Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky drew up a new will nine days before his death but his financial affairs are so complicated that it could take years of litigation to settle, it was reported today.
None of the five potential executors named by the tycoon has been willing to take on the job of administering his estate, which has now fallen to accountants Grant Thornton.
Berezovsky named his daughter Ekaterina Berezovskaya, his estranged partner Helena Gorbunova, two private lawyers and friend Yuli Dubov in his will made days before he was found dead on the bathroom floor of his home in Ascot. An inquest has been opened and adjourned pending toxicology results.
The former Kremlin kingmaker spent more than a decade exiled in Britain after falling out with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Companies with a potential claim on his estate include the Russian state-owned airline Aeroflot, which sued Mr Berezovsky for allegedly embezzling millions of pounds in the 1990s, and intends to continue its litigation. Sources are divided over whether there is anything left to fight over. Some close to Mr Berezozsky claim he had cashflow problems after losing a £3 billion court battle with Roman Abramovich.