Children of late conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly at war over their inheritance and have been fighting since she threw her support behind Donald Trump
- Phyllis Schlafly's sons and daughter Anne are embroiled in a legal dispute
- Anne claims they influenced their mother to sabotage her inheritance in her will
- She says they forced the ailing political activist to include a clause which meant she would have to pay for any legal battles they faced
- Her brothers dismissed her allegations as 'frivolous' and say she has already wasted $1million suing them over their mother's legacy
- Their feud holds its roots in their late mother's friendship with pro-Trump politico Ed Martin
- Anne believes he influenced her in to supporting their mother over Ted Cruz
The children of late Conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly are at war over their inheritance and have been fighting since their mother threw her weight behind Donald Trump at the 2016 Republican primaries.
Schlafly's daughter Ann Schlafly Cori reignited the war with court papers filed this week which accuse her brother John of sabotaging her inheritance by influencing his mother to tweak her will before she died.
She claims the will was amended to include a clause which states that any legal disputes are paid for out of her share of the money.
Her brother John dismissed the lawsuit as 'frivolous' and told The St-Louis Dispatch that it was intended to grab headlines. Andrew Schlafly, their other brother, said Anne had already wasted $1 million by filing court claims.
The amount of money they are squabbling over is unknown. Phyllis Schlafly died in September last year aged 92.
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Phyllis Schlafly's children are warring over her estate. Her sons (including John, pictured left with her before her September death) are on one side and her daughter Anne (right) is on the other
The feud between her children, of whom there are six, hold their roots in her relationship with Ed Martin.
He describes himself as Phyllis's 'hand picked successor' to run the Eagle Forum, a pro-family conservative movement she founded in Alton, Illinois, in 1972.
Martin, a staunch Trump fan, was brought in to the fold by the forum's aging leader and some members accused him of swaying her against Ted Cruz, Trump's opponent in the primaries.
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Her sons sided with her and Martin and Anne went against them, blaming Martin for the rift.
'I had no conflict with my brothers before the advent of Ed Martin,' she said in an interview with the Dispatch earlier this year.
Schlafly confidently supported Trump throughout his presidential campaign.
She spoke at rallies and in interviews heralding him as the savior of a grass roots movement who could 'lead us to victory again'. She did not live to see him win.
Schlafly threw her weight behind President Trump and used her final months of life to speak at his rallies and in interviews where she hailed him as the savior of the grass roots movement
Schlafley brought in Ed Martin, a staunch Republican, to carry on the Eagle Forum after her death. He is seen above with her son John. Anne Schlafly blames him for the family feud
Schlafly (left at Republican National Convention in July) died in September aged 92. She was an icon for the far right and boasted a long career in political activism which included her key role in overturning the Equal Rights Amendment of 1972 (right)
President Trump thanked her at his Inaugural Eve dinner on January 20, singling her out for special mention in a speech of praise for his supporters.
Since her death, Martin has set up conservative charities and political action committees (PACs) in her name.
Anne has fought to have him banned from using her mother's legacy to raise money for each and last year sued the non-profit he set up demanding that it stop.
Phyllis Schlafly played a key role blocking he Equal Rights Amendment of 1972. She founded the Eagle Forum in the same year.
The amendment would have have outlawed gender or sex based discrimination but Schlafly was a fierce opponent of it.
She believed men ought to have been held responsible for providing for their families and that if the amendment, which equalized working rights, had been adopted across the country, they would no longer be held to it.
Schlafly was married to St Louis attorney John Fred Schlafly until his death in 1993.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4343274/Phyllis-Schlafly-s-children-war-inheritance.html#ixzz4dqJneufq
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