Editing Howard Hughes (section)

===Estate===
Approximately three weeks after Hughes' death, a [[Holographic will|handwritten will]] was found on the desk of an official of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] in [[Salt Lake City]], Utah. The so-called "Mormon Will" gave $1.56 billion to various charitable organizations (including $625&nbsp;million to the [[Howard Hughes Medical Institute]]), nearly $470&nbsp;million to the upper management in Hughes' companies and to his aides, $156&nbsp;million to first cousin William Lummis, and $156&nbsp;million split equally between his two ex-wives Ella Rice and [[Jean Peters]].

A further $156&nbsp;million was endowed to a gas station owner, [[Melvin Dummar]], who told reporters that in 1967, he found a disheveled and dirty man lying along [[U.S. Route 95]], just {{convert|150|mi|km}} north of [[Las Vegas]]. The man asked for a ride to Vegas. Dropping him off at the [[Sands Hotel]], Dummar said the man told him that he was Hughes. Dummar later claimed that days after Hughes' death a "mysterious man" appeared at his gas station, leaving an envelope containing the will on his desk. Unsure if the will was genuine and unsure of what to do, Dummar left the will at the LDS Church office. In 1978, a Nevada court ruled the Mormon Will a forgery and officially declared that Hughes had died [[intestate]] (without a valid will). Dummar's story was later adapted into [[Jonathan Demme]]'s film ''[[Melvin and Howard]]'' in 1980.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/obituaries/melvin-dummar-dead.html|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/obituaries/melvin-dummar-dead.html |archive-date=January 3, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Melvin Dummar, 74, Who Claimed Howard Hughes Left Him Millions, Dies|last=Seelye|first=Katharine Q.|date=December 12, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=November 8, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Hughes' $2.5&nbsp;billion estate was eventually split in 1983 among 22 cousins, including William Lummis, who serves as a trustee of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The [[Supreme Court of the United States]] ruled that [[Hughes Aircraft]] was owned by the [[Howard Hughes Medical Institute]], which sold it to [[General Motors Corporation|General Motors]] in 1985 for $5.2&nbsp;billion. The court rejected suits by the states of California and Texas that claimed they were owed [[inheritance tax]].

In 1984, Hughes' estate paid an undisclosed amount to [[Terry Moore (actress)|Terry Moore]], who claimed she and Hughes had secretly married on a yacht in [[international waters]] off Mexico in 1949 and never divorced. Moore never produced proof of a marriage, but her book, ''The Beauty and the Billionaire,'' became a bestseller.