John Edwards has never admitted to fathering a love child with a one-time staffer, but new legal documents suggest the failed presidential hopeful is the baby's daddy - and may soon have to pay up big-time.The new documents detail an ongoing money battle between Edwards and Rielle Hunter, 45, whom Edwards has admitted bedding even as his wife, Elizabeth, discovered she had cancer.
Edwards has never copped to fathering little Frances Quinn Hunter, now almost two years old.
But the documents, first reported by the National Enquirer and posted online yesterday by radaronline.com, include an eight-page "Family Part Case Information Statement" listing "Rielle Hunter" as the plaintiff and "John Edwards" as the defendant.
The document identifies "custody," "parenting time" and "child support" as the issues in dispute, and names Rielle and "John Edwards" of Chapel Hill, N.C., as the parties.
The kicker: Little Frances is named as a "child...from this relationship."
The paperwork was prepared by Hunter's attorney, Frank Louis, and at the very least establishes that the blonde divorcee believes Edwards is legally responsible for the girl - and should have to pay up.
Hunter is seeking more than $17,000 a month from Edwards, a tab that includes some pretty high-end demands, the documents show.
She wants $800 a month for eating out, $400 a month for "club dues and memberships" and $1,200 a month for a security guard - apparently to keep the paparazzi at bay.
She also believes Edwards - who famously paid $400 for a haircut during his presidential run - should pay her $250 a month to trim her and Frances' locks.
The documents emerged at the same time that reports have swirled that Edwards purchased a four-bedroom, $535,000 home for Hunter to live in in Charlotte.
A report in the Charlotte Business Journal this week noted that the handsome, brick-faced home remains empty. The purchaser is listed only The Providence Road Trust, it reported.
More bad news may be just around the corner for Edwards.
ABC News has announced that it will air an exclusive interview next month with Andrew Young, another Edwards staffer who once claimed to have been the father of Hunter's child.