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Case file s1677 · Divorce and feuds · 1999
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1999
Fred Trump Jr.: Fred Trump Jr. 1966 (cropped)
Fred Trump Jr.. Louis Liotta/New York Post Archive. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
25 June 1999; estate settled 2001
Place
New Hyde Park, New York, USA
Field
real estate · Business and finance on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law (New York probate; contract law) · Common law
Historical event
The presidencies of Donald Trump, 2017 to 2021 and from 2025
Religion
Fred Trump: Protestant and Anglican (recorded as 20th-century Lutherans on Wikipedia)
Divorce and feudsBusiness dynastiesCut out of the willNew wives, nurses and girlfriendsForged and faked willsBrothers and sisters in courtPostwarNorth AmericaUnited StatesTrump family

Fred Trump's grandchildren contested his will in 2000, and Donald Trump and 2 siblings cut off health insurance for them and an ailing baby

Fred Trump, the father of Donald Trump, died at Long Island Jewish Medical Center on 25 June 1999, aged 93. On 23 March 2000 his grandchildren Mary L. Trump and Fred Trump III filed objections to probate, contending that the will was "the product of undue influence and fraud". In a 2020 affidavit, Mary Trump states that Donald, Robert and Maryanne then cut off health insurance for her, her brother and his children, and that they sued over it. The New York Daily News reported the fight on 19 December 2000 under a headline about the nephew's "ailing baby". In a 10 April 2001 settlement, Mary's aunt and uncles bought out her interests in Trump-related assets. On 2 October 2018 the New York Times published "Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father". Mary Trump named herself as a source in her 2020 book. She sued Donald, Maryanne and Robert's estate, alleging that the valuations behind the 2001 settlement were fraudulent and that they swindled her out of at least $10 million. In 2021 Donald Trump sued Mary Trump and the Times for $100 million, alleging that she broke the settlement's confidentiality terms. In her case, the family argued that her 2001 releases and the statute of limitations barred her claims. A New York judge dismissed her suit in November 2022, ruling that she had signed releases. In 2023 a judge dismissed Donald Trump's claims against the Times and its reporters, and on 22 June 2023 an appeals court upheld the dismissal of Mary Trump's suit. The judge later ordered Donald Trump to pay the Times $392,639 in legal fees. In May 2024 an appeals court found a substantial legal basis for his claim against her and said he might deserve only nominal damages. Status: settled; both sides filed a settlement letter with a New York state court on 16 June 2026, without disclosing terms.

What the law took from it

A settlement release that covers unknown claims can bar a later fraud suit, and the settlement's confidentiality terms can be sued on decades later.

Sources
  1. gibsondunn.comPress
  2. abcnews.comPress
  3. abcnews.comPress
  4. thedailyrecord.comPress
  5. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Fred Trump's grandchildren contested his will in 2000, and Donald Trump and 2 siblings cut off health insurance for them and an ailing baby,” story s1677, https://www.celebrity.estate/fred-trump-1999, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Divorce and feudsBusiness dynastiesCut out of the willNew wives, nurses and girlfriendsForged and faked willsBrothers and sisters in courtPostwarNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited StatesTrump family