After Tonja Carter asked the probate court to keep Harper Lee's will private, Judge Greg Norris granted and signed an order to seal the documents away from public scrutiny.
Carter, Lee's estate executrix, told that Ms. Lee highly valued her privacy. She did not want her private financial affairs to be matters of public discussion.
"Ms. Lee left a considerable legacy for the public in her published works; it is not the public's business what private legacy she left for the beneficiaries of her will," Carter added.
In a two-page order, Norris confirmed there was a threat of public intrusion and harassment for Lee's heirs. They and Lee's next of kin have a right to inspect the contents of the will and accompanying file, but no one else does.
In the order, Judge Norris ruled, "The court finds by clear and convincing evidence that information contained in the will and associated court filings pertains to wholly private family matters; poses a serious threat of harassment, exploitation, physical intrusion, or other particularized harm to persons identified in those documents or otherwise entitled to notice of this proceeding; and poses potential for harm to third persons not entitled to notice of this proceeding."
The judge ordered that a label be put on the file stating, "UNDER SEAL: DO NOT ALLOW PUBLIC INSPECTION."
Lee published two books but enjoyed remarkable success with each. To Kill a Mockingbird became one of the best-selling books of all time, with 40 million copies sold since its publication in 1960. While, her second book, published last year, Go Set a Watchman, became the best-seller in the United States for 2015.
Lee was born on April 28, 1926 and grew up in Monroeville, Alabama. She is the youngest of four children of lawyer and politician Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. She later studied law at the University of Alabama, but did not complete her degree.
Lee was never married and had no children. Her closest living relatives are nieces and nephews. She died at the age of 89 and buried in a private funeral service attended only by her closest relatives and friends.
Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was a Pulitzer Prize winner and became a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old.
