Comparisons with his sister Mary's 2020 book, "Too Much and not Enough", are inevitable. I read Fred's book right after reading Mary's (first) book. While Fred presents an interesting narrative account of his life as a member of the Trump extended family (he is the son of Freddy, Fred Trump Sr.'s oldest son, who died of alcoholism at age 42), Mary's book is an unrelentingly dark portrait of a dysfunctional family. There is no story arc to Mary's book, just bleakness on page after page; it was a challenge just getting through it. (And from what I hear, her two more recent books are more of the same.) By contrast, Fred presents a very readable and personal account of his interactions with family members over the years.
As a retired lawyer, what I found most interesting about the two books was the account of Fred and Mary's legal battle over their grandfather's will. After Fred Trump, Sr. died in 1999, Fred and Maary discoverd that they would not be sharing in their deceased father's one-fifth share of the estate, as would have been the case under Fred Sr.'s original will. The will had been changed to give Fred and Mary "only" the same $200,000 that the other grandchildren were to receive.
Fred and Mary challenged the will on the basis that it was obtained through fraud and undue influence. Donald had been in serious financial trouble during the '90s, and had pressured his father to change the will to give Donald complete control over the whole estate, in an effort to shield these assets from his creditors and his ex-wife, Ivana. In the process, Fred and Mary were cut out. Fred Sr. had serious dementia during the '90s, raising the issue of whether he was competent to make out a will at the time his revised will was executed.
A bitter fight ensued, causing a serious rift in the family which lasted for several years. Eventually the case was settled. Fred had a severely disabled son, born at about the same time as his grandfather died, and he was anxious to put the whole family squabble behind him so he could focus on taking care of his wife and kids. Mary, on the other hand, wanted to fight to the bitter end, bus she eventually gave in to the pressure to settle.
The details of the settlement are confidential, but my best guess based on the info available is the following. Studies have put Fred Sr.'s total wealth at the time of his death at a billion dollars. Now, how much of this was included in the estate itslef cannot be determined. There were many corporations. trusts. and LLC's invovled, so how much was in Fred Sr.'s name is unclear. But, roughly speaking, each of Fred Sr.s five children stood to receive abouit $200 million dollars, either through the will or though stock ownershiop that had been already been transferred to them. My best guess is that Fred and Mary probably received about two million dollars each under the settlement, a far cry from the $100 million that each would have received as one-half of their father's share of the inheritance, but still more than the $200,000 under the will. But of course much of that $2M would have gone for attorney's fees.
In the last several chapters of "All in the Family", Fred describes his attempts to repair his broken relationships with his aunts and uncles and cousins following the court fight. He was fairly successful, and was even invited to Donald's inauguration in 2017, and had good seats there. Mary, by contrast, has been content to remain estranged from her extended family.
In his last chapter, Fred writes of his decision to retire from his sucessful career in real estate, and focus on advocating for the rights of the disbled. A conversation with his Uncle Donald stuck with him; Donald said, talking about Fred's disbled son, "He doesn't recognize you. Maybe you should just let him die and move down to Florida." It is this troubling quote that has been the biggst topic of discussion when Fred has been interviewed by journalists on his book tour. Although Fred doesn't mention this in his book, on his book tour he has criticized Donald for never having even met his disabled nephew.
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