I'm not an attorney, but I am dealing with an estate right now. I'm executor of my brother's estate. The court had to award it to me.
Anyway, because Heather was a minor and there was money/property involved- mom pretty much had to be the executor of the estate (well actually anybody can be the executor, but it just makes sense that mom was). Just because there would have been $500,000 in the account doesn't mean that Heather was getting all the $500,000. The dad's debts and other things would have came out of that money. Debts, bill collectors, etc...file claims against that estate. The court makes the decision. It's highly possible that the mortgage company made a claim against the estate.
One example I can give- my brother died owning a car free and clear. That title (or car) had to be added into my brother's estate. The court could have made me sell the car if there were any debts filed against my brother. There wasn't, so it was awarded to me. I received the car title with an attached court paper to it. It had to be re-registered in my name.
Lawyers also can pay their fees with the estate.
You can NOT change a beneficiary of a will (if that person died). Sure you can fight it, but I doubt you will win. Courts usually always side with who ever the beneficiary is listed on the will.
My brother died with his ex wife as his beneficiary of his life insurance. He had been divorced from her for 2 years. She moved on with another man after taking all his stuff in a divorce. She was awarded the full $25,000 of his life insurance. I tried to stop it. The insurance company said they make NO MORAL judgement on whom he would have wanted to leave his life insurance for. The kicker in all this- she didn't have to pay one red cent to his freaking burial. After researching hours and hours on this- there are MANY stories on the net that echo mine. There was a man that was married to his first wife for a year or so. He got remarried and was married for like 20 years to his second wife. Yep, he didn't change his beneficiary. First wife got it all. One thing I should stress tho- some ex's are awarded the right to remain the beneficiary in the divorce agreement. Especially if you've been with your spouse for a long time.
One good positive that came out of my situation- it made all my family recheck their stuff. My one BIL found out his ex wife was still the beneficiary. So I stress to everybody reading this- please check your policies. It never hurts to review them.
I'm trying to understand the money trail. The lawsuit was filed in 2001. It was settled in 2006, the same year that James Mack died. In 2005 and 2006, he was probably anticipating the settlement, and took out mortgages on the property for $384,000. Sheila received $340,000 in the Will, but that was not enough to cover the mortgage debt. If she and her husband had taken almost $400,000 out of the value of the property in two years, they were probably living the high life for those two years. Five years later, 2011, she was paid the remaining $500,000 from the estate as the sole beneficiary.
If the spending habits of 2005-06 continued through 2007-08, then the house would have been fully mortgaged two years after his death. The $340,000 in the Will would have covered another two years of living with those same spending habits, taking them to 2010. At that time, the house value and the $340,000 would be gone. In 2011, the remaining $500,000 was given to Sheila. In 2013 the house was sold and an apartment was purchased (probably with a mortgage). With spending habits of $150-200k annually, I doubt that there was much left of the estate in 2014. It's also possible that Sheila cut back her expenses, but given the hotel in Bali (rooms from $500-$8000 per night), I doubt it.
"Around $500,000 of the money went to her husband's estate and was designated for their daughter through an earlier will. But in 2011, a judge allowed Ms von Weise-Mack to pay herself the $500,000 as the estate's 'sole beneficiary', meaning the money did not go to her daughter and suspected killer, Heather Mack."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2730590/Police-Room-disagreement-preceded-Bali-killing.html
"But in June 2011, a judge authorized von Wiese-Mack, the executor of her husband’s estate, to pay herself the remaining $500,000 as the estate’s “sole beneficiary.” ... Two years after the settlement, a pair of banks released outstanding mortgages totaling $384,000 on the upscale Oak Park home von Wiese-Mack shared with her daughter. The mortgages were taken out in 2005 and 2006, before James Mack died. ... Von Wiese-Mack eventually sold the Oak Park home last year for $650,000, Cook County records show, and moved to a Chicago high-rise."
"Sheila von Wiese-Mack immediately netted $340,667 after legal fees for her share of the settlement, according to court records. But another $500,000 went to James Mack’s estate."
http://www.suntimes.com/29354459-76...in-a-cruise-line-settlement.html#.U_oFzk10yAh
I don't personally believe, and this is just opinion, that treating Heather for a hyperactivity disorder would have had great impact in delaying or offsetting a personality disorder. And psychs, for understandable reasons, don't often like to label kids with personality disorders - most cluster B's are very resistant to treatment and come with a lot of (sometimes well deserved) stigma. I'd wager that the overwhelming majority of kids who do have hyperactivity disorders never hurt a fly - I think many, even if left untreated, would likely develop coping mechanisms - even if some of those mechanisms are self-harming. 
