While with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton adopted Taylor’s daughter Liza from her previous marriage to Mike Todd. Todd died in a plane crash a year after Liza was born. Taylor and Burton adopted a daughter together named Maria, an orphan from Germany (via Woman’s World).
Though Burton designated a portion of his will to Jessica for her living and care expenses, The New York Times states that most of his $4.5 million estate was left to his widow, Sally Burton. Much of this was cash in a Bermuda bank account, art, and real estate. In 1984, the Associated Press reported that Burton did not leave anything to Taylor, but he did leave $15,000 to Christopher, another step child from his marriages to Taylor. His other biological daughter and Grey’s Anatomy actress Kate received $350,000 (along with the same amount for Jessica) and his adopted daughters Liza and Maria received $15,000 and $279,000, respectively.
The rest went to a few people who used to work for Burton, such as his wardrobe and makeup assistants. He left some money for his siblings as well. He even left some for his mentor (via AP). Despite being known for spending copious amounts of money while married to Taylor, Burton clearly had his finances in order toward the end of his life, and kept multiple important people in mind when creating his will.
