LEGACY

Jorge Luis Borges’ Estate Up for Grabs After Wife Leaves No Will

Maria Kodama died on March 26 after battling breast cancer.

The estate of literary giant Jorge Luis Borges has been left up for grabs after his wife died recently without leaving behind a will. “It’s amazing,” Fernando Soto, the lawyer of Borges’ late wife, told the AP. Maria Kodama died on March 26 after battling breast cancer. Though she had fought to protect the Argentine writer’s legacy while she was alive with a foundation set up in his name, Soto said she “didn’t like to talk about those issues” pertaining to a will. He said he had no idea if she’d never set one up and that previously “she told me she had everything arranged and it would be ‘someone stricter than me’” entrusted with handling Borges’ estate. In Argentina, a person’s estate goes to the state if no will is left behind and there are no heirs. Kodama’s five nephews sought to declare themselves her heirs through a court earlier this week, a move that, if granted, would leave ownership of Borges’ works to them.