When a high net worth individual's estates are looming, how
far would you go to prove you are entitled to some of it?
Salvador Dali, one of the fathers of surrealist art, died in
1989 and is buried in his museum in the north-eastern town of
Figueres in Spain. Dali bestowed his estate to the Spanish state
however, a fortune teller by the name of Pilar Abel from the nearby
city of Girona claimed she was the offspring of an affair between
Dali and her mother, Antonia. In response, a Spanish judge ordered
the exhumation of his remains in order to settle the paternity suit
- despite loud condemnation from those who labelled her as a
gold-digger.
Ms Abel claimed that she was the product of a secret love affair
between her domestic worker mother and the artist, who was then
living with his wife, Gala. Abel sued the Gala-Salvador Dalí
Foundation and the Spanish state which controls Dali's estate,
in order to be recognised as his legal heir. Abel claimed her
mother and
