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Dead Dad's Will Orders Gay Son To Marry Woman For Inheritance
By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 19, 2012
Modified Aug 19, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 19, 2012
Modified Aug 19, 2012
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Some parents still can't accept that their kids are gay—even from beyond the grave. Manhattan businessman Frank Mandelbaum specified in his will that none of his money should go to any offspring of his son Robert if he's not "married to the child’s mother within six months of the child’s birth.” Robert, 47, already has a child with his spouse—his spouse just happens to be a man, is all. These Mandelbaums certainly don't sound as close as the weightlifting Mandelbaums:
Frank Mandelbaum, the founder of ID verification company Intelli-Check, died in 2007 at the age of 73. He left a $180,000 trust aside for his three grandkids. Robert and his partner Jonathan O’Donnell, who he married last year, have been fighting to have the will's demand ignored as discriminatory and against New York law. Their son Cooper Mandell, who was born of a surrogate, was 16 months old when they got married.
“Requiring a gay man to marry a woman...to ensure his child’s bequest is tantamount to expecting him either to live in celibacy, or to engage in extramarital activity with another man, and is therefore contrary to public policy,” attorney Anne Bederka wrote in court papers. “There is no doubt that what [Frank Mandelbaum] has sought to do is induce Robert to marry a woman.”
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bad dad
Frank Mandelbaum
gay
manhattan
will
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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