Heirs Apparent (1873)

This chapter assesses how, in the months after Nissim Shamama's death, various heirs began preparations to claim their portion of the millionaire's estate. Nissim's great-niece ʻAziza and her husband Moses, along with Masʻuda, the estranged widow, developed plans to prove that Nissim had died an Italian, hoping to ensure that the will was upheld. The three nephews—Qā'id Momo, Joseph, and Nathan—soon realized that having Jewish law applied to the estate was their only hope and set out to prove that Nissim had died a Tunisian. Before long, both sides recognized the importance of Jewish law to the case, and rabbinic authorities across the Mediterranean became involved. Meanwhile, Tunisian government officials put intense pressure on Nissim's three nephews in Tunisia. The bey's advisers did everything in their power to convince the presumptive heirs to relinquish a percentage of their inheritance to the government—forcing the nephews to take dramatic measures to protect their claims on the estate.