Automotive heiress. Annie Laurine Dodge Van Etten was widowed after 13 days of marriage to the automotive heir, Daniel G. Dodge who passed away unexpectedly as the result from an explosion and drowning at his summer resort on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada on August 15, 1938. On November 15, 1938, Annie filed a petition in probate court for a widow's allowance of $33,000 a month during litigation over her husband's $10,000,000 share of the John F. Dodge Trust. The petition said such an allowance would enable the young widow to live "upon a scale in keeping with the Dodge fortune and family tradition". The bulk of Daniels' estate was left by his will to his mother Matilda R. Wilson, the founder of the 88,000 square feet Meadowbrook Hall in Rochester Hills, MI. According to the terms of a pre-nuptial agreement signed by Laurine, she was to receive only $250,000 but she exercised her widow's right under Michigan law, to disregard her husband's will and take her statutory one-fourth of the estate. On January 10, 1940, a settlement was reached with Daniel's estate and the once $18.00 a week telephone operator accepted a one-time payment of $1.25 million dollars. On January 3, 1980, the John F. Dodge Trust was terminated when his last surviving and firstborn child Winifred Dodge Seyburn died paving the way to the disposal of the trust and Annie along with several other hopefuls, soon filed a claim against it in hopes of receiving additional funding. Her claim was denied and the principal, over $40-million dollars was divided among his surviving grandchildren and their heirs. John Dodge's only living son-in-law Frederick Van Lennep received $3.3 million dollars on behalf of his deceased wife Frances Dodge Van Lennep.
**The principal was passed on tax-free since the tax was paid for prior to the trust's inception.
**The principal was passed on tax-free since the tax was paid for prior to the trust's inception.
Automotive heiress. Annie Laurine Dodge Van Etten was widowed after 13 days of marriage to the automotive heir, Daniel G. Dodge who passed away unexpectedly as the result from an explosion and drowning at his summer resort on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada on August 15, 1938. On November 15, 1938, Annie filed a petition in probate court for a widow's allowance of $33,000 a month during litigation over her husband's $10,000,000 share of the John F. Dodge Trust. The petition said such an allowance would enable the young widow to live "upon a scale in keeping with the Dodge fortune and family tradition". The bulk of Daniels' estate was left by his will to his mother Matilda R. Wilson, the founder of the 88,000 square feet Meadowbrook Hall in Rochester Hills, MI. According to the terms of a pre-nuptial agreement signed by Laurine, she was to receive only $250,000 but she exercised her widow's right under Michigan law, to disregard her husband's will and take her statutory one-fourth of the estate. On January 10, 1940, a settlement was reached with Daniel's estate and the once $18.00 a week telephone operator accepted a one-time payment of $1.25 million dollars. On January 3, 1980, the John F. Dodge Trust was terminated when his last surviving and firstborn child Winifred Dodge Seyburn died paving the way to the disposal of the trust and Annie along with several other hopefuls, soon filed a claim against it in hopes of receiving additional funding. Her claim was denied and the principal, over $40-million dollars was divided among his surviving grandchildren and their heirs. John Dodge's only living son-in-law Frederick Van Lennep received $3.3 million dollars on behalf of his deceased wife Frances Dodge Van Lennep.
**The principal was passed on tax-free since the tax was paid for prior to the trust's inception.
**The principal was passed on tax-free since the tax was paid for prior to the trust's inception.
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