Man must marry in order to preserve son’s inheritance
“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. There is no doubt that what [Frank Mandelbaum] has sought to do is induce Robert to marry a woman.“
Attorney Anne Bederka, in court papers, surrounding a case involving the will of businessman Frank Mandelbaum, founder of the ID verification company Intelli-Check, who died in 2007 at age 73. Mandlebaum’s will stipulates that his son Robert’s child will not receive any portion of a $180,000 trust left for three grandchildren if Robert had not married the the child’s mother within six months of the child’s birth. Robert, who is gay and married to his partner Johnathan O’Donnell, had a child via a surrogate in 2011. He and O’Donnell are contesting the will in court. (New York Post, Huffington Post)
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