The court battle for 4949 Swiss Avenue could soon grow more intense, as two men trying to claim the once-grand mansion pursue a legal maneuver to prevent its sale.

In recent weeks, the court-appointed estate administrator has received several serious offers to buy the house, say relatives of the mansion's last resident, Mary Ellen Bendtsen.

But last week, a lawyer representing Mark McCay and Justin Burgess – the two Deep Ellum art-deco antique dealers battling Mrs. Bendtsen's family for the mansion – declined to lift a legal claim they have placed on the property.

Until the claim, called a lis pendens, is removed, the property cannot be sold.

The story of Mrs. Bendsten and the ongoing fight for her mansion was told last week in a four-part series in The Dallas Morning News.

The two men first filed the claim last December after a Dallas probate judge threw out a February 2005 will that left them Mrs. Bendsten's share of the mansion. The judge declared Mrs. Giron was the sole heir. The men have appealed, contending the house is rightfully theirs.

Last week, Keith Staubus, the probate attorney for the two men, wrote one of the Bendtsen family lawyers to say that the claim will not be dropped – and that he plans to file a new, amended lis pendens with the county.

That could complicate efforts to negotiate the mansion's sale and assure prospective buyers that they will have clear title, said Mark Cronenwett, a probate attorney for Mrs. Bendtsen's daughter, Frances Ann Giron.

The mansion recently was appraised at about $750,000.

Mr. Staubus did not return a telephone call. Reached on his mobile phone, Mr. McCay referred questions to his criminal defense lawyer.

"Obviously, we have not commented throughout this entire series, and we have been asked not to," he said. His criminal defense attorney did not return a phone call.

Mrs. Bendtsen signed the disputed will not long before she died on March 2, 2005. She signed the document hours after she suffered a major stroke, and weeks after a doctor diagnosed her as mentally incapacitated and vulnerable to undue influence.

Mr. McCay, Mr. Burgess and Edwin C. Olsen IV, a lawyer who drafted the will Mrs. Bendtsen signed, were indicted in February on felony attempted-theft charges. All have denied wrongdoing.

Despite his ruling last August declaring Mrs. Giron the sole heir, the judge recently ordered both sides into mediation.

The two sides were supposed to meet before Sept. 5, but late last week, Mr. Olsen notified the Bendtsen family that he would try to delay the proceeding.

The News' series prompted a number of calls to Preservation Dallas last week inquiring about ways to protect the dilapidated mansion.

Virginia McAlester, a Preservation Dallas founder and board member, said she and other preservationists have begun discussing a fundraising effort to purchase the house and resell it to a buyer willing to restore it and allow it to be shown to the public.

"You have this incredible house, with this incredible history," she said. "It's probably the only large house from before the early 1920s that's left in the entire city that's unaltered."

The three-story mansion, built in 1917, is one of the largest and oldest on the city's original developer-designed mansion row. Philanthropist W.W. Caruth bought the house in 1922.

Mrs. Bendtsen's parents bought the mansion in 1949, but they could never afford renovations. The house has never had central heat or air conditioning and has retained most of its original interior, down to hand-stenciled accents and window treatments.

A third-floor room used by the Caruth family for debut parties still has original party decorations from the 1920s and '30s on the walls – elaborate, full-color drawings of cowboys and Wild West scenes.

Dwayne Jones, executive director of Preservation Dallas, said he has begun preliminary discussions about obtaining foundation grants and launching a fundraising drive for the mansion.

"It's the talk of the town," he said of the battle for the mansion. "Everywhere I go people are saying ... 'Why don't you guys buy that?' "

Mr. Jones said the group is adding a section to its Web site, www.preservationdallas.org, to provide updates about the mansion, including information about an upcoming estate sale.

The estate's court-appointed administrator has said the sale will be held at 4949 Swiss in September. A date is expected to be announced in the next few weeks.

Mrs. Giron said she and her family would welcome Preservation Dallas' involvement in protecting 4949 Swiss. She says she and her aunt, Ann "Pretty Annie" McClamrock, who owns a one-third interest in the mansion, want it to go to someone "who will love it, take care of it and bring it back the way it should be."

"Our personal preference is that it's a family. We want kids running through that house, a big Christmas tree in front of that mirror," she said. "My mother loved that house as a home."

She said she and her relatives have been overwhelmed by the response to the story of her mother and her home.

"I've gotten letters from people I don't even know, people I've never met, saying this is the most horrific thing, and we are so glad that you put this out there," she said. "I've realized that there are so many people in the same boat I'm in, going through the same kinds of fights.

"This problem is epidemic," she said. "It's all been worth it if it saves one person from going through what my family and I've gone through. I want that to be my mother's legacy."

E-mail lhancock@dallasnews.com