A multiple sclerosis-stricken woman says she has been forced to wait more than seven years for a $1 million inheritance payout that never materialized, after it was allegedly mishandled by a woman formerly employed by her blue blood family.
In the interim, wheelchair-bound New Yorker Meryn Klabouch, 74, says she’s been living off a $1million sum left by her father in 2015 – which has since dwindled as she continues to fork over tens of thousands of dollars a month in medical costs.
Court documents show that Klabouch, a quadriplegic, was due another payout to the tune of more than $2million when her aunt, formerly the CEO of prominent Manhattan insurance company Mutual of America, died the next year in 2016.
Upon her death, the late exec left money to a dozen or so surviving relatives, including Klabouch – which, seven years later, none have received.
Klabouch claims this due to the fact that her aunt’s former home health aide, identified in Manhattan Surrogate Court documents as Janina Lewandowska, was named executor of her $2 million-plus estate, but ultimately mismanaged the funds.
Mutual of America Insurance Co. CEO Dolores Morrissey (seen here) died in February 2016, leaving her disabled niece $1 million in cash and half of her estate, valued at roughly $2million. A court filing alleges the inheritance was mishandled by Morrissey’s former health aide
‘If Meryn does not receive a distribution from the estate she will end up dead, with no money to pay for her medication, caretakers, therapists and doctor,’ her attorney wrote in court filings viewed by DailyMail.com that laid out the the direness of Klabouch’s situation.
‘This is truly an emergency which we beg the court address itself to, as there is plenty of money for Meryn’s care and the estate is being wasted each day.’
The complaint adds that Klabouch’s late aunt, Mutual of America Insurance Co. CEO Dolores Morrissey who died in February 2016, left the senior $1 million in cash as part of her will, as well as half of her high-value estate.
That included not only cash and a slew of stock options, the filing further alleges, but a 1-bedroom, 1.5-bath apartment overlooking Manhattan’s East River that lawyers for Klabouch’s wrote languished on the market for years before being sold last July.
The one responsible for the sale, Lewandowska hocked the home for $825,000 – despite similar co-ops in the luxury building going for well over $2million, and the exact unit previously being valued at $1 million, according to property records.
Following the sale, lawyers for Klabouch said the senior – who spends between $20,000 and $30,000 on medication, caretakers, and doctor visits – received only $80,000 of the more than $1million she says she is entitled to.
Classifying her situation an emergency, lawyers for Klabouch wrote that she will end up dead if not properly compensated, after Lewandowska inexplicably told the court in December that only $161,000 of the more-than $2million estate remained.
Speaking to The New York Post Thursday of the ongoing legal battle, Klabouch added that she’s desperately tried to glean what’s happened to her aunt’s money – including from the nearly $900,000 sale of her longtime home – but fears the worst after learning Lewandowska moved to Florida without the court’s knowledge.
The estate included not only cash and a slew of stock options, but a 1-bedroom, 1.5-bath apartment overlooking Manhattan’s East River (seen here). The aide, made executor of the will after the woman’s death, claims the co-op played a part in delaying the apartment’s sale
Aside from the alleged funds, the senior says the ex-aide also took Morrissey’s cat, Timmy, and refused to return heirloom-grade jewelry she had received from her own mother, whom was Morrisey’s sister.
Lawyers in the recent court filing further accused Lawandowska of purposely prolonging her responsibilities as executor in hopes that Klabouch would pass away before she was forced to fork over any funds – and in the time since, her aunt’s estate has been ‘wasted’ with each day
‘If Meryn does not receive a distribution from the estate she will end up dead,’ the filing reads, adding the senior will have ‘no money to pay for her medication, caretakers, therapists and doctor.’
‘This is truly an emergency which we beg the court address itself to, as there is plenty of money for Meryn’s care and the estate is being wasted each day.’
Speaking to the Post in from own Upper East Side apartment, Klabouch added of her prospective fate: ‘I’ll be put in a nursing home. They’d probably kill me.’
In the recent court filing, the senior added of Lawandowska’s alleged scheme: ‘One can only guess the reason she refuses to provide the information is that it will evidence the breach of her fiduciary duty.’
The filing further maintains that as Klabouch continues to beseech the court to expedite they payments, Lawandowska has repeatedly ignored court directives and has refused to share relevant information as to her finances.
Lawyers wrote of the ex-home worker’s prospective motive: ‘I believe that the executor always thought my client would die, and [she]… would keep the money.’
They add the nearly eight-year-long court struggle has now become a matter of life or death.
‘This is truly an emergency which we beg the court address itself to, as there is plenty of money for Meryn’s care and the estate is being wasted each day.’
Lewandowska has yet to be charged with any crime. She claims the co-op played a part in delaying the apartment’s sale. She declined to comment when questioned by the Post.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk