Widow of pioneering lawyer seeks to pay off estate debts

(AP) — The widow of a lawyer for whom Delaware’s largest courthouse is named is seeking court permission to sell several properties he owned to help pay off estate debts totaling more than $500,000.

Court filings indicate that Andrea Williams wants to sell the Wilmington law office property of the late Leonard L. Williams for $180,000.

Wilmington city officials have agreed to buy four other properties for $40,000, but Williams’ children have not consented to the sales.

Williams, who died in 2013, was one of the first black attorneys licensed in Delaware and became the state’s second African-American judge in 1966. The New Castle County Courthouse was renamed in his honor last year.

Court filings indicated that his estate debts include outstanding local taxes and utility bills totaling more than $40,000.