After Rhinelander's death, his father, Philip, followed the advice of the family attorney and continued to pay Jones her yearly settlement money. However, when Phillip died four years later in March 1940, at age 74, leaving his multimillion-dollar estate to his lone surviving child, Adelaide, as well as two nieces, and two granddaughters, Adelaide promptly stopped the quarterly payments. The disbursements accounted for only 0.0004 of the estate, but the heirs opposed them as "an onerous demand for life support." Jones took Phillip Rhinelander's heirs to court. After two years of court battles, the New York Supreme Court upheld the original settlement agreement, and the heirs resumed Jones' payments.