Essie Mae Washington-Williams will go to court if Strom Thurmond’s family refuses to admit she is their kin, her attorney said Sunday.

Williams, who says she is a daughter of the late U.S. senator, “has to consider any and all options,” her California-based attorney, Frank Wheaton, said Sunday.

Williams, 78, told The Washington Post last week Thurmond is her father and that her mother, who was black, was a teenage housekeeper for Thurmond’s parents in Edgefield.

The newspaper said the retired Los Angeles schoolteacher finally was ending her lifetime of silence in order to set the historical record straight.

Thurmond died June 26 at age 100 after retiring from the U.S. Senate in January.

Williams, who always described herself as a Thurmond friend, said the former segregationist privately acknowledged her as his daughter and provided financial assistance to her since 1941.

The Thurmond family declined to comment Sunday and will not speak publicly about Williams’ claim, said Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, a close family friend.

Courson spoke Sunday with Strom Thurmond Jr., who said the family’s lawyer has recommended they not speak to the media.

Williams will be in Columbia on Wednesday for a 11 a.m. news conference at the Adam’s Mark hotel on Main Street.

Williams was not mentioned in Thurmond’s will. Her intention is not to challenge the senator’s wishes, Wheaton said. But Williams does want it known and understood she is Thurmond’s child, he said.

She only is interested in “acknowledgment,” Wheaton said. If the family is not forthcoming, he said she could seek a legal ruling establishing her as Thurmond’s daughter.

“Her children and their children and their children have a right to know,” Wheaton said. Williams has four grown children. Her husband, Julius T. Williams, died in 1964.

Williams wants to meet with the Thurmond family while she is in Columbia, Wheaton said.

Williams wants “to invite them to a friendly, familial discussion, a reception of sorts,” Wheaton said.

If the family will not meet with her, “then we are somewhat placed in a position of looking out for the best interests of our client,” Wheaton said.

South Carolina law allows Williams to sue for paternity up to eight months after Thurmond’s death, which would be Feb. 26, or six months after the appointment of the personal representative to his estate, which would be April 27.

Wheaton said Williams would prefer not to sue. She would rather “respectfully approach the family in a very quiet and dignified way.”

Thurmond and Williams saw each other several times a year, Williams told The Washington Post. As governor, he visited her during her undergraduate years at S.C. State, visits remembered by her fellow students.

In later years, Williams said she would visit him in Washington, and he would see her in California. While the relationship was an oft-repeated legend in South Carolina and in political circles, Williams always denied the relationship while Thurmond was alive.

The attorney said Williams has proof of her paternity, although she is willing to submit to DNA testing to scientifically establish her relationship to Thurmond.

Williams has a note written by Thurmond that proves her claim, Wheaton said. He will not say exactly what the note says or even how Williams came to possess it, other than to say it was delivered by a “person inside of the family.”

“This is part of our physical and tangible evidence that we intend to keep private,” Wheaton said.

By using the term “evidence,” Wheaton said he is not implying “there is legal action being taken,” but he also said it is “evidence of supporting documents and information and materials, if they had to be brought forth to support her claim — if there was a claim.”

State law says if a person dies with a will, it determines who is to receive what. Children have no legal claim to property or money if a will exists.

If there is no will, however, state law says a surviving spouse receives 50 percent of the estate, and the other half is split evenly among surviving children.

Reach Gould Sheinin at (803) 771-8658 or asheinin@thestate.com.