From "Juan Hamilton, Georgia O’Keeffe’s caretaker and friend, dies aged 79/The artist’s assistant inherited her entire estate when she died in 1986, but her relatives sued him and they settled out of court" (London Times).
Hamilton... went to college in Nebraska and then to graduate school in California, where he trained in pottery. He... travelled to New Mexico, where a friend had promised him some carpentry work at a monastery, and where he imagined visiting O’Keeffe.... “I had this dream-fantasy about visiting her … and giving her one of my pots.”
He first stepped into O’Keeffe’s house with a friend to do some plumbing.... A few months later, advised to knock on her door in the morning if he wanted work, he returned and she asked if he could help pack a shipping crate. Other odd jobs followed....
In 1983, the two of them sat down with Andy Warhol for an interview.... “Juan moved into my world and little by little, he got into things,” she said.....
O’Keeffe herself had once been a young artist, involved with a much older one when she married the photographer Alfred Stieglitz, he said. “I’d get upset about what people said, but she’d say: ‘Oh for Christ’s sake, Juan, what do you care what people think? Just focus on your work.’ ”
Whichever way the age discrepancy goes, people tend to think it's the man taking advantage of the woman.
I'm giving this post my "lawsuits I hope will fail" tag even though the verb "to hope" is in the wrong tense. The settlement of the lawsuit happened a long time ago, but I don't like tag proliferations so please just picture me back there in the 80s hoping Juan Hamilton will win that lawsuit. She wrote a will, and she gave everything to him. Believe her.
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46 comments:
I'm writing a Nebraska Supreme Court brief on a will contest that I won. The trial court found that the testatrix did not have testamentary capacity and one son worked undue influence on his mother. In re Estate of Walker, A-24-680.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes a flower is just a flower.
"Other odd jobs followed..."
Heh. In couples golf couples often play for ‘household chores’…
They were together for 14 years.
"Whichever way the age discrepancy goes, people tend to think it's the man taking advantage of the woman."
As a counterpoint I will say I think many if not most people thought the late Anna Nicole-Smith took advantage of her even later and older husband.
I like reading biographies of literary figures, and its odd how when they become famous, some mysterious characters always show up to "Befriend" them. Probably the best example is Hemingway and A.E. Hotchner who popped out of nowhere to tag along with "Papa" in his old age and write a book as his "Nearest and dearest Friend".
Some are more sinister, and seem to be after an inheritance, or gain control of the novelists finances. Its nice that this guy helped O'Keefe in her old age, but leaving him all the money seems rather abnormal. But then maybe her family were all assholes.
"Whichever way the age discrepancy goes, people tend to think it's the man taking advantage of the woman."
Casey Kasem would be another conter example. His second, much younger wife, got his assets and, under very suspicious circumstances, transported his corpse out of the US buried him in an umarked grave in Oslo.
"In couples golf couples often play for ‘household chores’…"
Exactly what kind of "jobs" are you talking about?
hmmm..
"O’Keeffe died in 1986, without children"..
WHO were these "surviving relatives"?
nieces? nephews? 2nd cousins once removed?
I have no children.. WHO should decided where MY money goes?
IF i WANTED it to go to my sister-inlaw's children.. I would have mentioned them in my will..
AGAIN; if a person has no children, who is "entitled" to their money?
if a person HAD children.. who is "entitled" to their money?
O'Keefe's gigolo was with her for 14 years?
how many times did these "surviving relatives" visit?
So it wasn't all about the vajayjay for Georgia? I guess her husband Alfred Stieglitz knew that, but a generation of art lovers may now feel a little deceived. Alfred was over 20 years older and died 40 years earlier, so Georgia had plenty of time to be lonely.
Madisonians might be pleased to learn that O'Keefe was born in your very own county, in Sun Prairie, a true (grand)daughter of the pioneers.
If you're an artist, or a wannabe creative person of some sort, a potter, a writer, a candle maker...whatever, if you're passionate about your area of interest, wouldn't you want to hang around someone you admired in that field, someone who you considered among the best? If you're an artist, and know Georgia O'Keeffe is in that neighborhood, wouldn't you try to get to at least meet her, with a hope of getting to talk with her, watch her do her work, even...become a friend, a part of her life, hanging around to learn?
I dunno. It does not seem as far fetched to me as a young man going after an 85 year old woman and doing his 'duty' to hopefully gain the money.
I mean, if I could have hung around a, say...William Saroyan as a young man, I would have loved that. To talk with him about how he writes, how he sees humanity, how he does his task would have been worth so much to me.
