LOS ANGELES : Bequest by Wife of Armand Hammer Voided

Oilman Armand Hammer’s wife was coerced into leaving her niece hundreds of millions of dollars in communal property in a rewritten will, a judge has ruled.

Superior Court Judge Henry W. Shatford ruled that the bequest to Joan Weiss “was the product of threats, pressure and coercion and would not be enforced by the court,” said Daniel Petrocelli, a lawyer for Hammer’s estate and the Armand Hammer Foundation.

The order, announced Tuesday, was signed Dec. 6. The court said the property, including an extensive art collection, belongs to Hammer’s estate and his foundation.

Using Weiss’ lawyer, the 86-year-old Frances Hammer changed her will in 1988 to make her niece the beneficiary instead of Hammer. Frances Hammer died in 1989 and her husband died a year later.

The ruling does not affect $15 million that Weiss and her husband received from Frances Hammer’s personal estate, Petrocelli said. Weiss lost a lawsuit in 1990 seeking half of the estimated $400 million in joint property that Hammer, the former chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corp., had amassed during his 33-year marriage. In August, Shatford decided in favor of Hammer’s estate, his trust and the Armand Hammer Foundation. Those entities then countersued Weiss.