Heirs to NYC real estate dynasty escalate battle – Business News
The long-running feud amongst heirs to Sol Goldman’s huge New York property fortune is heating up again, with new legal filings that might reshape control of a household empire spanning some of Manhattan’s most prized addresses.
Amy Goldman Fowler and her poker-playing nephew, Steven Gurney-Goldman, have submitted petitions to New York’s Surrogate’s Court searching for to take away two of their relations — Jane Goldman and Diane Goldman Kemper — as executors of the estate of their mom and grandmother, Lillian Goldman.
The petition additionally asks the court docket to strip Jane, who’s Amy’s sister and Steven’s aunt, of her position as trustee of the Lillian Goldman Marital Trust.
The late Sol and Lillian Goldman are pictured on this undated file photograph. Johns Hopkins University
News of the court docket submitting was reported by Bloomberg News.
The household’s firm, Solil Management, controls more than 400 properties all through New York City, starting from retail and workplace buildings close to Madison Avenue to cooperative flats uptown.
The household’s holdings embrace ground leases beneath prestigious properties such because the Peninsula New York and the Mark Hotel.
In their filings, Amy and Steven accuse Jane of blocking the distribution of more than $100 million in money belongings and manipulating Diane — who they are saying is no longer mentally match to serve — as a means of consolidating energy over the estate.
“Sadly, Diane suffers from substantial health issues that have diminished her mental capacity to the point that she can no longer serve as co-executor of the Estate,” Steven wrote in a court docket submitting cited by Bloomberg News.
Jane Goldman is the youngest daughter of Sol and Lillian Goldman.
He added that Diane is “currently unaware” of her position and that Jane has taken benefit of the scenario “to the detriment of other beneficiaries.”
Their legal professional, Jason Cyrulnik, strongly denied the claims, framing them as a rehash of arguments that had already failed in court docket.
“Steven and Amy’s latest filing in Surrogate’s Court attempts to revive claims that were a part of that baseless scheme and that the New York Supreme Court dismissed last year… We look forward to further exposing their leverage scheme and defeating it in due course,” Cyrulnik advised Bloomberg News.
Amy Goldman Fowler desires to take away her sisters Jane and Diane as executors of Lillian’s estate. Madison McGaw/BFA / Shutterstock
This newest legal skirmish is simply the most recent episode in a household battle that dates back to the early Nineteen Eighties.
In 1983, Lillian Goldman left her husband, Sol Goldman — the proprietor of what was on the time New York City’s largest personal real estate portfolio — accusing him of infidelity and bodily abuse. She demanded half of his estimated $1 billion in belongings.
Sol persuaded her to return by promising a number of million {dollars} up entrance and a third of his estate upon his death — regardless of whether or not they remained married, in accordance to the New York Times.
Though Lillian initially agreed, their reconciliation shortly unraveled, main to a contentious legal battle over the settlement’s validity. Lillian argued it had been fraudulently obtained; Sol claimed it was binding.
A choose finally sided with Sol in September 1987. Less than a month later, he died on the age of 70 — prompting Lillian to embrace the very deal she had spent years making an attempt to nullify.
Steven Gurney-Goldman is pictured proper with Helen Cavot. Zach Hilty/BFA / Shutterstock
His youngsters then challenged her declare to the estate. They argued that Lillian’s refusal to settle for an initial cost in addition to her declining his offer to return to dwell with him meant she had forfeited her declare.
The dispute over Sol’s estate set the stage for what would change into a extended and more and more bitter battle amongst his heirs.
When Lillian handed away in 2002, her 4 youngsters — Amy, Jane, Diane, and Allan — have been named executors of her estate. That estate was valued at $656 million in 2022, whereas the marital trust is now price more than $1 billion.
The late Allan Goldman (seen proper with longtime caretaker Natalia Vostrikova), the late son of Sol and Lillian Goldman and father of Steven, beforehand served as an executor of Lillian’s estate earlier than his death, which allegedly prompted Jane to assert better control over the household’s belongings.
Courtesy of Joe Ruback
Tensions within the household escalated additional after Allan’s death in 2022.
His son Steven took over as executor of his father’s estate and aligned with Amy to problem Jane’s management over the trust and its related belongings. In court docket, they’ve accused Jane of seizing control following Allan’s passing and undervaluing the real estate portfolio.
At one level, Sol Goldman’s portfolio included the Chrysler Building. REUTERS
Jane has pushed back strongly towards the allegations, calling them “works of fiction” and claiming that Amy and Steven are searching for to “extract disproportionate benefits for themselves.”
Amy and Steven did win a latest ruling in Delaware, the place a choose ordered Jane to share control of SG Windsor, a central household holding company, with different relations. Jane is interesting that call.
Meanwhile, litigation in New York, centered on how the estate’s belongings have been valued, stays unresolved.
