Earlier this year, a reclusive multi-million dollar heiress passed away. The estate planning that took place six years prior is curious to fellow family members. Though the woman had many distant relatives that she rarely met with, she left nothing to them. Instead, most of her estate was left to charitable art foundations. Half a million was left to both her accountant and her attorney.

The woman was in great health, considering her age of 104. She had been kept in a New York hospital for the last years of her life under the guidance of a personal nurse, her attorney, and accountant. The attorney and accountant both had criminal charges in the past. The accountant was a convicted sex offender.

The questionable guidance of these three, after having kept the woman from her family and in a hospital, leads family members to question the disposition of the woman's vast inheritance. The attorney had only drawn up a simple will for the vast fortune. In many cases where a there are considerable assets people use a variety of estate planning tools.

While the woman stayed in the hospital for the past 15 years, she had spent $170 million. That works out to about $1 million a month. The sum includes $3 million spent on dolls, the woman's most favored companions, $2 million on the attorneys' favorite charity, and even $1.85 million to an Israeli settlement, where the accountant's daughter lived. The relatives of the woman are charging the attorney and accountant with undue influence.

The family is seeking to set aside the will and have the assets of the estate pass to her family members. While, in the absence of undue influence or other improper activities, individuals are free to choose how their estate will be distributed, in some cases the family may reasonably question whether the directions in the will actually reflect the persons true intentions of if the will is the result of someone taking advantage of hteir loved one for their own purposes.

Forbes "Mysteries Surround the $400 Million Estate of Huguette Clark," Danielle and Andy Mayoras, Nov. 28,. 2011