Doris Duke - Trusts and Wills

Trusts and Wills

Duke was the life beneficiary of two trusts created by her father, James Buchanan Duke, in 1917 and 1924. The income from the trusts was payable to any children after her death. In 1988, at the age of 75, Duke legally adopted a woman named Chandi Heffner, a 35-year-old Hare Krishna devotee and sister of the third wife of billionaire Nelson Peltz). Duke initially maintained that Heffner was the reincarnation of her only biological child Arden, who died soon after birth in 1940. The two women had a falling out, and the final version of Duke's will specified that she did not wish Heffner to benefit from her father's trusts; she also negated the adoption. Despite the negation, after Duke's death, the estate's trustees settled a lawsuit brought by Heffner for $65 million.

In her final will, Duke left virtually all of her fortune to several existing and new charitable foundations. She appointed her Irish-born butler Bernard Lafferty as executor, who then appointed, as corporate co-executor, US Trust company; Lafferty and his friend Marion Oates Charles were named as her trustees. However a number of lawsuits were filed against the will. At death, Duke's fortune was estimated at $1.3 billion. The most notorious lawsuit was initiated by Harry Demopoulos, whose company 'Health Maintenance Programs' owed the Duke Estate $600,000. Demopoulos found out that he had been named co-executor in an earlier will and challenged Lafferty's appointment, claiming that convicted felon Tammy Payette told him (Demopoulos) that doctors had killed Duke. In an attempt to convince the court that Payette's allegation was credible, Demopoulos hired a psychiatrist to examine Payette but ultimately to no avail. In 1996, the year Lafferty died, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office ruled there was no evidence of foul play.

A suit was also filed by Duke University, claiming entitlement to a larger share of the Duke assets than the $10 million provided in the will (although Duke's will also stated that any beneficiary who disputed its provisions should receive nothing).

Litigation involving 40 lawyers at 10 different law firms tied up the Duke estate for nearly three years. Lafferty was ultimately removed by NY courts for using estate funds for his own support, and US Trust for failing "to do anything to stop him." The Surrogate Court of Manhattan overrode Duke's will and appointed new trustees from among those who had challenged it: Harry Demopoulos; J. Carter Brown (later also involved in overturning the will of Dr. Albert C. Barnes); Marion Oates Charles, the sole trustee from Duke's last will; James Gill, a lawyer; Nannerl O. Keohane, president of Duke University, and John J. Mack, president of Morgan Stanley. The fees for their lawsuits exceeded $10 million, and were paid by the Duke estate. These trustees now control all assets of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which Doris Duke directed should support medical research, anti-vivisectionism, prevention of cruelty to children and animals, performance arts, wildlife and ecology. The DDCF also controls funding for the three separate Foundations created to operate Duke's former homes: the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Duke Farms and Newport Restoration Foundation. The trustees have progressively reduced funding for these foundations, stating that Doris Duke's own works are "perpetuating the Duke family history of personal passions and conspicuous consumption.". Recently these foundations have been forced to sell assets to meet their expenses, and in the case of Duke Gardens, to close entirely. Christie's, New York, published a heavily-illustrated catalog of over 600 pages for its auction of "The Doris Duke Collection, sold to benefit the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation" which was held in New York, NY over three days, Thursday-Saturday, June 3–5, 2004.