Pauline Phillips — a.k.a. Abigail Van Buren, the beloved advice columnist — is not being paid the money owed her by her daughter, according to her son. The 91-year-old creator of the “Dear Abby” syndicated columns turned the gig over to her daughter Jeanne in 1995, when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She had shared the column with Jeanne for nearly a decade, and when her mother left it for good, Jeanne agreed to pay Pauline $350,000 a year for the rest of her life. But according to a complaint, the payments stopped in 2005, and Jeanne owes Pauline $700,000. Now a family feud between Jeanne, who denies wrongdoing, and her brother Edward has erupted, not unlike the battle over socialite Brooke Astor’s treatment late in life. Except this one, predictably, is a lot more polite. And has a lot less Dachshund pee.
’Dear Abby’ family feud [NYP]
