HUNT BY LAWYERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 71, 25 March 1937, Page 10

HUNT BY LAWYERS

LADY HOUSTON'S WILL

"ONE MUST EXIST"

Confident that a will -must exist of later execution than that which was recently found, made out in favour of a deceased person, and therefore invalid, the late Lady Houston's solicitors are persisting in their search. Lady Houston died on December -'29, and her estate is thought to amount to £3,500,000.

Lady Houston had told intimate friends again and again that she was anxious to provide for certain charitable institutions. Her desire that they should benefit was

so great that her friends think it inconceivable that she should have neglected to 'make legal provision. :Lord Sempill, a close friend, said: "There was' nothing of the female Micawber about Lady Houston. Far from it. T'can hardly conceive it is likely that a person with such a businesslike mind and such organising ability1 should have left such an important matter'in. the'background. PLANNED IN ADVANCE. "She was the type to plan well in advance and' not to leave things to chance; "She used to discuss freely the question of making .'provision for interests she had'at heart. I feel sure that further search' will result in some suitable document being discovered.' "I know nothing'about the will'or the terms, but I' heard her ■ say frequently that she intended,to'leave certain amounts to certain national funds, including those for the' welfare of children' and ex-servicemen. "'She'was not so ill that, she could not attend to her affairs.' Although she^ could not get out' of her bed latterly, she worked 'incessantly, sometimes for twenty hours a day. Right up to the end she kept herself in touch with those aspects of national and ' international events which interested her most." . • The' largest intestacy ever recorded at Somerset House is that of Lord. Ashton, the first Baron, who died in 1930, leaving ah estate of more than £ip;sop.ooo. Among other cases of intestacies one of the most remarkable was that of Jean Mallet, an early American oil magnate, who left ". £2,000,000. His mother, who lived in France, was informed that she had'succeeded to his estate, ' but as she had quarrelled with her'son she never opened the letters. SUED A- GOVERNMENT. She kept them, however", and they I were opened by her great-great-grand-daughter, who sued the United States Government a few years ago for £27,600,000 —the accumulated estate at compound interest. Her claim failed under the Statute of Limitations. What'was'known as'the' Blake millions'proved to'be a myth! Mrs. Heles Blake, widow of General Robert Dud- , ley Blake, died in 1876. She was intestate, and the estate went to the Crown irii'Bß3." A claim to it was dismissed in 1931 by the Chancery Division under the Statute of Limitations, and. it then transpired that the "millions" amounted to'no more than £75,000. : Other notable' intestacies include those of:— ! 'William Liedesdorf, wh6 went to San Francisco in 1840. and died there fabulously wealthy. There were numerous attempts to claim'the estate, but they were resisted By the State of California, under the Statute of Limitar tions. Johanne Gottlieb Schoene, who died in Australia in 1899, left gold mines arid '■ other property- ■ valued- at £ 16,000,000. Heirs were advertised for and found in Germany. . . 'Thomas Duckham, who from Newport, Monmouthshire, to Kentucky, and died'there about 1846. His 30.00Q acres of land rich' in oil have been the'subject of numerous claims. 'When William Jennens died :in 1798 he'left realestate of £8000 and personalty of £800,000. The personalty went .'on intestacy, to ' the Howards, Andovers, anil Lygpns, and the realty to Geprge Augustus Curzon. j ' Some years ago, however, a claimant to these estates came'forward, demanding £54,0,00,000 on"the basis of accumulated compound interest. The claim was dismissed.

Inquiries made by a representative of the "Daily Telegraph" at Somerset House show that fourteen days,: not including the day of death, must pass in .the case of; a person dying intestate,' before letters of administration can pass the seal. This compares with seven days from the death in'the case of a will.

The passing of the Administration of Estates Act, 1925, commonly known as the Birkenhead Act, removed a state' of chaps 'by clearly defining the division of the money among relatives.