Joan Rivers left her estimated $150 million fortune to family, friends, staff and charities, including one supporting guide dogs.
The will of the 81-year-old comedienne – who died in September while undergoing a minor throat procedure – was filed in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court today (09.12.14) and named the former ‘Fashion Police’ co-host’s only child Melissa Rivers as the executor of her estate and she will also receive all her mother’s "tangible personal property".
According to the court documents, Melissa’s son Edgar Cooper Endicott and Joan’s niece Caroline Waxler and nephew Andrew Waxler will receive unspecified amounts of money, with all the funds left through a blind trust.
Joan also gifted cash to a number of her favoured charities, including Guide Dogs for the Blind in California, Brooklyn-based food charity God’s Love We Deliver – which provides meals to New York residents unable to fend for themselves – and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Other aid organisations which will benefit from Joan’s fortune include Jewish human rights organisation the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Jewish Guild for the Blind and Jewish Home and Hospital Foundation.
The late star’s publicist Scott Currie was also named as one of her staff who will receive an undisclosed amount of money, as will her assistants Sabrina Lott Miller and Jocelyn Pickett.
Following the filing of the will – which was signed on November 16, 2011 – Melissa would now be able to go ahead with a wrongful death lawsuit against the Yorkville Endoscopy Clinic in New York City, where her mother died from "predictable" surgical complications while undergoing a minor operation on her vocal cords, if she wishes.
A federal report released last month claimed the New York clinic made a number of errors during Joan’s medical procedure, stating the establishment "failed to ensure that patient care services were provided in a manner that protects the health and safety of all patients".
The documents also insisted several procedures were not performed correctly when Joan went in for a routine throat operation on August 28.
Following the report’s findings, Melissa, speaking through attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Jeffrey Bloom, said in a statement last month: "Our client, Melissa Rivers, is terribly disappointed to learn of the multiple failings on the part of the medical personnel and the clinic as evidenced by the CMS report."
Joan Rivers leaves ‘$150m fortune’ to family and charities
