William F. Buckley Left Illegitimate Grandson Out Of His Will: "I Intentionally Make No Provisions For Said Jonathan, Who...Shall Be Deemed To Have Predeceased Me"

New York Post:

Before he died, William F. Buckley Jr. put his young grandson on the firing line.

The intellectual conservative icon - renowned for his erudition and use of uncommon words - excluded his son's illegitimate child from his massive estate, insisting the kid was dead in his eyes.

"I intentionally make no provision herein for said Jonathan, who for all purposes . . . shall be deemed to have predeceased me," Buckley's will says, according to the Hartford Courant.

The National Review founder and notable New Yorker instead left his entire estate - estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars - to his only child, Christopher Buckley, and Christopher's two older kids, Caitlin and William.

Jonathan, now 8, is the product of an Christopher's affair with book publicist Irina Woelfle.

Read the whole story: New York Post

Comments

[jackofhearts]

Though I could rarely if ever agreed with him, I always thought Wm F Buckley was an intelligent guy, and at least consistent and honorable. If that was the case, he would have ignored his philandering son Christopher in his will and given all the money to his legitimate grandchildren. In reality he has rewarded the sinner and punished the victim--the grandson sired and now ignored by Christopher Buckley.

Wm F is dead and mouldering in the grave, but he has left his entire family a shameful legacy.

[odoreida]

The child is being amply financially supported by Christopher.

[mommadona]

He has a freezing corner in hell for eternity.

[HDR]

The original compassionate conservative.

[jaschrod]

I do ;not know for sure, but there could be legal reasons for this. If he left money to the kid, the mother may have legal rights to the money. The way it is now the father can leave money to the kid later on when the mother has no legal right to any of it.

[SouthpawSass]

I get your point. It's often the custodial parent who benefits rather than the minor child. However, once that child is of age, if he is left out of his father's will, I'm sure he'll have been told he has a right to his father's money. The mother is probably setting aside funds now to go for the legal fees... If I were her, I would.

[odoreida]

That's right. I suspect the real issue is with the child's mother, and not the child.

[marymansour]

William Buckley, the quintessential conservative with the hard, cold GOP heart - which is so typical of that breed.

[hmmmmmer]

These conservatives with their family values platitudes are about as sickening as anything this world can produce.

[lysistrata]

As good Catholics both Buckleys are pro-life. That is, all sex without responsibility for men and punishment for the women. It is not about life, it is all about sex.

[odoreida]

"As good Catholics both Buckleys are pro-life.'

Christopher Buckley left the Catholic Church a long time ago.

[ailbhe]

The father is forced to pay child support for a kid he never wanted. It was the woman's choice as to whether she wanted an abortion, put the baby up for adoption or keep it. She chose her meal ticket, it is not the grandfathers responsibility to reward her further. Men do not have those choices but they should have a choice.

People can leave their money to whomever they want.

[lysistrata]

Catholics are pro-life and against choice and against contraception, you should know that by now. Buckley should have been abstinent, or not?

[ailbhe]

You got me there, I wasn't thinking about that part of his ideology. Guess if he's going to force it, he should put his money where his mouth is.

[odoreida]

Christopher Buckley is no longer a Catholic.

[charliewatts]

It was the man's choice as to whether he wanted to sleep with her without thinking about serious consequences regarding his marriage, his existing children, his career, and his family legacy.
It goes both ways.

[lysistrata]

He chose not to use at least a condom.

[pompous]

Good point. The conservative family value veil is being shredded and people are beginning to see their hypocrisy.

[odoreida]

How can you be so sure of that? Sometimes people have accidents even when they're using condoms.

[MTer]

You are right about people being allowed to leave money to whomever but have to let you know, courts are out there for such and wills can be and are broken, happens all the time.

[odoreida]

Even if the will were broken, Jonathan would still get nothing. If there is no valid will, then the only heir to Buckley's money would be Christopher. When Christopher dies, then Jonathan might or might not have a claim.

[kittykowalski]

Um, if he never wanted the child, he should not have had an affair, and used birth control. Simple common sense.

Court documents show that the single mom was not a gold-digger, but asked for child support when the child was three, after learning he had some developmental difficulties. In the grand scheme of things $3000 per month is not a lot of money, especially compared to the lifestyle Buckley, Jr. and his other children enjoy. Court documents also show that Buckley, Jr. wants nothing to do with his son, so it seems he is careless about the child's welfare.

So much for family values and supporting a woman's pro-life decision. They are pro-life in theory until it's their responsibility in practice. Nice. Poor kid.

[paganmist]

Wow.

When conservatives wonder why I'm a liberal, THIS kind of crap is precisely why.

What a despicable man. That kid is going to know that his grandfather deliberately snubbed him for the rest of his life, and it's going to screw him the hell up.

[uheardme]

No it not. Grow up.

[mom2sons]

No, he can just even with the rest of the family when he grows up. Become a millionaire and totally wipe them out financially. Now that would be justice. LOL

[TheUrgencyOfNow]

He can tell people the amazing story of how his Granddad was actually the world's oldest baby.

[kats]

How disgusting of him....the poor kid has to suffer with with his toad-like genes. On the bright side the kid will probably be a lot happier and more sucessful with a loving mother and not having to remember the old toad.

[Sardonica]

Disgusting. How did the Democrats ever let Republicans steal the moral high ground?

[pushkinjim]

That's a conservative for you. This news probably has Limbaugh & Coulter and all the other hate-filled neocons celebrating.

[relevancematters]

Small, small people.

[piquet]

What a surprise..­.another gutless conservative.