Audrey Hepburn’s note on estate causes rift between sons

No one enjoys dividing their parents’ estate, but for Audrey Hepburn’s sons the process has been far from a Roman Holiday.

Hepburn passed away in 1993, leaving a fifty-fifty split of the estate to her only children, Sean Ferrer and Luca Dotti.

There are several ongoing disputes but Ferrer and Dotti, aged 56 and 47 respectively, have been at loggerheads for the past two years thanks to an ambiguous handwritten note from their late mother.

While the note indicated that the half-brothers should receive an equal share of Hepburn’s memorabilia, there was no list of how to divide the assets.

At long last, Ferrer and Dotti have agreed to auction off the memorabilia and receive an equal share of the profits.

The auction will take place in September of this year, at the London headquarters of prestigious auction house Christie’s.

According to the Christie’s website, the flagship auction will be held on Wednesday, September 27, with viewings available from Saturday, September 23.

An online sale of memorabilia will run from September 19 to October 3.

“The collection is an extraordinary archive, chronicling the life and career of one of the most famous screen actresses of the 20^th century through the lens of the objects she collected, used and loved,” the website reads.  

In addition to a variety of photographs, memorabilia on offer “will include Audrey Hepburn’s extensive personal wardrobe and her own annotated copies of film scripts from her best-loved films, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s”.

Hepburn’s ballet flats are predicted to sell for approximately $2,500, while her Burberry coat could fetch up to $13,000.

The Breakfast at Tiffany’s film script, annotated by Hepburn, is expected to achieve a sale price of $133,000.

“We lost our mother and best friend, and the world lost an enduring symbol of grace, elegance and humanity,” Ferrer and Dotti say in a joint statement issued on the Christie’s website.

“After 24 years, we have focused on those items that we wished to keep, as well as those we are pleased to pass on to future generations.”  

Do you think the brothers’ arrangement is fair?