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  • Field Museum head of geological collections Bill Simpson puts on...

    Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune

    Field Museum head of geological collections Bill Simpson puts on a cast of the bone that was removed from Sue the T. Rex dinosaur, Feb. 19, 2019 at the Field Museum.

  • Visitors gather around Sue at the Field Museum on July...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    Visitors gather around Sue at the Field Museum on July 31, 2014.

  • T. rex Sue is excavated near Faith, S.D., in 1990...

    Black Hills Institute for Geological

    T. rex Sue is excavated near Faith, S.D., in 1990 by the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research.

  • Sue Hendrickson stands on discovery day, Aug. 12, 1990, with...

    Black Hills Inst. for Geological

    Sue Hendrickson stands on discovery day, Aug. 12, 1990, with the exposed cross-section of Tyrannosaurus Rex bones she discovered. She's standing 7 to 8 feet above the base of a cliff. Excavation began 2 days later.

  • Geologist Bill Simpson, Fossil Collections Manager at the Field Museum,...

    Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune

    Geologist Bill Simpson, Fossil Collections Manager at the Field Museum, carefully feather-dusts Sue, the 67-million-year-old dinosaur in Stanley Hall on Nov. 12, 2013. Her more than 200-bone skeleton is cleaned twice yearly.

  • Tim and Kathy Goodhart of Cortland, Ohio, look at a...

    Alex Garcia, Chicago Tribune

    Tim and Kathy Goodhart of Cortland, Ohio, look at a guide while having a coffee next to Sue at the Field Museum on Oct. 5, 2002.

  • With Sue, the Field Museum's Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, out of...

    Alex Garcia, Chicago Tribune

    With Sue, the Field Museum's Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, out of reach, fifth-grader Jacob Varella from Crown Point, Ind., finds amusement in a mini version of Sue on Oct. 5, 2002.

  • Paleontologist Peter Larson, left, and Kristin Donnan, visit Sue at...

    Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune

    Paleontologist Peter Larson, left, and Kristin Donnan, visit Sue at the Field Museum on Nov. 18, 2002. The two co-authored a book about Sue's discovery by Sue Hendrickson, a member of Larson's team, and the excavation. The fossil was named for Sue.

  • Visitors to Chicago's Field Museum get a first ever look...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    Visitors to Chicago's Field Museum get a first ever look at Sue the T.rex on May 16, 2000.

  • Sue t-shirts are ready and waiting in the Field Museum's...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    Sue t-shirts are ready and waiting in the Field Museum's souvenir shops on May 16, 2000, as Sue is about to be unveiled.

  • Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found, is unveiled...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found, is unveiled at the Field Museum on May 17, 2000.

  • Field Museum President and Chief Executive John W. McCarter, left,...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    Field Museum President and Chief Executive John W. McCarter, left, and Mayor Richard M. Daley, right, drop the curtain at the Field Museum on May 17, 2000, to unveil Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found.

  • Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found, is hidden...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found, is hidden by a curtain, on May 16, 2000, the day before being unveiled to the public.

  • The team prepping T.rex Sue for display: Dominic Lee, Larry...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    The team prepping T.rex Sue for display: Dominic Lee, Larry Lee, Donna Lopp, Clifford Ward, Phil Fraley, Paul Zawisha, Leslie Ewing, and Petro Hul pose before the skelton on April 24, 2000.

  • Donna Lopp tightens up the supports holding Sue's neck rib...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    Donna Lopp tightens up the supports holding Sue's neck rib bones on April 27, 2000.

  • The T.rex Sue team puts the dinosaur's skeletal pieces together...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    The T.rex Sue team puts the dinosaur's skeletal pieces together in Stanley Hall at the Field Museum on April 25, 2000.

  • Petro Hul, inside Sue's skull, locks the lower jaw into...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    Petro Hul, inside Sue's skull, locks the lower jaw into place as Larry Lee makes sure the alignment is correct on April 25, 2000.

  • Petro Hul, inside Sue's skull, locks the lower jaw into...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    Petro Hul, inside Sue's skull, locks the lower jaw into place on April 25, 2000.

