Mary Trump loses inheritance suit revival effort 

Suit against Donald Trump and his siblings claimed fraud to siphon benefaction

Donald Trump and Mary L. Trump (Getty, TheNexusInstitute/CC BY 3.0/Wikimedia Commons)
Donald Trump and Mary L. Trump (Getty, TheNexusInstitute/CC BY 3.0/Wikimedia Commons)

Mary Trump’s attempt to salvage a lawsuit against her family — including former president Donald Trump — has failed.

Newly filed court documents from the Supreme Court of New York’s appellate division affirmed the dismissal of the lawsuit brought three years ago by Donald’s niece. The latest judgment was entered last month.

Mary filed the lawsuit in September 2020, accusing Donald and his siblings of failing to perform their fiduciary duty and ruining her inheritance by committing fraud with it. She argued the family attempted to drain the value of Fred Trump Jr.’s real estate portfolio, part of which Mary inherited from her father.

The lawsuit also claimed Donald and his siblings worked with an appraiser to undervalue Mary’s holdings. This allowed them to “enrich themselves at the expense of everyone around them,” according to court papers.

The judge wrote that the appeal of the decision to dismiss the lawsuit did not meet the standards to bring a reversal. Mary contentions about the dismissal decision, made in November, were “unavailing,” according to the latest judgment.

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It’s unclear if Mary will attempt to further appeal the litigation, though the state’s highest court could still be an option. Her counsel on the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At the time the lawsuit was filed, the White House press secretary denied the allegations. The Trump siblings quickly moved to have the complaint dismissed.

In November, a judge ruled against Mary, saying she signed contractual releases with the family that prevented her from making the legal claims.

While this may bring the end of one legal battle for the former (and potential future) president, Donald is still wrangling with numerous legal issues

Ongoing cases include a 37-count indictment connected to the alleged mishandling of classified documents, the investigation into the January 6 insurrection, his hush money criminal case, accusations of election tampering in Georgia and a civil case by the New York attorney general against his real estate business.

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