I'm not the kind to use a pencil or rule,
I'm handy with love and I'm no fool,
Hey baby, I'm your handyman...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXI43zGeyu4
JSM
Info from Grok:
Georgia O’Keeffe had no children. One sister survived her. She had nieces and nephews but rarely kept in contact with them.
After her death on March 6, 1986, her family—specifically her niece June O’Keeffe Sebring and sister Catherine Klenert—contested the will, alleging Hamilton exerted “undue influence”
In July 1987, a settlement was reached in New Mexico District Court. Hamilton didn’t keep the bulk of the estate as originally willed. Instead, he gave up the residuary estate—worth about $47.2 million, mostly in O’Keeffe’s art and Alfred Stieglitz’s photographs—to the newly formed Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation, which would distribute works to museums. In return, Hamilton received:
- The Ghost Ranch property, O’Keeffe’s summer home.
- At least 24 O’Keeffe paintings, plus one Stieglitz photograph and some works by other artists.
- Her personal papers, copyrights, and much of her personal property (clothing, pigments, etc.).
- He also kept a Santa Fe house O’Keeffe had bought for $2.6 million in 1984 and deeded to him, though he sold it in 1986 for $2.1 million after her death.
At the time of O’Keeffe’s death he was married .
With the settlement, Hamilton bought a large property in Honolulu and a farm on Maui.
His wife, 2 sons, grandchildren, and sister survived him.
Hamilton, essentially, gave up the bulk of the estate he was left in O’Keeffe’s will.
I think it's neat that he had a vision and followed through and made it a reality. He wanted to be near the artist who inspired him - and he was a good friend and aid to her.
Yeah - I hope he won. Do we know?
oops - see above.
He paid attention to her and attended to her needs, and I'm guessing the other relatives did not.
So, what are the hard cases that make the bad law? There seems to be a tension, between the idea that a person has a right to dispose of his property as he chooses, and the view that his family has a right to that property. The law is happy when his choice coincides with that view. But it doesn't always.
I don’t really understand why her family prevailed. It seems (according to Grok) he didn’t have the stomach for a protracted legal battle.
"[Juan] Hamilton became the handyman, assistant and friend of [Georgia] O’Keeffe when he was 27 and she was 85."
Handy Man
Hey girls, gather round
Listen to what I'm puttin' down
Hey, baby, I'm your handy man
I'm not the kind that uses pencil or rule
I'm handy with the love and I'm no fool
I fix broken hearts, I know I truly can
If your broken heart, she needs repair
Then I'm the man to see, I whisper sweet things
You tell all your friends, they'll come running to me
Here is the main thing I want to say
I'm busy twenty four hours a day
I fix broken hearts, I know that I truly can
Come, come, come, come, come, come, come
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I fix broken hearts, baby I'm your handy man
"She had nieces and nephews but rarely kept in contact with them...."
Or they, her - I guess. The two had a lasting relationship and that's all that counts, and it sounds like he had a life outside of his relationship with O'Keefe, and in the end, the right thing was done by giving a lot of it to the foundation - or did the settlement force this? It doesn't say. It also doesn't say how much the doting family extracted out of the deal.
If I didn't have kids, and I did have a long-time caretaker/companion, they'd get my $$.
As estate planners, a word, unsolicited: give most of it away before you go, leave a clear plan behind for the rest. Let people know what you’re doing, especially the ones what think they’re getting what you have. Even if they were a-holes don’t leave behind the zinger. It might be more fun to tell them while your’e still alive…
"There seems to be a tension, between the idea that a person has a right to dispose of his property as he chooses, and the view that his family has a right to that property. "
As a general rule, if you wish to exclude family in a will, it is better to identify them by name and expressly indicate that they get nothing, and possibly state a reason why. Courts in general do seem to view family as presumptively having rights to the estate.
It would have cost O'Keefe a relative pittance to hire a lawyer to build a record to make the will bulletproof and yet she did not. Sometimes naïveté can explain only so much.
My wife and I toured Ghost Ranch last Summer. We took the deluxe tour. Well worth it. Every Summer when we drive along the Santa Fe Trail to the SF Opera, we go through Meade.
"My wife and I toured Ghost Ranch last Summer. We took the deluxe tour. Well worth it. "
I've stayed overnight there. I didn't do a tour but I did some walks in the landscapes from her paintings. Great place, I'd go back again. Here's a pic of the view from my room:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrew_hutter/4641633267/in/album-72157624141152000
She wrote a will, and she gave everything to him. Believe her.
Believe all 99-year-old women.
Exactly what kind of "jobs" are you talking about?
