As part of her $300 million fortune, Huguette Clark owned
Bellosguardo, a 23 acre estate on the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara
valued at $85 million. She inherited it in 1963 upon the death of
mother but never visited it because she did not want to diminish her
memory of her mother there. In a matter mirroring that of Howard
Hughes' Mormon Will, a pro se Santa Barbara woman filed a lawsuit against the estate
claiming that after an hour conversation in 1985, Ms. Clark gave her
the mansion by writing "Cabrillo Mansion yours" on a piece of paper. A
court dismissed the lawsuit because the statute of limitations had
expired in 1989.
Several points:
1. To convey property, a
deed must contain the grantor's name, the grantee's name, a description
of the property, and must be appropriately witnessed and/or notarized.
Real estate cannot be conveyed via the equivalent of a bearer bond.
2. It is heartening to see that no attorney wanted to touch this obviously fraudulent case.
3.
Perhaps if the note had also provided that the Church of Latter Day
Saints would also receive Bellosguardo, she would at least have been
able to sell the movie rights to "Lori and Huguette."
