Book on Heiress Huguette Clark Comes Out in September as Legal Battle Over her Assets Continue

On September 10th, a new book detailingheiress Huguette Clark’s eccentric behaviors and mysterious life will be on theshelves. The book is entitled “Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of HuguetteClark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune. The book is being co-authored by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr., a Huguetterelation. 

As I have previously discussed, the reclusive heiress HuguetteClark died at the age of 104.  Now, her assets are the center of a legalbattle. The fight includes 19 distant relatives, who hardly knew Huguetteagainst the woman’s caretakers, including her lawyer, accountant and nurse. Thecaretakers are being accused of influencing Huguette into giving them money sothey could inherit millions more.

The family argues that Huguette wasmentally ill. As evidence of this allegation the family points to an obsessionwith lifelike French and Japanese dolls, model castles, the Smurfs, her keep toherself demeanor and her donations of money to people as evidence of mentalillness.

See Kathianne Boniello A Look Inside Heiress Huguette Clark’s Weird World of Dolls, Model Castles and the Smurfs, NY Post,  Aug. 11, 2013.

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.