Hartford Courant:  “Mention the name Buckley and most people think of the famous conservative columnist or perhaps the former Reagan cabinet member and federal judge.But long before the Buckley family name became synonymous with conservative politics, the family was striking it rich with oil, gas and mineral rights in places like Mexico and Venezuela.  Now six children of a Buckley clan from West Hartford are suing their father in Superior Court in Hartford claiming he has stolen money from a trust fund set up decades ago by their mother with proceeds from her share of the Buckley family fortune.”

US News & World Report:  “Combine the worst downturn since the Great Depression, mix in a steep drop in stock prices, and garnish with the disappearance of trillions of dollars in home values.  Voilà!  You have just stirred up the recipe for a surge in estate litigation and intrafamily feuding.  ‘I think we have definitely seen an increase in family squabbles and a lot more people wanting to contest wills,' says Adam Gaslowitz, an estate attorney in Atlanta . The recession also has led to reduced asset values for stocks and real estate, making it harder to split the pie and reach amicable settlements.  ‘I also think that the recession may be used, perhaps unconsciously, by some children to wrestle control of assets away from aging parents,”‘Gaslowitz says.  Some children may feel that it's better for them to manage their parents' assets in such troubled times.  If there's any silver lining to the downturn, he observes, it's that ‘financial difficulties may make it harder for people to afford such a legal fight'.”

The Probate Lawyer Blog:  “CNN and Fortune Magazine recently featured a fascinating article [called ‘Citizen Bunky: A Hearst family scandal‘ about the legal battle between John Randloph ‘Bunky' Hearst, Jr., and his ex-wife.  Bunky is one of the grandsons of famed media mogul William Randolph Hearst, who left behind the powerful Hearst Corp.   William Randolph Hearst died in 1951 with a trust and estate worth about $400 million in today's dollars.    But, more importantly, his trust established a corporate framework that enabled his board of trustees to expand the Hearst holdings into a multi-billion dollar media empire, owning hundreds of magazines, newspapers, television stations, 20% of ESPN and more.”

Wall St. Journal:  “Dodgers team owner Frank McCourt, locked in a nasty divorce fight with his wife, Jamie, says he is behind on his mortgage payments and essentially living from paycheck to paycheck.  Mr. McCourt's bleak financial assessment, filed in court papers, sheds light on a question first asked when the McCourts landed here in 2004 and bought the hometown baseball team: How much money do they really have?”

Andrew Mayoras and Danielle Mayoras were interviewed by Forbes.com about their new book “Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!“

News of the World:  “Michael Jackson's nephew Taj has been secretly invited onto the board of executors looking after the star's $1bn fortune.   Tito's son Taj, 36, has been asked by administrators John McLain and John Branca to decide on how to distribute his cash.   The deal – done behind closed doors – came hours after Katherine Jackson dropped challenging Jacko's estate last week.  Insiders say the move was ‘a trade off ‘ to keep upset Katherine from months of legal battles against the will.”

examiner.com:  “A Houston jury took less than 40 minutes to return a verdict upholding the last will of philanthropist and oilman Alfred Glassell Jr.  The verdict was the result of a lawsuit filed by Curry Glassell in which she alleged that Vinson & Elkins attorneys used undue influence to pressure her father into changing his will to favor the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, a charitable institution which is also a client of the law firm. Glassell was alone in this pursuit with her opposition including not only the museum, but also her father's widow, her younger brother Alfred Glassell III and the Glassell Family Foundation.   The elder Glassell's last will, signed in 2003, is described as providing individual gifts, a life estate for his widow and then directing the bulk of estate assets to go to the MFAH and the Glassell Family Foundation.”

The Probate Lawyer Blog:  “Glenn E. “Bo” Schembechler, Jr., is one of the most respected names in the history of college football.  And, no, I'm not saying that just because I graduated from the University of Michigan (twice).   He built one of the most successful football programs around, and it excelled for decades. . . . From an estate planning perspective, Bo did everything right to avoid a family fight after he passed.  He created a living trust . . . . When [the son]'s attorneys filed the lawsuit, they made the trust document a public record for the world to read.  Because of this, we now can read the trust agreement of Bo Schembechler, which is interesting.”

