Putting On Heirs
As the Buchanans prepare to head down to Texas for Asa’s will reading on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, one unaccounted-for heir remains. Will David discover that he’s a Buchanan in time to claim his piece of the pie? While we wait to find out, here is Digest’s rundown of illegitimate offspring and wannabe heirs who tried their hands at handouts, with the help of some calculating partners.
Tina Clayton: In 1985, Tina’s discovery of a letter stating that she was Victor Lord’s daughter from a secret marriage to Irene Manning sent big sis Viki into a tailspin. She also discovered a document stating that if Viki should ever suffer a recurrence of her dissociative identity disorder, the entire estate and control of the Lord Foundation would go to Tina. It didn’t take much for her lover, Mitch Laurence, to sway her into bringing out Viki’s alter, Niki Smith, to take over the fortune. Their plan worked, but in 1986, Viki recovered and managed to win back the estate. Still intent on being rich, Tina struck gold that same year when she learned that Cord was actually Clint Buchanan’s son from a teenage love affair with Maria Roberts. She blackmailed his granddad Asa into arranging for Cord to “inherit” $1 million from Al Roberts, then married Cord, who eventually learned of Tina’s manipulation and dumped her.
Max Holden: Max actually passed himself off as a Buchanan twice, but he was only in on the scam the second time. In 1990, Max’s greedy wife, Gabrielle, bribed the midwife who tended to his mother to lie that Asa had fathered Max, which seemed feasible since Asa had slept with Max’s mother around the time of his birth. But when the truth came out the following year, Max dumped Gabrielle. In 1999, Blair uncovered the bombshell that Asa and Renee had produced a son years ago and did not know his identity or location. Lovers Max and Blair tracked down Esther Hoffman, the nurse who helped Renee deliver her son, and paid her to tell Asa and Renee that Max was the missing Buchanan heir. Blair even got her hands on a DNA sample from the real heir (Ben Davidson) to prove it. Esther Hoffman died before she could reveal the truth, but Skye found out and exposed Max and Blair as frauds. 
David Vickers: In 1994, David showed up during Dorian’s trial for the murder of Victor Lord and claimed to be the deceased’s son with Irene Manning. It was later revealed that Dorian and David were in cahoots and the real Lord heir was Todd Manning. Gold-digging Blair Cramer discovered the truth before Todd did and plotted to become his wife, although Todd filed for divorce as soon as he found out about her deception.
Natalie Balsom: In 1986, crazy cult member Allison Perkins was persuaded by Mitch Laurence to kidnap one of Viki’s twin daughters. Years later, Allison resurfaced and, hoping to get a cut of the windfall, encouraged a teenage Natalie to seek out her rich family. In 2001, Natalie came to Llanview and, after meddling with Jessica’s life by pretending to be her friend, dropped the bombshell that she is Clint and Viki’s daughter. A DNA test proved the claim and Viki had no choice but to welcome the girl into her family. 
Adriana Coln: When Dorian found out in 2003 that the elderly Aunt Betsy planned to pass on her fortune to an unmarried relative, Dorian tapped 15-year-old Adriana as the perfect “niece.” What Dorian didn’t know was that Adriana actually was her own daughter with Manuel Santi. The ruse worked and Betsy decided to give Adriana the $30 million, then promptly expired. Dorian didn’t gain much from the scheme — most of Aunt Betsy’s money had dissipated due to bad investments — so she went after the Santi money instead.
Spencer Truman: Shortly before his 2007 demise, the loony doc exposed Asa’s affair with Emma Bradley and claimed that he was their offspring. However, it wasn’t money that he was after. He confided to his brother, David, that their mother’s dying wish was revenge against the Buchanans and that Asa broke her heart. A DNA test proved that Spencer was not Asa’s son and the issue was dropped until Nigel confided to Max at Asa’s funeral that David was in fact a Buchanan heir.
For real-life OLTL dish from Lauren, check out the “Behind The Scene” feature in the Digest on sale October 23.
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