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Huguette Clark, Reclusive Copper Heiress, Left $34 Million To Nurse

The Huffington Post     First Posted: 11/20/11 02:23 PM ET Updated: 11/20/11 02:23 PM ET

The controversy surrounding what will happen to the vast fortune left in the wake of the death of copper heiress Huguette Clark seems to be just getting warmed up.

Clark, who died in May at the age of 104, left a somewhat surprising will behind, cutting out friends and family and leaving $34 million to her nurse. According to MSNBC, she also left about $17 million to her accountant and attorney through fees and other bequests.

The accountant and attorney are both under investigation, and have had to account for all the transactions they've made since they took over legal power of attorney for the heiress in 1996. According to MSNBC, the investigation is the result of an incredible $1 million-a-month spending pattern for a woman who never left the hospital. Remarkably, in the course of one day, the pair apparently wrote $380,000 in checks from Clark's personal account.

The astounding sum left to her nurse, Hadassah Peri, has also raised eyebrows. The New York Post detailed just how she took care of Clark until her death, and the tremendous affection she showed the heiress.

Clark was generous to her nurse even prior to her death.

From the Daily Mail:

Mrs Peri earned $131,000 per annum working for the reclusive Ms Clark, who died at the age of 104 with a $400 million fortune.

The 61-year-old nurse’s 2001 Bentley Arnage sedan cost $204,000, and her Lincoln Navigator SUV was around $42,000.

But that's not all. the New York Post also reports that Peri, a mother of three, lives in a swanky Manhattan Beach home with a swan-filled canal, and even has a $500,000 beach house on the Jersey Shore. Those are just two of the five homes she owns.

In the wake of Clark's death, many have been questioning the gifts bestowed upon Peri, though investigations have largely focused on the accountant and lawyer. If the will is upheld (and it is being challenged by Clark family members), Peri will receive the full $34 million.

