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Expert Testifies that Astor’s Signature Was Forged

By Gerry W. Beyer

Astor_brookeThis week a forensic document examiner testified in the trial of Anthony D. Marshall and Francis X. Morrisey, Jr., concluding that Brooke Astor’s signature was forged on a 2004 codicil to her will.  The prosecution has accused Mr. Morrisey, an estate lawyer, of forging the signature as part of a scheme between the two co-defendants to profit from Mrs. Astor’s dementia.

See John Eligon, Writing Expert Says Astor’s Signature Was Forged, NY Times, Aug. 5, 2009.

For more information on the Astor Estate, see my previous postings

Special thanks to J. Barrett Shipp (The Law Office of J. Barrett Shipp, San Antonio, Texas) and Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.