last wills and testaments

Huguette Clark’s Final Will Settlement Favors the Arts in Santa Barbara

This Aug. 11, 1930 file photo shows Mrs. Huguette Clark Gower, daughter of the late Sen. William A. Clark of Montana, a copper magnate, in Reno, Nev.
Photo: AP/AP1930

Huguette Clark’s relatives got at least some of what they argued for in a final ruling on the reclusive heiress’s will, receiving $34.5 million to split between 20 of them. But the largest bequest in the will settlement finalized on Tuesday went to a new arts foundation that will include her $85 million Santa Barbara estate. While the foundation will be located in Santa Barbara, it will operate from New York: “In the settlement, the foundation isn’t set up in California but in New York, with the New York attorney general forming the first board of directors. Seats are reserved for the Santa Barbara community, and Clark relatives also get a seat.”

Meanwhile, Clark’s attorney and accountant receive nothing, and her nurse, Hadassah Peri, who worked 12-hour days, seven days a week to care for Clark, will now have to give back $5 million of the $31 million Clark gifted her over Clark’s lifetime. Peri at one point stood to inheret $30 million, but she said through an attorney she was “very happy to contribute to the settlement.” You can almost hear the clenched teeth there.

Huguette Clark’s Will Settlement Favors the Arts