$162 Million Vanishes From Estate

Francis D’Addario, a Bridgeport business man, died in a plane crash in 1986. He left behind a will that distributed his $162 million estate among his wife and five children. It has been 26 years since D’Addario died, and his case is still open before the court. For years, the probate file was sealed so creditors of D’Addario were not able to examine the estate. Unfortunately, while the file was sealed, the estate was drained of $162 million.

One creditor in particular, Cadle Corp. brought a suit alleging that Connecticut probate court procedures “lack the ‘appropriate judicial supervision.’” Cadle Corp. has been seeking $3.1 million from the estate over the decades and has been fighting the oldest son David for that amount. Now their lawsuit is alleging that there was no meaningful judicial review of this estate for more than 20 years.

See Rick Green, Probate Dispute Drains $162 Million Estate, Hartford Courant, June 10, 2012.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.