…oral sex, Tim. Oral sex…
Bette Davis' Video Will - SNL
https://youtu.be/e-A9RzG2Rgs?feature=shared
"I dunno. It does not seem as far fetched to me as a young man going after an 85 year old woman and doing his 'duty' to hopefully gain the money."
But whatever end of that spectrum he was on, he deserved the money she left him. Whatever she wanted from him, whatever she took or he gave, whether it included sex or not, that was her choice. And it was her choice to leave him the money. What did these relatives do? They were not her descendants. She had no children.
Did she not have her own lawyer and meet with him independently? I'm going to presume she was represented and the lawyers made sure the will met all the requirements.
The two guys look sorta alike.
"Believe all 99-year-old women."
I intended to evoke "Believe all women," even though I think you don't keep believing against the evidence. But what evidence was there that Georgia O'Keeffe wasn't of sound mind when she signed her will?
I asked Grok. See the answer here: https://x.com/i/grok/share/mWT6ANPBSbJDwWfZXjJQaFcDf
It's interesting that we're told Hamilton was quite handsome but also that O'Keeffe was nearly blind.
Question for you lawyers: Wouldn't you recommend that a client making a change like this to her will should make a new will and destroy all copies of the old one? Here, they just kept adding codicils to the original will. Isn't that asking for trouble?
I've never looked at calla lilies quite the same.
Well that changes everything! What a gold digger!
If you have a relative with a massive fortune (and even without a massive fortune) take it upon yourself to make sure they’re not taken advantage of. If they thought she was so frail, why didn’t they help her out instead of swooping in after her death?
Ann said...
Wouldn't you recommend that a client making a change like this to her will should make a new will and destroy all copies of the old one?
Not a lawyer, but this is what my lawyer recommends. Not only do I destroy old wills, but in the new one explicitly state I disown the previous ones and list their dates. This Last Will and Testament supersedes all previous Wills including November 18, 1989, January 4, 1997, July 21, 2005.....
But what evidence was there that Georgia O'Keeffe wasn't of sound mind when she signed her will?
The evidence is the settlement itself. From the link you posted we see O’Keefe left most of her $65 million estate to Hamilton. “The probate dispute was settled in July 1987, with Hamilton receiving $2 million and some property—far less than the codicils granted—while the bulk of the estate reverted to family members and possibly other original beneficiaries. Courts don’t typically overturn wills without substantial evidence of incapacity or undue influence, suggesting the family presented compelling arguments beyond just her age.“
$65 million to $2 million is not a lawsuit that failed.
Here’s the 1987 LA Times story on the settlement.
“Question for you lawyers: Wouldn't you recommend that a client making a change like this to her will should make a new will and destroy all copies of the old one? Here, they just kept adding codicils to the original will. Isn't that asking for trouble?”
That approach might have worked against Hamilton in this case. The final settlement accepted the first codicil, which gave Hamilton quite a bit, and rejected the second codicil, which would have given him quite a bit more.
In the settlement, a large piece went to a charitable foundation, a large piece to Hamilton, and a small piece to the family.
If there had instead been three wills, and O’Keefe destroyed all copies of the first two, the third will could still have been challenged. If that contest succeeded, O’Keefe would have been treated as having died without a will, and her estate would have all gone to her family.
But what evidence was there that Georgia O'Keeffe wasn't of sound mind when she signed her will?
The evidence is the settlement itself.
That is not evidence of O'Keeffe's state of mind when she signed the will - it occurred years later, and after her death so she herself could not speak of it. The relatively low amount of money that Hamilton agreed to accept could well be evidence that he was not a gold digger and was not after her money.
That is not evidence of O'Keeffe's state of mind when she signed the will.
Sure. I’m agnostic on what went down and am simply reading Althouse’s AI source back to her. There will always be questions when a woman approaching her hundredth year makes dramatic changes to her will, especially when her estate is valued in the tens of millions of dollars.
If people are of legal age, sane and consenting, it's no one's business who they spend their time with and money on - or why.
A lady my age (80ish) recently went on a cruise with her daughter and grand daughter (22). A few days ago, we ran into each other and she bragged that ALL the men on the ship were hitting on the grand daughter (who IS drop dead gorgeous, BTW).
Last night we went out to dinner with the three of them and I told the youngest that Granny had ratted her out for charming all the guys.
Granny blushed, the girl laughed and I said, "Hell, Xxxxx, you are pretty decent looking - if I was still in my 70s, I'd probably hit on you, too :-) Everyone at the table laughed except Granny, who announced that she never did trust me.
We laughed so hard at that; people sitting nearby started laughing, too. Good times are infectious.
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