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A troubling lawsuit has emerged from the Upper West Side, where a longtime tenant is accused of manipulating her landlord into a deathbed marriage in order to claim his estate.
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According to a report first published by the New York Post, 63-year-old Barbara Seidel is alleged to have secretly wed 78-year-old Albert Lerner just days before he died in February. Lerner’s older brother, Stefan, says the marriage was not only illegitimate but deliberately engineered to put Seidel ahead of him in inheritance proceedings.Court filings describe Lerner as a man who battled significant mental health challenges for most of his life, including persistent delusions and social isolation. He lived for decades in a sprawling, rent-controlled apartment at 574 West End Avenue–a 12-story rental building at the corner of West 88th Street–where he rented rooms to subtenants who became his primary social contacts. Seidel, one of those tenants, also served as a caregiver in his final stretch of life.
Building residents who spoke to the Post said Seidel had never stayed overnight in the apartment while Lerner was alive, but moved in immediately after his death. They also said Lerner received hospice care at Mount Sinai Morningside before passing away from heart failure on February 21.
Stefan Lerner argues that his brother was physically weakened, in hospice, and incapable of entering into a valid marriage. He claims the relationship between the pair had always been platonic, and that the sudden shift from caregiver to spouse was part of a calculated attempt to secure control over Albert’s finances.
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As part of his case, Stefan points to a lawyer who allegedly withdrew from assisting the couple, reportedly returning a retainer because he believed the marriage plan was improper. That attorney, unnamed in the filings, allegedly told Stefan that the arrangement appeared to be a setup.If the court annuls the marriage, Stefan would become the sole heir to his brother’s estate. The total value of that estate was not disclosed in the lawsuit. Seidel did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment.
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