Tudors Agree To Delay Court Case

August 28, 2008
Barre Times
Susan Smallheer

BRATTLEBORO - The estranged children of famed illustrator and author Tasha Tudor told Probate Judge Robert Pu Wednesday that they were working privately with themselves to resolve their disagreements over their mother's $2 million estate.

The attorneys for both sides in the dispute told the judge they had met privately on Tuesday afternoon, and both sides agreed to a 90-day delay to try and work things out among themselves.

Tudor died at the age of 92 in June at her Marlboro home. She left the bulk of her estate to her son Seth Tudor, 65, and his son Winslow, also of Marlboro, in a 2002 codicil to her 2001 will.

That will split the bulk of her estate between her two sons, Seth and Thomas Tudor, 62, of Fairfax Station, Va., and left only $1,000 each to her two daughters, Bethany Tudor of Brattleboro and Efner Tudor Holmes of Contoocook, N.H.

Thomas Tudor, Bethany Tudor and Efner Holmes have all filed challenges to their older brother Seth as being named executor of the estate, asserting that he exerted "undue influence" over their elderly mother, and questioned whether the will was properly executed. All four siblings attended the hearing.

Pu said he had been told by court staff that the siblings were "working quite hard" to resolve their differences.

Richard Coutant, the attorney for Seth Tudor, said that Brattleboro accountant Joseph Pieciak was providing a "certain kind of services to the estate," as well as preparing tax returns.

"A certain amount of informal discovery is going on," Coutant told the judge.

Mark Schwartz of Bryn Mawr, Pa., an attorney for Thomas Tudor, asked the judge that in the event that talks "bog down," he appoint a mediator to help resolve the differences between the siblings.

Pu noted that "from time to time the court sends folks off to a mediator," and he said sometimes a skilled mediator can resolve highly emotional family issues without the matter ending in court.

The mediator could help "define the universe," the judge said.

Pu asked the attorneys to put together a stipulation to outline the agreement.

Pu noted that the case had generated a lot of interest in the form of telephone calls, and he said if necessary the hearing might be moved to either Brattleboro District Court or U.S. federal court where more room would be available. No other courtroom was available Wednesday, he said.

"We may need to relocate to another facility," he said.

Thomas Tudor, associate general counsel for international affairs for the U.S. Air Force, said he was unaware until he read a copy of his mother's will that she had removed him as a beneficiary, saying they always had a warm and affectionate relationship.