KENNEDY KIDS WAR WITH WIDOW

The Kennedys are at war with Teddy's widow!

Grief-stricken Vicki is already facing off with the late senator's three children over his $150 million estate, sources tell The ENQUIRER.

Shortly after the 77-year-old politician lost his battle with brain cancer, Vicki - a divorcee with two kids of her own - began conferring with legal advisers about her late husband's will.

A close friend told The ENQUIRER:"Vicki had contained her emotions, but had been seething for a long time over whispers that her two children, Curran and Caroline Raclin, shouldn't be in line to receive equal shares of Ted's estate with his own three blood children - Teddy Jr., Kara and Patrick.

"In Vicki's view, although Curran and Caroline are Ted's stepchildren, they've loved him like their own father.

"She feels very strongly that their financial futures should be assured - and that they should receive whatever the others get."

Heartbroken and exhausted, Vicki, a devoted wife and mother, finally let her emotions get the better of her, revealed the friend.

"She exploded in anger at one Kennedy family member after she learned Ted's sailboat was being  used without her being consulted."

"Ted's kids always found it difficult to embrace Vicki, their father's second wife after his divorce from their troubled mom Joan. Now that their father's gone, some of that resentment against her will become more focused. They plan to strongly challenge Vicki about plans for his estate," another source said.

As Ted Jr. was staking the Kennedy claim by being the first to sail his dad's boat Mya, "Vicki was talking about interior makeovers and customizing the compound for her kids," revealed the close friend.

"This really upset the Kennedy children. Behind Vicki's back, Ted Jr.'s siblings  Kara and Patrick were in cahoots with their cousins, Robert Kennedy's kids, to turn Hyannis Port into the Ted Kennedy Research Center, as a testament to its late owner.

"They don't want to see Vicki getting the house to herself - which is what she's got her heart set on, getting the whole place." Members of the late senator's family have long bristled at Vicki being "queen of the castle," even when the senator was well, say sources.

"Ted's kids want Vicki and her kids to inherit a piece of Ted's estate - just not a huge piece," said the friend.