A grief-stricken widow whose husband owned 14 buildings in the East Village claims she’s received a pittance from her spouse’s $45 million estate — and accused her own daughter of cutting her out of the family fortune.
Robert and Ann Giurdanella were married for 64 years, until his death in December 2021 at age 89. The couple lived in the East Village.
The couple had a daughter, Christine, and son Carlo. Robert amassed a real estate portfolio that included full or partial ownership of nine, four- and five-story rental apartment buildings and commercial units on East 11th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A, and others nearby.
He also left $1 million in cash; a Highland Beach, Fla. condo, and a Putnam County home, court records showed.
The family-run construction business, Giurdanella Bros. Inc., once employed more than 40 people and spawned Bella Tile Co. “to help family members and in-laws have a place to work,” according to Robert’s obituary.
But despite the apparent wealth, Ann, 88, accused her penny-pinching daughter of giving her a measly $133,000 since Robert’s death, court records show.
For nearly a year, Ann has been fighting for a larger, $15 million chunk of Robert’s estate, fighting in Manhattan Surrogate and Supreme courts to claw back what she says she’s legally entitled to as his widow.
“I no longer trust her nor consider her to be my daughter,” Giurdanella declared in blistering November court papers filed in Manhattan Surrogate Court.
“Our relationship . . . has deteriorated to the point now that I cannot understand her deep, open hostility to me that knows no limits,” the widow added.
The mom in a lawsuit even accused her daughter in court papers of stealing her Social Security payments, and taking the Highland Beach condo. Christine denied the allegations. The case is ongoing.
Giurdanella also filed a $15 million Manhattan lawsuit on Sept. 17 against Midtown lawyer Gregg Weiss, who prepared Robert’s estate documents, accusing him of fraud, legal malpractice and negligence.
“At no time did Mr. Weiss or anyone else at his firm explain to me about my right of spousal election” or explain Robert’s estate plan, which called for the assets to be placed in a trust controlled by Christine, she claimed.
The attorney allegedly lied to Ann that Robert’s estate was worth just $2 million and made an estate plan for her without her input, according to the lawsuit.
Giurdanella was so overcome by her husband’s death, she was hospitalized for weeks and missed his funeral before she was sent home on the anti-anxiety med Lorazepam as “a physical shell of herself,” she said in the lawsuit.
Christine knew her mother was not well when she showed up in February 2022 with a notary and numerous legal papers, prepared by Weiss, to sign, the widow contended.
The documents allegedly included deeds to the Florida condo and Putnam home and papers saying the widow wouldn’t contest her husband’s estate plan, she said in her latest Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
Giurdanella, who has an eighth-grade education and lives in one of the East 11th Street properties, “signed them without reading or understanding what she was doing,” she said in legal papers.
A Manhattan Surrogate judge rejected Giurdanella’s bid to get her share of Robert’s estate, saying in a July decision the widow missed legal deadlines to do so and calling her accusations against Christine “irrelevant.”
The judge also found Giurdanella’s bid for $15 million would have “upended” Robert’s estate plan and triggered $11 million in taxes.
A lawyer for Ann Giurdanella declined comment. A lawyer for Christine Giurdanella pointed to the Surrogate Court’s dismissal of the mom’s allegations.
“I faithfully represented my client Robert Giurdanella’s estate interests and saved his family $11 million in taxes,” Gregg Weiss told The Post in a statement, calling Ann’s accusations “baseless.”
“It is unfortunate that an internal family dispute is leading to unfounded assertions against others,” he added.
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