CHICAGO -- A Cook County judge Wednesday approved a request to exhume the body of the late George 'Mugs' Halas Jr. and have a forensic autopsy performed to determine the cause of death.
Circuit Judge Arthur Dunne approved the request made by Halas's former wife and children because of what they said were lingering doubts about his death in 1979.
Therese Halas and her children, Christine and Stephen, contend they are beneficiaries of almost $1 million in life insurance policies on Halas through a bank trust created in 1972, seven years before Halas's death.
The Halas heirs, who filed suit Monday to have the body exhumed, contend they are entitled to 'nearly one-half, if not the full amount of said insurance' contained in double indemnity clauses that would pay twice the value of the policies for accidental or wrongful death.
The lawsuit stated 'no efforts have been made properly to autopsy decedent's body,' and a forensic autopsy 'specifically seeks evidence of causation of death from accidental events or other causes.'
The Halas children and the attorney for his estate are seeking damages from the estate of George Halas Sr., founder of the Chicago Bears, on the grounds that the elder Halas neglected the value of his son's estate in reorganizing the Bears in 1981.
Halas Sr. was executor of his son's estate, and Christine and Stephen contend the football club was reorganized to keep their mother from having a voice in running the team after her divorce.
