Dad’s Will Makes Shocking Demand of Gay Son

Frank Mandelbaum really wanted his son to get married – to a woman.

To that end, the elder Mandelbaum, who died in 2007, placed a condition in his will that money from his estate be withheld from any of his son’s offspring unless he was still married to the child’s mother six months after the child was born, the New York Post reports.

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Unfortunately for his father’s wishes, his son, Robert Mandelbaum, a criminal court judge in Manhattan, is gay and is in a long-term relationship with a man, Jonathan O’Donnell. The two men are raising a 16-month-old boy named Cooper.

The younger Mandlebaum is now suing to reverse the stipulation in his late father’s will, arguing that Cooper is entitled to a share of the $180,000 trust fund set up by his father, and that O’Donnell is the child’s functional “mother.”

Robert Mandelbaum claims that the will would force him to enter into a fraudulent marriage to secure the benefits for his son, thus violating New York’s marriage laws. He is requesting that the court approve a settlement to set aside his father’s restriction.

His late father’s wife, on the other hand, disagrees, noting that the elder Mandlebaum specifically prohibited any child raised by Robert in a gay relationship from sharing in the trust.