Brooke Astor may have been mentally incapacitated as early as 2000 – much earlier than was previously believed, and well before she changed her will to her son’s financial benefit, a lawyer for her court-appointed guardian said yesterday.
As a result, Paul Saunders told Westchester Surrogate Court Judge Anthony Scarpino, he should enforce Astor’s 1997 will instead of wills and amendments that she wrote and made between 2001 and 2004.