Family Seeks Halas Jr. Exhumation

The former wife and children of the late George Halas Jr., whose father founded the Chicago Bears, have filed a lawsuit in Chicago asking that Halas’ body be exhumed and that a forensic autopsy be performed to determine the cause of death.

Therese Halas and her children, Christine and Stephen, said they are beneficiaries of almost $1 million in life insurance policies on Halas through a bank trust created in 1972, seven years before Halas’ death.

The Halas heirs contend that “nearly one-half, if not the full amount of said insurance” contained double indemnity clauses that would pay twice the value of the policies for accidental or wrongful death. The original autopsy revealed that Halas died of natural causes.

The Halas children and their heirs also are seeking damages from the estate of George Halas Sr. 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 that the football club was reorganized to keep their mother from having a voice in running the team after her divorce.