In 1798, the Englishman William Jennens died, he was the richest man at the time of his death. He had neither wife nor children, and died intestate. Initially, the grandnephew was appointed a main inheritor by the court but he died in his youth. Then, his estate in amount of £2,000,000 had to be shared between other relatives whose number increased greatly over time. Eventually, legal proceedings stretched for several generations and ended in 117 years after the death of Jennens due to the fact that all inheritance was spent on lawyers' fees.