A grief-stricken widow whose husband owned 14 buildings within the East Village claims she’s acquired a pittance from her partner’s $45 million property — and accused her personal daughter of reducing her out of the household fortune.
Robert and Ann Giurdanella had been married for 64 years, till his loss of life in December 2021 at age 89. The couple lived within the East Village.
The couple had a daughter, Christine, and son Carlo. Robert amassed an actual property portfolio that included full or partial possession of 9, four- and five-story rental condominium buildings and industrial models on East eleventh Avenue between First Avenue and Avenue A, and others close by.
He additionally left $1 million in money; a Highland Seashore, Fla. condominium, and a Putnam County house, court docket data confirmed.
The family-run building enterprise, Giurdanella Bros. Inc., as soon as employed greater than 40 folks and spawned Bella Tile Co. “to assist members of the family and in-laws have a spot to work,” in line with Robert’s obituary.
However regardless of the obvious wealth, Ann, 88, accused her penny-pinching daughter of giving her a measly $133,000 since Robert’s loss of life, court docket data present.
For almost a 12 months, Ann has been combating for a bigger, $15 million chunk of Robert’s property, combating in Manhattan Surrogate and Supreme courts to claw again what she says she’s legally entitled to as his widow.
“I not belief her nor take into account her to be my daughter,” Giurdanella declared in blistering November court docket papers filed in Manhattan Surrogate Court docket.
“Our relationship . . . has deteriorated to the purpose now that I can’t perceive her deep, open hostility to me that is aware of no limits,” the widow added.
The mother in a lawsuit even accused her daughter in court docket papers of stealing her Social Safety funds, and taking the Highland Seashore condominium. Christine denied the allegations. The case is ongoing.
Giurdanella additionally filed a $15 million Manhattan lawsuit on Sept. 17 towards Midtown lawyer Gregg Weiss, who ready Robert’s property paperwork, accusing him of fraud, authorized malpractice and negligence.
“At no time did Mr. Weiss or anybody else at his agency clarify to me about my proper of spousal election” or clarify Robert’s property plan, which referred to as for the property to be positioned in a belief managed by Christine, she claimed.
The legal professional allegedly lied to Ann that Robert’s property was price simply $2 million and made an property plan for her with out her enter, in line with the lawsuit.
Giurdanella was so overcome by her husband’s loss of life, she was hospitalized for weeks and missed his funeral earlier than she was despatched house on the anti-anxiety med Lorazepam as “a bodily shell of herself,” she mentioned within the lawsuit.
Christine knew her mom was not properly when she confirmed up in February 2022 with a notary and quite a few authorized papers, ready by Weiss, to signal, the widow contended.
The paperwork allegedly included deeds to the Florida condominium and Putnam house and papers saying the widow wouldn’t contest her husband’s property plan, she mentioned in her newest Manhattan Supreme Court docket lawsuit.
Giurdanella, who has an eighth-grade schooling and lives in one of many East eleventh Avenue properties, “signed them with out studying or understanding what she was doing,” she mentioned in authorized papers.
A Manhattan Surrogate decide rejected Giurdanella’s bid to get her share of Robert’s property, saying in a July choice the widow missed authorized deadlines to take action and calling her accusations towards Christine “irrelevant.”
The decide additionally discovered Giurdanella’s bid for $15 million would have “upended” Robert’s property plan and triggered $11 million in taxes.
A lawyer for Ann Giurdanella declined remark. A lawyer for Christine Giurdanella pointed to the Surrogate Court docket’s dismissal of the mother’s allegations.
“I faithfully represented my consumer Robert Giurdanella’s property pursuits and saved his household $11 million in taxes,” Gregg Weiss instructed The Submit in an announcement, calling Ann’s accusations “baseless.”
“It’s unlucky that an inside household dispute is resulting in unfounded assertions towards others,” he added.
