WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Brooke Astor, the aristocrat who spent her long life giving away millions of dollars, carefully arranged to continue her philanthropy after she died.

But her favorite charities fear that the nasty family fight over her estate could bleed millions of dollars from the bequest she left them.

The judge overseeing the estate battle has warned that if the case is left to the lawyers, it will be litigated until the entire $198 million is gone.

That is not what Astor, who died in August at 105, would have wanted, the judge added. She took pleasure in donating hundreds of millions of dollars to the arts and the unfortunate after the death of her husband, Vincent Astor, in 1959.

Astor also lived on Maine’s Mount Desert Island, and some of her bequests included money for the Northeast Harbor Library and Asticou Azalea Garden.

Lawyers for the museum, the New York Public Library and other organizations specified in the wills have been pushing for a quick settlement to conserve Astor’s assets. Her estate is worth an estimated $198 million.