The long-running feud among heirs to Sol Goldman’s massive New York property fortune is heating up again, with new legal filings that could reshape control of a family 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 seeking to remove two of their relatives — Jane Goldman and Diane Goldman Kemper — as executors of the estate of their mother and grandmother, Lillian Goldman.
The petition also asks the court to strip Jane, who is Amy’s sister and Steven’s aunt, of her role as trustee of the Lillian Goldman Marital Trust.
News of the court filing was reported by Bloomberg News.
The family’s firm, Solil Management, controls more than 400 properties throughout New York City, ranging from retail and office buildings near Madison Avenue to cooperative apartments uptown.
The family’s holdings include ground leases beneath prestigious properties such as 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 cash assets and manipulating Diane — who they say is no longer mentally fit to serve — as a means of consolidating power 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 filing cited by Bloomberg News.
He added that Diane is “currently unaware” of her role and that Jane has taken advantage of the situation “to the detriment of other beneficiaries.”
Their attorney, Jason Cyrulnik, strongly denied the claims, framing them as a rehash of arguments that had already failed in court.
“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 told Bloomberg News.
This latest legal skirmish is just the newest episode in a family conflict that dates back to the early 1980s.
In 1983, Lillian Goldman left her husband, Sol Goldman — the owner of what was at the time New York City’s largest private real estate portfolio — accusing him of infidelity and physical abuse. She demanded half of his estimated $1 billion in assets.
Sol persuaded her to return by promising several million dollars up front and a third of his estate upon his death — regardless of whether they remained married, according to the New York Times.
Though Lillian initially agreed, their reconciliation quickly unraveled, leading to a contentious legal fight over the agreement’s validity. Lillian argued it had been fraudulently obtained; Sol claimed it was binding.
A judge ultimately sided with Sol in September 1987. Less than a month later, he died at the age of 70 — prompting Lillian to embrace the very deal she had spent years trying to nullify.
His children then challenged her claim to the estate. They argued that Lillian’s refusal to accept an initial payment as well as her declining his offer to return to live with him meant she had forfeited her claim.
The dispute over Sol’s estate set the stage for what would become a prolonged and increasingly bitter battle among his heirs.
When Lillian passed away in 2002, her four children — Amy, Jane, Diane, and Allan — were named executors of her estate. That estate was valued at $656 million in 2022, while the marital trust is now worth more than $1 billion.
Courtesy of Joe Ruback
Tensions within the family escalated further after Allan’s death in 2022.
His son Steven took over as executor of his father’s estate and aligned with Amy to challenge Jane’s leadership over the trust and its associated assets. In court, they have accused Jane of seizing control following Allan’s passing and undervaluing the real estate portfolio.
Jane has pushed back strongly against the allegations, calling them “works of fiction” and claiming that Amy and Steven are seeking to “extract disproportionate benefits for themselves.”
Amy and Steven did win a recent ruling in Delaware, where a judge ordered Jane to share control of SG Windsor, a central family holding company, with other relatives. Jane is appealing that decision.
Meanwhile, litigation in New York, centered on how the estate’s assets have been valued, remains unresolved.
