Scandalous Inheritances and Real-Life Succession Stories

The Sackler dynasty’s ruthless marketing of painkillers has generated billions of dollars—and millions of addicts.

They’re not the only family the show is based on.

The powerhouse children’s publisher, known for Harry Potter, had been passed from father to son until Iole Lucchese, a top executive, was given control.

Vaulting ambitions, shifting allegiances, dynastic dreams—like any high-stakes family business, NFL team ownership can be riven by rivalries, competition and succession struggles.

For decades, Bob Ross has been a soothing presence in a world gone mad. But the real story behind the painter’s life, and especially his afterlife, reveals just as much madness.

Why did the heirs to one of the largest fortunes in America grow up horribly neglected and abused?

Accusations of conspiracy, mental incompetence and financial misconduct, plus insinuations of kidnapping and incest, fly faster than Frozen merchandise off shelves as Brad and Michelle Disney Lund go to battle over their inheritance.

The relatives of Huguette Clark, who died in 2011 at 104, contested the disposition of her estimated $300 million estate after she executed a second will that excluded her family.

BONUS READ: The Half-Truths of Harrison Post: Moneyed Magnate or Jazz Age Grifter? via Literary Hub.

The heirs: Sam Dolnick, Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, and David Perpich.

It’s a storyline Succession writers would drool over: The ostracized daughter of one of the wealthiest families in America lands the lead role in a movie about a wealthy girl who loses everything—then her real-life family tries to scam her out of her fortune and she sues them for billions.

For five decades, as the children at Camp Shane shed pounds, made friends, and found romance, a fierce succession drama was playing out.

Mapping the intersecting lives of robber barons and floundering French aristocrats.

Today, Ghislaine Maxwell’s father Robert is remembered mostly for his death. But in his prime he represented power, money, and shocking deceit—and British society ate it all up.

Frank Stronach spent decades grooming his daughter, Belinda, to take over his billion-dollar business. Now he wants it back.

Joe Shoen grabbed control of U-haul from his father, escalating a family feud into all-out civil war. Years of lawsuits, character assassinations, murder accusations and a suicide later, the family is shattered—but U-haul is thriving.

Advocates are working to right a major injustice that has implications for both landowners and the climate.

A “great wealth transfer” may be on the horizon. Will a gift from grandma save the middle class?