Posted on 12/09/2009 9:52:34 PM PST by jeannineinsd
Swedish crime novelist Stieg Larsson left no will when he died five years ago, so everything passed to his father and brother. His companion of 30 years, whom he never married, got nothing.
Reporting from Stockholm - Not even Stieg Larsson could've dreamed up "The Girl Who Fought for a Share of the Inheritance."
But five years after his untimely death and millions of book sales later, the Swedish crime writer's estate is caught in a bitter feud worthy of one of his thrillers, complete with a strong-willed female protagonist, a murky bog of possible villains and a plot that has transfixed this Scandinavian country.
...cut...
Because he never made a proper will, everything Larsson owned, including the all-important rights to his work, passed to his father and brother.
The woman who was at his side for 30 years inherited nothing. She and Larsson never married -- a fact that has exacted an unforeseen price. Swedish law does not recognize common-law relationships, and she is not entitled to a penny of his estate.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I am not as sympathetic to her situation as is the author of the article. After all, she had 30 years to either get married, or to see that her name was listed as beneficiary to the man's will.
How do other people view this?
Fighting it in the court will be expensive and the winner would not be certain.
I think if she shared 30 years of this man’s life, she deserves it just as much as his children do. If there’s enough to go around, why are people so mean and stingy. Geez. Unless she was absolutely awful..I don’t see what the family wouldn’t give her something. I’m not one of those people who think that the only way to share is if you’re married. 30 years would be considered common law anywhere. Meanwhile, the lawyers get most of it. Ridiculous. SHARE and GET RID OF THE RESENTMENTS..it will kill you.
Their devotion to left-wing causes had brought them together: They were 18 and living in northern Sweden in 1972 when they met at a rally against the Vietnam War.
I'm pretty sure that left-wing anti-establisment ethos of the 60's and 70's was probably the reason for no marriage. And, hey, money was just for capitalist pigs.
Now that there is some money, it's the US's fault. Grenada?! Gimme a break.
Tough to be an aging hippie with not means of support. Maybe your former radicals can loan you a buck or two.
Should have been more attuned to the inheritance laws.
Inheritance laws are as old as marriage. In fact, marriage brougt them about. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue without them?
I just wish people would act more civilized. From my own personal experience inheritance issues have less to do with money than one’s place within the family. However, by that time, it’s too late to do anything about it.
I have zero sympathy for her. Zero. She wanted to be hip and avante garde. Good for her. Let her pay the consequences.
Never have understood women living with a ‘partner.’ They ALWAYS come out the loser. But 30 years without a legally binding commitment, something to document their ‘equal’ relationship? That is beyond stupid.
Nothing in their relationship precluded contractual agreements transferring rights to her.
This is just more anti-marriage garbage masquerading as “legal” unfairness.
Inheritance laws are as old as marriage. In fact, marriage brougt them about. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue without them?
Any woman stupid enough to live with a man for 30 years without checking to see if she’s in his will gets what she deserves.
Dope.
That's really funny since marriage is at the center of civilization. You cannot even have civilization without marriage.
Now, the ideology has come back to bite her, and all of a sudden she's capitalist. Too bad, so sad.
Hildy, you have to read the article. Apparently he (they) didn’t have any children .. it went to is father and brother. The Swedes don’t have ‘common law’ marriages.
She was a ‘liberated woman.’ So let her be free. I really have no sympathy for her. She’s so intelligent, she couldn’t get some commitment in writing from him to care for her financially in the event of his passing? It’s not as if they couldn’t afford a few hundred bucks when he was alive to pay a lawyer to draw up papers, even if they didn’t marry.
I have friends in their 60s who’ve lived together for many years now, unmarried. They own their house jointly, and she is provided for in case of his death. And neither is a wealthy best-selling author. It’s what people who chose that lifestyle do when they care for each other.
Sorry, sometimes people forget to update their wills and such. I have compassion for a woman who was with a man for 30 years. With a piece of paper or not. Sue me.
My take is the same as yours. If they didn’t marry, then they both had to have known this would be the consequence. I feel bad for her, though ... to lose a loved mate of 30 years.
The woman is playing the “I want a second chance to call the family pigs and make them give it to me card”. It’s a big card but only PC maniacs would let her have a whit of sympathy.
From the article:
>>When Larsson died, everyone assumed Gabrielsson would be his heir; Erland and Joakim were surprised to learn the estate was theirs by default. They say they were prepared to turn Larsson’s assets over to her at the beginning, but she publicly declared she didn’t want any money from them and would speak to them only through a lawyer.
After Larsson’s books were published, his family says, Gabrielsson sent a letter through her attorney demanding all rights to his work, which struck them as unreasonable.
“She wanted some part of the economic rights — no problem,” Joakim said. “But she wanted all the moral rights. And for that, we have to discuss.”<<
The family offered her 1.7 million EUROS even though it is clear she lost the rights to this SAPPY, SILLY and what sounds like HORRID writing. Original Title “Men who Hate Women”.
A sample from a positive review:
>>Niels Arden Oplev’s film of his first volume, Men Who Hate Women (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in English), has enthused audiences across Europe. And a dispute over Larsson’s estate still sidetracks attention from his books. He died with no valid will, his father and brother became his legatees by default, and a vigorous campaign in Sweden aims to secure Gabrielsson’s rights.
This week MacLehose Press will issue the English translation of the third volume: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest (translated by Reg Keeland; £18.99). Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander, the sullen, wild and brilliant computer hacker and feminist avenger whose creation tore up the rule-book for heroines in crime fiction, comes face-to-face with her persecutors deep in the secret agencies of the Swedish state. Mikhail Blomkvist, the editor whose corruption-busting magazine Millennium has more than a hint of Larsson’s Expo, again has to ally his skills with the elfin, pierced and near-autistic force of mind and nature that is Salander.
At length, the unfathomable Salander turns up in court to confront the establishment conspirators who made her young life a misery. She has a headful of “uneven stubble”, ten ear piercings, a black leather miniskirt and a skimpy top bearing the legend “I am annoyed”. You can say that again.<<
I am annoyed. I am annoyed that is considered literature by some.
DK
I am sure she’s received all the compassion and empathy a person needs ... it’s the piece of paper everyone looks down on so condescendingly that would have saved her all this grief.
If he truly loved and cared for her he’d have seen that she was taken care financially in his passing ... and she was stupid to put herself in that situation if it was as important to her as it obviously is now. NO ONE, and especially someone of substantial means, forgets to update their will over 30 years. He never had one written. He, at least, was a selfish bastard and she let him get away with it. For 30 years.
I’m sorry for anyone who loses a loved one, but you don’t spent 30 years with a best selling author without knowing he has a very valuable estate, at least to part of which you should be entitled. For an intelligent woman, she was very, very stupid.
Before his career as a writer, Stieg Larsson was mostly known for his struggle against racism and right-wing extremism. Starting in the late 1970’s, he combined his work as a graphic designer with holding lectures on right-wing extremism for the Scotland Yard. During the following years he became an expert on the subject and has held many lectures as well as written many novels on the subject.
his partner, Eva Gabrielsson, an architectural historian
Wow... I have his book, ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ sitting right here on my desk. Started it last night.
His companion of 30 years, whom he never married, got nothing... estate is caught in a bitter feud... Because he never made a proper will, everything Larsson owned, including the all-important rights to his work, passed to his father and brother... Swedish law does not recognize common-law relationships, and she is not entitled to a penny of his estate.I guess he was too busy writing novels we've never heard of to bother jotting down a will.
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