Heiress Sparks Outrage by Complaining About $283 Million Inheritance, Leaving Father Heartbroken

She led a life steeped in opulence, made possible by the munificence of her industrialist father, who, in a testament to his affection, even christened a celebrated vineyard in her honor. However, Serene Warren, now 58, managed to deeply wound her late father, Ken Evenstad, by lamenting that the $283 million she received from the 2017 sale of his pharmaceutical empire was not enough.

In 2018, Warren took the drastic step of suing her family, seeking an additional $228 million in damages. This legal battle sparked a fierce backlash from her father, leading to an estrangement that persisted until his passing in 2020.

Although Warren’s claim was initially dismissed in 2023, she successfully appealed to have part of it reinstated. The case now awaits a decision from the Minnesota Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear it in November, with a verdict expected soon.

The Daily Mail has recently uncovered poignant new insights into the distressing saga of this affluent family, shedding light on the complexities and heartache that have unfolded behind their gilded facade.

Now the Daily Mail has unearthed heartbreaking new details of the gilded family’s unseemly saga.  

Evenstad, who made his fortune running pharma firm Upsher-Smith, made his feelings about Warren all too clear in a court filing, which the Daily Mail unearthed as the heiress waits to hear whether she can claim almost a quarter billion dollars in damages from her late father’s estate. 

Evenstad wrote: ‘I’m hurt by the lack of gratitude from Serene and [her husband] Chris and for the incredible lifestyle they are able to live, because of gifts from Grace [Warren’s mother] and me.

‘I’m disappointed by the wasted time, energy, and money on legal fights rather than family harmony. 

Pharmaceutical tycoon Ken Evenstad is pictured with his daughter Serene Warren. He died in 2020 estranged from his only daughter as she battled him over money 

Father and daughter drink wine at the acclaimed Oregon vineyard named in her honor in happier times. Domaine Serene is now one of the top pinot noir producers in the United States  

‘This legal fight has also taken valuable time from our business – one that serves people through advances in healthcare,’ Evenstad wrote in the 2019 note. 

The dying father-of-two’s anguish was particularly sharp, as Serene was once the apple of his eye.

In 1989, Evenstad named his newly-purchased Oregon vineyard Domaine Serene in her honor. 

Domaine Serene subsequently grew to become one of the United States’ most acclaimed pinot noir producers and was Evenstad’s most treasured asset. 

The combined success of the winery and Upsher-Smith afforded Warren an opulent lifestyle beyond the wildest imaginations of most Americans.

Evenstad and his wife Grace showered their daughter with cash, covered living expenses, private-school tuition for her three children, country-club dues, health-care premiums, payment for taxes and luxury cars, court papers said. 

They even helped fund Warren and her husband’s $3 million mansion on Lake Minnetonka and a number of apartments in Austin, Texas, the filings added.

Warren clearly enjoyed the trappings of her family’s success, with the mother-of-three giving up work in 1994 aged 26 because she wanted to be a full-time mother. 

Domaine Serene opened in 1989 – and it was also the scene of a huge argument which forever destroyed relations between Serene Warren, her father and her brother Mark  

Ken Evenstad is pictured with his wife Grace at Domaine Serene. The couple bankrolled their daughter Serene’s life, only for her to sue over claims they devalued her 25 percent stake in the family pharmaceuticals corporation  

Warren’s relationship with her family first went off the rails during a trip to the Domaine Serene vineyard in 2016, while she was mashing potatoes for a dinner with her dad. 

She was upset that he had awarded her brother Mark an extra 1.5 percent of stock for quadrupling the value of the family firm to $1.1 billion. 

Warren felt this award had diluted the value of her holding in Upsher-Smith and sought to quiz her dad about it while preparing dinner, according to her lawsuit.  

That prompted Evenstad to explode into a rage at his other child, Warren said. 

‘He started shouting and pounded his fist on the counter and says that’s a passive investment,’ she wrote in her lawsuit, saying her father added that the business was none of her concern. 

That was the last time Warren ever saw Evenstad. She cut-off her mother, father and brother for ’emotional protection,’ missing her parents 50th wedding anniversary.

Serene’s brother Mark Evenstad is pictured. An eight-figure bonus from his father prompted an angry lawsuit from his sister  

After suing her family in 2018, Warren turned down a settlement offer of $150 million.

Evenstad raged at her during an interview with a mediator, alleging: ‘I find it despicable when we have provided her with $250 million, and there’s still more to come. 

‘What is she complaining about? … What’s unfair is for her to get as much as she’s gotten, and she’s never lifted a finger to help in any way.’

Warren’s lawyers insisted she was just pursuing money that she was perfectly entitled to. 

Tragically, the once-close father and daughter never reconciled. Evenstad is said to have pleaded with his daughter to come and visit him as he lay dying because he found it difficult to hear a voice over the phone.

But Warren made no contact and the pair remained estranged when he died of chronic pulmonary illness in fall 2020 as the Covid pandemic raged. 

In 2023, Minneapolis Judge Edward Wahl ruled in favor of the Evenstads, awarding Warren just $41 million and ordering her to pay her own legal costs. 

He branded her antics ‘entitled’ and shamed Warren for using ‘tragic litigation’ to air her family’s dirty laundry in open court. 

‘The tragedy of this case is now compounded by the duty the court has to explain its decision in detail in a public forum,’ Judge Wahl said in his ruling. 

‘The court takes no satisfaction in having to lay out in this detailed fashion what likely would have been better for all the principal players had it been resolved by private negotiation.’

Evenstad made his fortune after buying the then failing pharma firm Upsher-Smith for $1,500 in 1969, under his son Mark’s leadership the company was valued at $1.1 billion 

Serene Warren owns this lake side home in their $3 million home on Lake Minnetonka

He said Ken and his wife Grace, with Mark, all ‘exemplify the characteristics of many successful, driven corporate executives’ who work hard and accumulate the kind of knowledge that helps them make ‘tough business decisions.’

He added: ‘Serene and Chris, on the other hand, chose a different path.

‘As a consequence of their life choices, Serene did not have the business experience and related skills and knowledge that Ken, Grace and Mark possessed when decision times critical to this litigation arose between 2016 and 2019.’

The judge said he could see why some decisions ‘rankled’, but failed to find that she had been defrauded.

A lawyer for the Evenstad family told the Daily Mail: ‘The Evenstads are not interested in speaking right now. 

‘They just want this sad chapter in their lives to end – and hopefully the Minnesota Supreme Court will facilitate that.’

Serene Warren was contacted for comment.