Nixon Library Will Inherit Bulk of Estate : Law: Former President left cash gifts, personal items to daughters and grandchildren. Legal action over Watergate tapes, other documents could bring windfall to Yorba Linda institution.

The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace will inherit the bulk of the former President’s estate, but a legal action over the infamous Watergate tapes and other documents could also mean a windfall worth millions.

A federal judge in 1992 ordered the federal government to compensate Nixon for documents and tapes seized during the Watergate scandal, which could be worth a fortune as collectors’ items. But the value of those papers and tapes has yet to be determined, and the beneficiary of that money was not specified in the will.

The nation’s 37th President left cash gifts to his four grandchildren and bequeathed his diaries and other personal items to his daughters, Julie Nixon Eisenhower and Patricia Nixon Cox, according to a will filed May 11 in Bergen County, N.J., where Nixon lived the past decade to be closer to his grandchildren.

Nixon died April 22 at age 81. He signed his will on Feb. 24, eight months after the death of his wife, Pat. The will does not estimate the worth of the estate left by the former President and First Lady, but it is believed to be in the millions.

The inheritance will help the $21-million Nixon library, a key tourist attraction in the area that has struggled financially since its opening in July, 1990. According to the will, the library received $2.65 million in cash gifts from the former President over the past two years.

“He took care of his legacy,” Yorba Linda Mayor Barbara Kiley said Tuesday. “Yorba Linda appreciates it. It could be a boon to the city.”

The potential windfall in the lawsuit involves a federal appellate court ruling in November, 1992, that the government may keep documents and tapes seized during the Watergate investigations, but must pay Nixon for the historically valuable documents.

A federal judge must determine the just compensation. Any money received from his lawsuit seeking the tapes would become a “charitable gift,” according to the will, which does not specify to whom.

In the will, Nixon directs his executors to continue any pending lawsuit regarding ownership of his property “for as long as they, in their discretion, deem it appropriate to do so, knowing my wishes in this matter.”

Had Nixon’s daughters not survived him, Nixon instructed that the diaries and other items be destroyed.

Nixon defined the items as “any notes, tapes, transcribed notes, folders, binders, or books that are owned by me or to which I may be entitled under a judgment of law . . . that may contain my daily, weekly or monthly activities, thoughts or plans.”

If Nixon’s daughters decline to accept the items, they are to be turned over to the library, according to the will.

Nixon said his daughters have first claim to his personal property, but cannot take more than 3% of the total value, although the will bequeaths the balance of the estate to his daughters.

The will does not specify who will receive royalties from Nixon’s best-selling books.

The former President gave $50,000 to each of his four grandchildren. Three of the grandchildren also get amounts ranging from $10,000 to $70,000 to “equalize” past gifts.

Library director John H. Taylor and New York attorney William E. Griffin were named co-executors of the will.

The will declares that the balance of a $1.2-million pledge Nixon made to his library last year must be paid first before the rest of the estate is paid out.

The nation’s only presidential library to operate entirely without public funds, the institution lost $1.5 million during 1991 and part of 1992. Library officials blamed the loss on early expenditures on promotions and special events and vowed to cut expenses.

The library includes the wood farmhouse Nixon’s father built from a kit. Library officials believe attendance will soar since the President was buried alongside his wife.

Library officials and attorneys did not return phone calls.