The Fight Over Mary Ellen Bendtsen’s Estate

The family of Mary Ellen Bendtsen, an old Dallas actress, challenged her will because it gave her mansion and wealth to two deco antique dealers, Mark McCay and Justin Burgess. The dealers have a history of be-friending elderly Dallasites, and receiving their property through any means necessary. Shortly after meeting Mrs. Bendtsen and her house, Mr. McCay wanted to possess her mansion on 4949 Swiss Avenue. 

Mr. McCay has an interesting history be-friending elderly people and couples in order to get their property. He often could get better price deals on the elderly people’s property. In one of these instances, the niece of an elderly coupled stated that the price that Mr. McCay received for the house of the couple was very good. When Mr. McCay met Justin Burgess, they began to deal in art deco and they soon believed that their store was largest dealer in the U.S. In 1997, state elder abuse investigators heard of their business and began to investigate the two. The investigators were interested in Mr. McCay’s relationship with a different elderly couple. The Texas Adult Protective Services investigators determined that Mr. McCay “neglected the man and his Alzhemier’s-afflicted wife, and exploited and abused the man, verbally and emotionally, as he, too, slipped into dementia.” 

In late spring of 2002, Mr. McCay held a party for Mrs. Bendtsen and her friends for the purpose of getting her friends to convince her to sign a power of attorney granting Mr. McCay authority over her financial and personal decisions. He failed in this attempt but was persistent. Her former landscaper stated that Mr. McCay was quite angry that Mrs. Bendtsen would not give them the property.

This was only part of the story.

See Lee Hancock, Mary Ellen’s Will: The Battle Over 4949 Swiss Ave., Dallas Morning News Special Report, 2012.