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Late celebrity photographer Bert Stern’s three adult children are fighting for his wealth with his young wife.
Stern came into limelight after famously clicking provocative, nude photos of Marilyn Monroe just six weeks before her death.
Two competing wills, which were signed 13 years apart, are in the middle of the legal spat in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court over Stern’s 10-million-dollar-fortune, the New York Post reported.
Stern’s first will, which was signed by him in 1997, said that 50 percent of his wealth should be divided equally between his two daughters and son, and the rest, about 5 million dollars in archive photos, was to go a foundation based at his Sag Harbor, LI, home.
The contested, 2010 version gives his wealth to a private trust that is controlled by his young wife, Shannah Laumeister, 44.
Stern’s three kids are from his first marriage, which ended in 1975.
Laumeister, a bit actress who directed the 2010 documentary “’Bert Stern: Original Mad Man,’ said in obituaries that the couple got married in 2009, but refused to reveal why they kept it a secret.
Stern’s children — Bret O. Stern, of Fairfield, Conn., Trista Wright, of Westport, Conn., and Susannah Peterson Stern, of Manhattan, have demanded an examination of the attorney, who wrote the second will and of the witnesses to its signing.
Stern came into limelight after famously clicking provocative, nude photos of Marilyn Monroe just six weeks before her death.
Two competing wills, which were signed 13 years apart, are in the middle of the legal spat in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court over Stern’s 10-million-dollar-fortune, the New York Post reported.
Stern’s first will, which was signed by him in 1997, said that 50 percent of his wealth should be divided equally between his two daughters and son, and the rest, about 5 million dollars in archive photos, was to go a foundation based at his Sag Harbor, LI, home.
The contested, 2010 version gives his wealth to a private trust that is controlled by his young wife, Shannah Laumeister, 44.
Stern’s three kids are from his first marriage, which ended in 1975.
Laumeister, a bit actress who directed the 2010 documentary “’Bert Stern: Original Mad Man,’ said in obituaries that the couple got married in 2009, but refused to reveal why they kept it a secret.
Stern’s children — Bret O. Stern, of Fairfield, Conn., Trista Wright, of Westport, Conn., and Susannah Peterson Stern, of Manhattan, have demanded an examination of the attorney, who wrote the second will and of the witnesses to its signing.
