Trusts & Estates

Charities Could Contest Astor Will

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Public institutions that stood to inherit more money from earlier versions of Brooke Astor’s will are most likely to object to changes made in the final years of her life.

The New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum Art are among the charities that will receive smaller donations from the amended will of the philanthropist, who died on Monday at the age of 105. Astor’s personal fortune is valued at about $130 million, and a trust that benefited her is worth more than $60 million, the New York Times has reported.

An anonymous source told the New York Sun that changes to Astor’s will in the last four years switched control of money previously earmarked for charities to Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall.

“This will be a fight between Tony and the charities,” the source told the newspaper. “The charities will contest it, not the family.”

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