• 29
  • June
    2010

Standard Oil heiress and Palm Beach socialite Anne Terry Pierce McBride died in 2005. She left everything to her husband, Wolfgang Von Falkenberg. Now her brother, Allen Pierce, is contesting the will and trying to have it annulled. Florida contested will attorneys are not surprised.

The will was made on Ms. McBride's deathbed. It left $50 million to Von Falkenberg. The previous will left a large portion of the estate to charity.

The will that left $50 million to Von Falkenberg was made four days before McBride's death.

But McBride and Von Falkenberg were divorced decades ago.

But they were married again, at McBride's hospice, two days before McBride's death. Two days after the signing of the will that left $50 million to Von Falkenberg.

And the wedding was performed by the lawyer who prepared the will.

McBride's brother, Allen Pierce, alleges that Von Falkenberg and the lawyer, Michael Tannenbaum, conspired to hijack the estate. Pierce's lawyer said, "This case is about overreaching. It's one thing to hang on to someone from a wealthy family and wait for your piece of the action. It's another to think you can walk away with the whole thing...Bottom line is: Anne was on so much pain medication that she couldn't possibly have known what she was doing."

Pierce served fifteen years for killing a man in the '70's. Von Falkenberg was recently arrested for possession of marijuana. McBride was the daughter of New York ballet patron Rebecca Harkness and investor William Hale Harkness. 

Source: pul.se "Battle for Standard Oil Cash Spills Over Into Palm Beach" June 16, 2010                                                                                   aar