Mary Washington sues Arrington estate for $6.3M

From 2000 to 2005, Arabelle Arrington of Warrenton agreed to donate $6.3 million to her alma mater, the University of Mary Washington.

But Arrington died in November 2010, before she could fulfill pledges that ranged from $1 million to $5 million.

Now the Fredericksburg school wants her estate to make good on promised contributions that would be use to fund administrator compensation packages, programs and scholarships.

In November, the Mary Washington Foundation filed a 39-page complaint in Fauquier County Circuit Court against estate executor W. Boyd Laws Jr. of Calverton, seeking payment of the $6.3 million.

The foundation “accepts, manages and administers” donations to fund an array of university needs, according to the complaint.

The university already has spent an unspecified amount of the Arrington pledges, according to the complaint.

“I’m pretty upset about it,” Boyd, a 66-year-old retired auto mechanic, said of the university’s court filing. “It was a shock to me.”

Laws said his aunt already had given the university millions of dollars.

For that reason, he believed it wouldn’t expect to receive the $6.3 million after her death.

Arrington “would just be horrified” by the university’s legal efforts to collect the money, said Laws. “She’d probably roll over in her grave if she knew this was going on.”

But, he concluded, “Money does strange things to people.”

Arrington and her husband Walter, who died several years ago, had no children.

For many years, the couple owned a Warrenton Chrysler dealership and invested wisely in real estate.

They sold portions of the 490-acre farm to Wal-Mart and The Home Depot, making millions on the sales.

Arabelle left the 490-acre farm where she lived to Laws, who said that he “loved her like a second mother” and that she, in turn, loved him like a son.

Laws said Arrington pledged the $6.3 million on the assumption that Centex Homes would buy the farm for $26 million.

“That deal fell through” several years ago, he said. “She told [university officials] she couldn’t pay it at the time because the deal fell through. I don’t have the $6.3 million to pay them.”

Based on the foundation’s court filing, the farm represents the estate’s only remaining asset. But the farm was transferred to Alwington Farm LLC, with Laws and his wife Karin as its sole members.

The university wants the court to void the transfer and require the farm’s sale so that it can get the $6.3 million in pledges.

It argues that transfer should be voided because Arrington’s “last will and testament ” ultimately ensured such commitments would be honored.

Fredericksburg lawyer Gary M. Nichols, who represents the university, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Warrenton lawyer James P. Downey, who represents Laws, declined to discuss the dispute.

A Northern Virginia development group has the farm under contract and wants to subdivide it into 172 clustered lots, preserving much of the land in open space.

Laws declined to say how much he would get for the property should Alwington Developers LLC buys it.

For tax purposes, Fauquier County values the 490 acres at $8.9 million.

But if the court were to rule in the university’s favor, there would be little money remaining of any sale proceeds, after taxes, for him, Laws said.

“I wouldn’t have a whole lot left,” he said.

Laws said he has no idea how the matter will be resolved, but “my attorney said worst-case scenario [the university] could take my house and all that I own, and all I did was love my aunt and take care of her the best I could.”

Arrington died after a long illness in a Warrenton nursing home, where Laws said he visited her six days a week.