Lucian Freud’s Willed Millions Stay Secret

A British Hight Court ruled on Wednesday that the benefactors of Lucian Freud’s will are to remain secret, the Telegraph reports. Paul McAdam Freud, one of the artist’s 14 children, had attempted to challenge his father’s will. McAdam Freud was previously told by the chosen trustees of Freud’s £42 million ($71 million) after-tax estate that he was not among his father’s secret list of beneficiaries.

Upon his death in 2011, Lucian Freud left his entire £96 million ($162 million) estate to just two individuals: his daughter Rose Pearce and his former lawyer and confidant Diana Rawstron. The pair later revealed that they had been charged with distributing the trust to a confidential list of beneficiaries.

In countering McAdam Freud’s demands for that list of beneficiaries to be made public, the two trustees’ representative Michael Furness told the Telegraph, “They wish to respect the deceased’s wishes not to disclose the terms of the fully secret trust to anyone who is not a beneficiary.”

McAdam Freud was the only of the artist’s children to fight the will. Though, if he had won, the paper reports that all legitimate children would have received an equal share of their father’s estate, a difficult process considering some have disputed paternity.

The distribution of the funds according to Freud’s wishes had thus been delayed while court proceedings were completed. The trustees say that the beneficiaries will now be informed and the monies distributed.