  • Larry Lee works on the support system that will hold...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    Larry Lee works on the support system that will hold Sue's ribs in place on April 25, 2000.

  • Paul Zawisha, left, and Larry Lee attach supports for Sue's...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    Paul Zawisha, left, and Larry Lee attach supports for Sue's ribcage on April 25, 2000.

  • Scientists from the Field Museum brought bones from the 67-million-year-old...

    John Dziekan, Chicago Tribune

    Scientists from the Field Museum brought bones from the 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex, known as "Sue," to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers on July 17, 1999, for CAT scans to gain more information about the prehistoric creature.

  • Scientists from the Field Museum brought bones from the 67-million-year-old...

    John Dziekan, Chicago Tribune

    Scientists from the Field Museum brought bones from the 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex, known as "Sue," to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers on July 17, 1999, for CAT scans to gain more information about the prehistoric creature.

  • Scott Burstein & CT scan technician Pam Carlson look over...

    John Dziekan, Chicago Tribune

    Scott Burstein & CT scan technician Pam Carlson look over one of Sue's bone before scanning it on July 17, 1999.

  • The jaw bone mold of Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus...

    Chuck , Chicago Tribune

    The jaw bone mold of Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex, is displayed in the McDonald's Fossil Preparation Lab at the Field Museum on May 25, 1999.

  • Sue Hendrickson, center, the woman who found T.rex Sue, works...

    Chuck Berman, Chicago Tribune

    Sue Hendrickson, center, the woman who found T.rex Sue, works with other fossil preparers at the McDonald's Fossil Preparation Lab as a jaw bone is prepared to be released from a mold.

  • Fossil preparator Matthew Groves, left, reviews procedures for reattaching Sue's...

    Carl Wagner, Chicago Tribune

    Fossil preparator Matthew Groves, left, reviews procedures for reattaching Sue's bone fragments that dislodged during handling on April 26, 1999.

  • Christopher Brochu, right, heading Field Museum's team of scientists recovering...

    Terrence Antonio James, Chicago Tribune

    Christopher Brochu, right, heading Field Museum's team of scientists recovering the bones of Sue, checks the wooden travel case containing Sue's polyurethane foam-covered skull on August 20, 1998.

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For years, the massive mostly-intact dinosaur skeleton that came to be known as Sue the T-rex was at the center of a legal battle. The latest dispute involves who inherits what’s left of the money created by the sale of Sue.

Fossil hunters discovered the skeleton in 1990 on property owned by Maurice and Darlene Williams that sits on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. Because of the location on the reservation, the discovery led to years of court battles over ownership rights.

Eventually, the couple was able to claim the rights, and they made $7.6 million from the auction of Sue — now on display at Chicago’s Field Museum. The museum’s website says that at more than 40 feet long and 13 feet tall at the hip, Sue is the largest Tyrannosaurus rex specimen discovered and the most complete.

Maurice Williams died in 2011. Darlene Williams later moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where she died in December 2020. The couple had four children and three of the siblings are involved in a court dispute over the estate, KELO-TV reported.

At the center of the dispute: Darlene Williams had two wills, according to records filed in Lincoln County, South Dakota. The first one, signed in 2017, included all of her children and grandchildren, and listed daughter Sandra Williams Luther as the person in charge of settling the estate and making sure the will was carried out.

But a second will dated Nov. 25, 2020 — less than three weeks before Darlene Williams died — designated Luther as the sole heir and executor. The document also cited Darlene Williams as saying that she had lived with her children at odds for too long, and she hoped that in her death they would find peace and become a family again.

Another daughter, Jacqueline Schwartz, questioned whether the second will was legal. She said her mother was critically ill and in hospice care when she signed the document without witnesses in the room due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Schwartz also contested the sale of her mother’s home in Spearfish, South Dakota, two weeks before her death. Court records show that $225,000 in proceeds went to Darlene Williams’ son, Carson Williams.

No trial date has been set.