jones named as his sole heir just before he died or the three longtime employees who friends say in court documents Jones hoped would run the company.”

Fortune:  “When the Revlon chairman sued his ex-father-in-law Robert Cohen and his ex-brother-in-law James Cohen in 2008, hardly anyone batted an eyelash.  Robert Cohen is the father of Perelman's late ex-wife, the society journalist Claudia Cohen. Perelman's suit sought to wrest control of half of Robert Cohen's fortune and bestow it on Samantha Perelman, the daughter he had with Claudia Cohen — even though Samantha is one of six grandchildren who are descendants of Robert. Perelman argued that, as executor of Claudia's estate, he had a duty to sue, because decades ago Robert had promised the money to Claudia.  Even by modern standards of dysfunctional-family estate battles — think of the Astor clan — this one was a lulu.”

The Probate Lawyer Blog:  “Everyone was shocked when actress Brittany Murphy died suddenly at age 32 on December 20th, 2009. She left behind a husband, Simon Monjack, of two and a half years and a mother with whom she was very close. Reportedly, her mother lived with Murphy and her husband the last few years.  Only one day after her tragic passing, celebrity gossip website TMZ posted an article saying that Murphy had a will, but one that was created before her marriage.  The report stated the will left everything to her mother and nothing to her husband.”

The Probate Lawyer Blog:  “One of Hollywood's most famous entertainment spots has sparked what may be a very bitter and ugly family fight in court.   Comedian Pauly Shore filed a lawsuit claiming that his brother, Peter Shore, has been using unscrupulous behavior and committing undue influence over their 79-year old mother, Mitzi Shore. Mitzi suffers from Parkinson's disease and other neurological problems.”

Telegraph:  “A bitter legal dispute over the £7 million will of a music executive who was friends with Sir Elton John has ended with his civil partner being all but cut out of the money.   After Peter Ikin, 62, died suddenly in November 2008 friends and family were stunned when Frenchman Alex Despallieres stepped forward claiming he had been left the fortune – including a £2 million Chelsea flat.  They had ‘married' a month earlier, at Chelsea town hall.”

The Probate Lawyer Blog:  “Tom Carvel was the creator of soft serve ice cream and one of the founding fathers of the franchise system in America.   When his ice cream truck suffered a flat tire in New York in 1934, he sold his melting ice cream from a parking lot. Those humble beginnings led to the first soft-serve ice cream store and eventually grew into the Carvel ice cream chain with 850 locations.  Carvel died in 1990 at age 84, with a fortune conservatively estimated at around $80 million.   The legal fighting started soon thereafter.  And it hasn't stopped yet.  The battles have passed through federal courts in three states, along with state courts in New York, Florida, Delaware, and even England (not New England … England!).  Reportedly, legal fees and commissions have already cost the Carvel financial legacy more than $28 million”

The Independent World:  Liliane Bettencourt, 87, has given her friend François-Marie Banier, 62, “an estimated €1bn in cash, paintings and life insurance policies.  A French court will consider . . . whether there is prima facie evidence that Mr Banier has systematically abused the “weakness” of an elderly and, it is alleged, mentally confused woman. . . . Ms Bettencourt's only daughter, Françoise Bettencourt Myers, began the legal action two years ago.  Liliane Bettencourt, 87, is France's richest woman and the principal shareholder of the world's largest cosmetics company, L'Oréal.”

American Statesmen:  “The estate of legendary Houston lawyer John O'Quinn, killed in a one-car accident in October, has agreed to pay $46.5 million to almost 3,500 former clients, ending a legal scrap begun 10 years ago by Austin lawyer Terry Scarborough.  The proposed settlement gives Scarborough a lifetime 3-0 record in breast implant-related lawsuits against O'Quinn, a flamboyant and effective trial attorney Fortune magazine once dubbed a “lawyer from hell.” O'Quinn's law firm took billions of dollars from breast implant manufacturers, tobacco companies, makers of the diet drug combination fen-phen and other big businesses.”

CNN:  “Michael Jackson's father will have to wait until next month before a judge decides whether he'll get a monthly allowance from the pop star's estate.  Joe Jackson, who was not included in his son's will, is asking for as much as $20,000 a month.  At a hearing Thursday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff delayed arguments until January 28, because not all of the lawyers involved had been notified.”

Forbes.com:  “What do Princess Di, Marlon Brando, Heath Ledger, Jimi Hendrix and former Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger have in common?  They all flubbed their estate planning costing intended heirs money and/or grief, according to a readable (really) estate planning how-to book, Trial & Heirs.  The new book uses these celebrity cliffhanger cases to dish out real-life advice.”

Slate: “If he admits she hit him, she could end up in jail, whether he likes it or not.”

BBC News:  “The daughter of Europe's richest woman, a L'Oreal heiress, has asked that she be placed under judicial supervision to stop her handing away her money.  Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers argues 87-year-old Liliane Bettencourt is no longer in her right mind after she gave away 1bn euros (£910m) to a friend.  Proceedings have been launched in a Paris court to have Mrs Bettencourt placed under court authority.”