Howard Hughes Will - or lack thereof
5 April: The 70-year-old Hughes, who has already been in a coma for three days, dies at 1.27pm, en route by private jet from Acapulco in Mexico to a hospital in Houston. The official cause of death is chronic kidney disease, but it is just as likely to have been from dehydration, malnutrition and neglect. Much of the strange behaviour that Hughes demonstrated in later life is attributed by some biographers to tertiary stage syphilis. X-rays taken at autopsy reveal broken hypodermic needles lodged in his arms, and his six-foot-four frame weighs less than 90lb (41kg).
Because Hughes’ appearance has changed so drastically and he has been seen by so few people for so long, his fingerprints are taken and sent to the FBI to establish his identity.
Hughes leaves no will. His estate, estimated at $2 billion, is claimed by 400 prospective heirs, but it is eventually inherited by 22 cousins on both sides of his family. Texas, Nevada and California claim inheritance tax in disputes that are reviewed by the US Supreme Court three times.
[…] Meg Marco wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt5 April: The 70-year-old Hughes, who has already been in a coma for three days, dies at 1.27pm, en route by private jet from Acapulco in Mexico to a hospital in Houston. The official cause of death is chronic kidney disease, but it is just as likely to have been from dehydration, malnutrition and neglect. Much of the strange behaviour that Hughes demonstrated in later life is attributed by some biographers to tertiary stage syphilis. X-rays taken at autopsy reveal broken hypodermic needles lodged in his arms, and his six-foot-four frame weighs less than 90lb (41kg). Because Hughes’ appearance has changed so drastically and he has been seen by so few people for so long, his fingerprints are taken and sent to the FBI to establish his identity. Hughes leaves no will. His estate, estimated at $2 billion, is claimed by 400 prospective heirs, but it is eventually inherited by 22 cousins […] […]