The first day of jury selection in the trial over the $300 million fortune of the late copper heiress Huguette Clark came to a screeching halt earlier today because a $45 million foundation the recluse created in her will wants to be included in the battle..
Manhattan Surrogate’s Court Judge Nora Anderson is expected to decide Thursday afternoon whether attorneys for the yet-to-be formed foundation can defend its rights to the money.
The disputed will, signed in April 2005 when Clark was 99, left $45 million for a foundation to be based at her sprawling Santa Barbara, Calif., estate Bellosguardo.
The 19 distant relatives of Clark, who are contesting the final will, had argued that the foundation does not yet exist and so should not be a party to the lawsuit.
Settlement negotiations, which delayed the start of jury selection this week, are ongoing, a source told The Post.
The state Attorney General’s Office, which represents the interests of charitable contributions in estate battles, has been trying to broker a last-minute settlement deal, NBC news has reported.
A phalanx of attorneys huddled in Manhattan Supreme Court earlier Thursday screening potential jurors for the trial which expected to last up to eight weeks.
The lawyers had set aside about a quarter of 20 potential jurors for the first round of selection when the stay was suddenly put in place by Judge Anderson.
Clark — the eccentric, doll-obsessed daughter of the copper king and former US Sen. William Clark — was 104 when she died in May 2011.