Lucian Freud’s Neglected Son Wants a Piece of the £42 Million Inheritance Pie

With 14 children and estimated £42 million left behind, managing Lucian Freud’s inheritance was never going to be an easy gig. And the complexity of the situation has just been ratcheted up a notch: The Telegraph reports that one of his “forgotten children,” Paul Freud, has started a legal battle hoping for a share of his late father’s fortune.

When he died, the British painter was worth £95.9 million. He left his West London home and £2.5 million to his former assistant and model, David Dawson, and paid many more million in taxes and legacies. The remaining £42 million were placed in a trust run by solicitor Diana Rawstron and Freud’s daughter Rose Pearse.

No other children received any money, and Rawstron and Pearce refuse to reveal the painter’s intentions for the trust. Paul Freud is now challenging the legally of this arrangement, claiming that if the painter didn’t leave any instructions, the sum managed by the trust might not have been the subject of any will.

Freud was a notorious lothario. He married twice (to Kitty Epstein and Lady Caroline Blackwood), and had a string of mistresses, many of whom bore his children. Paul Freud’s mother, fashion designer Katherine McAdam, had four children with the painter. None of them had any contact with their father during their childhood.

According to the Telegraph, all the parties involved declined to comment on the case.