Astor Settlement

The Brooke Astor guardianship dispute has been settled, with her son agreeing to give up his current power of attorney and, prospectively, his appointment as an executor of her estate. The Childe Hassam painting (mentioned most recently here) does make an appearance in the settlement: the son is paying $1.35 million to J.P. Morgan Chase to cover late penalties and interest, presumably as a result of their underreporting, on Mrs. Astor’s 2002 tax return, about $5 million in capital gains from the sale of the painting.