Legal battle brews over Allan Stone estate

Clare Stone, the widow of Manhattan art dealer and ardent collector Allan Stone, is suing the executor of his $300 million estate.

When he died in 2006, Allan Stone left his estate, including works by such artists as Willem de Kooning, Wayne Thiebaud,  and Andy Warhol, in a trust for his wife. Clare and their children appointed family friend and lawyer Leila Wood-Smith as executor.

Now the family accuses Wood-Smith of improperly buying an $8.5 million Connecticut house with Stone's money and moving $200 million of his art into it without court approval.

Daughter Jessie Stone says she visited Wood-Smith's home in Rye, New York, in 2010 and was surprised to see some of her father's collection on the walls.

According to filed claims, Wood-Smith allegedly received a fee of nearly $6 million while Stone's widow has received "less than one percent per year of the value of the Marital Trust."

Portions of Stone's estate have sold at two auctions. In May 2011, a Sotheby's sale totaled nearly $55 million for works by sculptor John Chamberlain, Wayne Thiebaud, and others. Four years ago, 71 lots offered by Christie's went for $52.4 million