The Probate Lawyer Blog:  “The Michael Jackson Estate has been the subject of regular court hearings as Katherine Jackson battled for control over the last several months.   She routinely objected to the decisions of the co-executors John Branca and John McClain.  Recently, she hired a new attorney with the promise of taking the case in a new direction . . . . Her case took a new direction, all right.  She decided to drop her claim.”

Examiner.com:  “In a show of disrespect to his son's final wishes and grandchildren's beneficial status, Joe Jackson is reported to be seeking “some manner” of support from the Michael Jackson estate. Here's a practical translation: Joe Jackson is asking the court to disregard the final wishes of his son, Michael, as communicated in recognized legal documents and he also is asking for the court to diminish the inheritance rights of the named beneficiaries – his wife and more importantly, three grandchildren – in lieu of the elder Jackson's own self-enrichment.”

Channel 26 WGNO New Orleans:  “Michael Jackson's 81-year-old father wants the administrators of his son's will removed and claims there are problems with the will, specifically that it was not signed.  Joe Jackson's attorney, Brian Oxman, is trying to convince a judge that there is a conflict of interest in the case and that John Branca and John McClain should be removed.”

Houston Chronicle:  “Curry Glassell, the daughter of oilman and arts benefactor Alfred Glassell, is disputing his last will in a high-profile Houston court battle that will have serious consequences for Houston's arts groups as well as for the Glassell family.   One of the issues at stake is what is called an ‘in terrorem' clause in the will (also known as a forfeiture clause) that provides that anyone who contests the will is to lose whatever bequest has been granted to him or her — hence, the ‘terror' that will result if one does not follow the directives of the will.  The will of the recently and tragically deceased John O'Quinn also contains a no contest clause.”

Probate Lawyer Blog:  “Curious about how celebrity estate errors can help you protect yourself, your family, and your heirs?  Watch this video.”

Guardian:  “As the author of three dark and violent crime novels, Stieg Larsson was at home in a dysfunctional landscape of simmering resentments and rancourous family secrets. . . . In one of the most spectacular and unlikely ascents in recent literary history, Larsson, largely unknown before his sudden death at 50, has become one of the most successful writers in the world.  Some 20 million of his books, the first of which was published in Britain as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, have been sold to date in Europe alone.  Last year he was the world's second best selling author after Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, and his estate is thought to be worth more than £20m.  But because he and the architect Eva Gabrielsson, his partner of 32 years, never married and he died without making a will, the proceeds have defaulted to his blood relations, provoking controversy in Sweden and displeasure from Gabrielsson.”

Probate Lawyer Blog:  “The trial involving whether Rock ‘n Roll pioneer & legend, Ike Turner, left a valid will has ended. As described in this prior article I wrote, the case pitted his six children (two of whom apparently are now questionable children of his) versus his ex-wife versus his friend and “sometime” attorney. I'm not exactly sure why someone would be a ‘sometime” attorney.'”

New York Times:  “While Brooke Astor’s son and a lawyer who worked on her estate face prison time after a jury convicted them of defrauding and stealing from her, experts say the verdict may be felt by others: namely, the people who make wills and the lawyers who help them.  The trial has certainly provided talking points for estate planning experts across the country . . . . “

Mail Online:  “An icy atmosphere has descended across the vast marble halls of the Palazzo Doria in Rome of late. Amid the Renaissance cloisters, the scent of lemon trees and the gentle sound of birdsong have done little to disguise the family drama being played out within its walls.  The Palazzo is home to Prince Jonathan Doria Pamphilj and his sister Princess Gesine, who had been abandoned as babies in a London orphanage and adopted in the Sixties by a London-born Italian princess and her British naval officer husband.  The rags-to-riches story of how they were rescued from poverty and brought up in the lap of luxury in the Italian capital is a romantic tale which, by any reckoning, deserves a happy ending.”

CNN:  “Michael Jackson's mother fired the lawyers helping her fight for control of her son's estate, but her new lawyer missed a key hearing where the judge gave more power to the men she is opposing.”

The Probate Lawyer Blog:  “The Associated Press submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI and received hundreds of pages of documents that revealed how the FBI investigated Anna Nicole in 2000 and 2001 as a suspect in a murder plot against her late husband's son. She and the son had been fighting over the multi-billion dollar estate of Anna Nicole's 90-year old husband since he died in 1995. The FBI suspected she may have hired a hit-man to commit murder!”

the fight over Howard Marshall's money is not over, even though it started 14 years ago. Even in death, the two are battling — but now, their estates are duking it out.