 
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09:36 AM on 01/04/2012
Ms. Peri had been working for Ms. Clark for a long time and perhaps it was Ms. Clark who asked Ms. Peri to work longer for her, having seen her efficiently doing her job as a nurse and a caregiver and friendship blossomed because Ms. Peri is a compassionate woman. Both were like a mother-daughter taking care of each other's needs. Ms. Clark needed a love of a genuine family. Ms. Clark helped the Peri family and isn't it just right to give back the kindness with love and care? Perhaps, Ms. Peri did not expect that too much will be given to her but in the heart of Ms. Clark, she deserved to be given much because of Ms Peri's devotion. Just imagine, she reached 104! As to the Clark family, may I know how many times have they sent Ms. Clark greetings cards on many occasions? Have they experienced reaching out to a lonely woman for several minutes? How did they treat her when they met? What have they done to reach her within those 70 years? What was the reason why Ms. Clark did not like meeting her family even when she was even still younger? What was her experiences with them? A lot more questions really...It was Ms. Peri who filled the space in Ms. Clark life. Why not try hiring a Filipino, by then, you will know how a Filipino cares. Just treat a Filipino as human, you're in good hands.
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Intentionally Left Blank
Intentionally Left _______
02:18 PM on 11/21/2011
I get a couple of scam e-mails every week and I've got nothing to speak of. Imagine how $400 million is going to attract these scum.
12:56 AM on 11/23/2011
8.625% but who's counting. As for scammers, so what. If you can't use commom sense when you read your mail just stick to your comic books. .
01:36 PM on 11/21/2011
It happened to us also, but we did not have the funds to fight it. For anyone with a relative that has some money, try to help them setup a trust that does not allow these kind of people to steal their money.
02:13 PM on 11/21/2011
Yes, this is true!
Well send.
12:59 PM on 11/21/2011
My brother is a scam artist and lives near her in 06830
Imagine if he had been her insurance agent and joined her inner circle.
He has had his own insurance agenct since the late 70's.
He would have divised a bigger scam.
So Horrible!
01:46 PM on 11/21/2011
You have knowledge of this, you're complicit and share in the guilt....just sayin'
08:24 AM on 11/22/2011
Ummm, how exactly did you come to this conclusion? Perhaps you need to read ecinue4's statement a little closer. I'll give you a hint "Imagine if"
12:46 PM on 11/21/2011
I have a solution..instead of fighting over it, why not just donate it to me? (ha ha...)
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
AlexVallas
12:40 PM on 11/21/2011
Sounds like they were US Congressmen/Congresswomen with a night job.
12:32 PM on 11/21/2011
So she lived in a hospital under an assumed name since the 80s. The attorney and accountant were spending her money and making some very cash generated actions all for their gain. If the nurse was involved in helping them, by say witnessing legal documents for the attorney and accountant--then something is wrong. Also, if family members were kept awayby the nurse,attorney and accountant I have to wonder why they did not seek legal help to get access. This lady lived like a recluse and never had any children. So these relatives are probably very not very close in the bloodline. Too bad she did not leave her money for some good causes. Overall, I for one am glad the attorney and accountant will have to account for every penny as the judge said.
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PG812
12:14 PM on 11/21/2011
The vipers in her family had no use for her while she was alive, but once dead and rich, she becomes the favorite aunt, cousin, etc.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
njoytday
12:53 PM on 11/21/2011
If she wanted to be in good with her family she had money to give THEM gifts on birthdays and holidays etc. Sady they just excluded her from their lives and she did not include them either. Being childless is not easy if someone is poor, so at least she was able to buy the help she got and live til 104.
12:05 PM on 11/21/2011
So simply by be blood the deserve her money? And the nurse who took such good care of her she lived to be 104 doesn't? I don't see how it isn't Clark's call on who gets her money since it's HER money. How disrespectful anyone would argue with her last wishes. 34 million is a lot but not compared to the total of 400 million ..tis pocket change.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
mjoutfit
11:57 AM on 11/21/2011
In Montana, where this fortune was amassed through political graft, and maintained by goons who often resorted to violence to keep those workers in their sorry place, we refer to this woman's dad as one of a small handfull of Robber Barons. He was vicious and corrupt to his core and we are still cleaning up his gigantic environmental mess.
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Bleedin Taxes
My micro-bio is empty... they taxed it to death
03:35 PM on 11/21/2011
Too bad she didn't leave a major part of her fortune to the clean up of the environmental mess her father made. Maybe Montana should sue her estate. Better than the "named" slick Willies getting their hands on it.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
artistkatja
11:47 AM on 11/21/2011
Sorry, but all the money in the world can't buy some things....She looks like Jason Segel in drag in the picture...can't look at it without snickering, because he is so cute, but now I will never get this image out of my mind lol
11:39 AM on 11/21/2011
What makes you think she earned the money in the first place and didn't get it from her family?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Eenkling
Seeing IS Believing. Believe NOTHING that you hear
11:07 AM on 11/21/2011
Peri is a grifter. The attorney and accountant for Ms Clark were supposed to be looking out for her best interests. Obviously, they weren't. Perhaps the accountant and the attorney should be the ones to pay the housekeeper/nurse. The estate should go to her family.
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PG812
12:11 PM on 11/21/2011
How do you know they did not? Perhaps they were keeping her "clean" at her age. Biology does not trump everything. I know my relatives, and I am not leaving some of them a dime; better to leave $$$/objects to good friends and charity.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Eenkling
Seeing IS Believing. Believe NOTHING that you hear
08:52 AM on 11/22/2011
I dunno, 17 million dollars to the accountant and attorney sounds suspicious. How much could the attorney have possibly done for teh woman besides draw up the will leaving him millions? Hard job. I wish I had one like that.
04:24 PM on 02/05/2012
I don't tink the estate should go to anyone she didn't list in the will!!!!!! She probably didn't receive any love and compassion from any of them, but the nurse did fill the void that was left by her family!!! It's a shame she didn't have a good relationship with them, but that is life.
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jglalone
10:59 AM on 11/21/2011
So, she left $34M to her nurse out of her $400M Estate, or 11.75% of the fortune. The nurse was well paid, and since she lived with Ms Clark 24/7 she had very little real expenses. If withholding taxes left her with ever $100K per year, she would have realized $2 million over the 20 years. Such personal contact ahd total care over 2 decades would lead to a very close ideal family like relationship. In Ms Clark's position, I would have done the same thing, It was the nurse who, if she was a kind and attentive person, acted as a guardian angel through the most likely difficult journey to death. She obviously took good care of her, since whe lived to be 104. Even if I was Ms.Clark's daughter, I would not resent the generous act toward someone who basically gave up her life to care for my mother. The business men, now that is a different story.
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02:09 PM on 11/21/2011
Your math is off. It's only 8.5%.
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360Dunk
Feeder of slot machines
10:09 AM on 11/21/2011
Ms. Clark left her fortune to a nurse and nothing to her family...apparently blood is not thicker than an IV solution.