Editor's note: Shades of the Estate of Irving Fisk Faskowitz. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Polish woman makes a claim to $40M estate of reclusive Staten Island developer
Roman Blum relaxing at his Annadale home. He died last year. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Another purported legatee, an elderly woman living in Poland, has surfaced to take a shot at the fortune of Staten Island real estate developer Roman Blum.
She has thrown her hat into the ring with an upstate New York man, a supposedly disbarred lawyer who filed a will last month with the Surrogate Court of Richmond County.
Doubt and skepticism have followed both parties over the validity of their cases, with no clear answers as to how either is related to Blum, who died in 2012, at age 97, and his unclaimed $40 million estate.
"Even though I keep asking him to explain what's the connection between your client and the deceased, I get no answer," said Richard LaRosa, counsel to the public administrator.
Blum, who lived in Annadale, supposedly left behind no written will, making his the largest unclaimed estate in New York history, according to the state comptroller's office.
For 18 months, the Staten Island public administrator's office conducted an exhaustive search for an heir that employed genealogists from all over the world but never found a relation.
Enter the claimants from Poland and upstate.
Anthony J. Allegrino II, of New Windsor, N.Y., submitted a will for probate with the court last month through his attorney, Martin A. Cohen of Newburgh.
The most recent claim comes from a Polish woman in her 90s, named Teresa Musial, said LaRosa. She sent a certified copy of the will to the surrogate court this month, and is in the process of retaining an attorney on Staten Island.
According to LaRosa, both parties say they have connections to Blum.
Allegrino supposedly has an association through his great-grandfather, and the woman from Poland claims she's the beneficiary of a woman Blum supposedly knew as a child in Poland, and named in his will.
LaRosa and the public administrator's office have their doubts.
"Human nature and greed never cease to amaze me," said LaRosa of these claims.
"I can't make a determination yet, but based upon my observation of the two wills so far, I don't think either one of them are valid," he added. "If they are, then they're entitled to the money. But it's my job to challenge the validity of those wills. Only time will tell."
Allegrino and his attorney appeared at the St. George courtroom on Tuesday, where a judge granted the public administrator full letters of administration over the Blum estate -- meaning that the court's office could continue to liquidate Blum's holdings and properties throughout these proceedings.
Little else was determined, though, and both Allegrino and his attorney refused to comment when exiting the courthouse.
New York State Assistant Attorney General Lisa Barbieri was also present for the hearing. The state remains an interested party because it would be the one to inherit Blum's fortune if both wills turn out to be fakes and no other heirs are found.
For now, the burden is on Allegrino to prove his claims.
He and his lawyer must put together an exhaustive family tree and genealogical report to show some sort of relation -- something LaRosa said he has his doubts about.
"I'm doing this 40 years and it just gets better and better. People think they can get away with this," he said. "We don't want this to drag out the rest of our lives. He has to finish his due diligence, and then we'll see from there. The next step is theirs."
She has thrown her hat into the ring with an upstate New York man, a supposedly disbarred lawyer who filed a will last month with the Surrogate Court of Richmond County.
Doubt and skepticism have followed both parties over the validity of their cases, with no clear answers as to how either is related to Blum, who died in 2012, at age 97, and his unclaimed $40 million estate.
"Even though I keep asking him to explain what's the connection between your client and the deceased, I get no answer," said Richard LaRosa, counsel to the public administrator.
Blum, who lived in Annadale, supposedly left behind no written will, making his the largest unclaimed estate in New York history, according to the state comptroller's office.
For 18 months, the Staten Island public administrator's office conducted an exhaustive search for an heir that employed genealogists from all over the world but never found a relation.
Enter the claimants from Poland and upstate.
Anthony J. Allegrino II, of New Windsor, N.Y., submitted a will for probate with the court last month through his attorney, Martin A. Cohen of Newburgh.
The most recent claim comes from a Polish woman in her 90s, named Teresa Musial, said LaRosa. She sent a certified copy of the will to the surrogate court this month, and is in the process of retaining an attorney on Staten Island.
According to LaRosa, both parties say they have connections to Blum.
Allegrino supposedly has an association through his great-grandfather, and the woman from Poland claims she's the beneficiary of a woman Blum supposedly knew as a child in Poland, and named in his will.
LaRosa and the public administrator's office have their doubts.
"Human nature and greed never cease to amaze me," said LaRosa of these claims.
"I can't make a determination yet, but based upon my observation of the two wills so far, I don't think either one of them are valid," he added. "If they are, then they're entitled to the money. But it's my job to challenge the validity of those wills. Only time will tell."
Allegrino and his attorney appeared at the St. George courtroom on Tuesday, where a judge granted the public administrator full letters of administration over the Blum estate -- meaning that the court's office could continue to liquidate Blum's holdings and properties throughout these proceedings.
Little else was determined, though, and both Allegrino and his attorney refused to comment when exiting the courthouse.
New York State Assistant Attorney General Lisa Barbieri was also present for the hearing. The state remains an interested party because it would be the one to inherit Blum's fortune if both wills turn out to be fakes and no other heirs are found.
For now, the burden is on Allegrino to prove his claims.
He and his lawyer must put together an exhaustive family tree and genealogical report to show some sort of relation -- something LaRosa said he has his doubts about.
"I'm doing this 40 years and it just gets better and better. People think they can get away with this," he said. "We don't want this to drag out the rest of our lives. He has to finish his due diligence, and then we'll see from there. The next step is theirs."
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