Murder, Suicide, Money and One Last Argument over Smoking

July 23rd, 2015. By LucyC

A family affair, and a tragic one at that, is keeping the Fischler family attorneys busy. One murder, one suicide and two lawsuits, if I’ve got it right. The whole mess reads like a Greek tragedy. In fact, Daniel Gotlin, defense attorney for Jonathan Schwartz, the oldest son and alleged murderer of philanthropist Barbara Weiden Schwartz ­told the press, “This is a family tragedy.” That’s putting it mildly, I think.

The public saga began in 2011, when Barbara Weiden Schwartz Fischler was allegedly stabbed to death with a kitchen knife by Jonathan, who happens to be schizophrenic. Shortly thereafter, Schwartz–Fischler’s second husband (that would be Fischler) almost obliterated her $5.8 million estate on risky short-sales (is there such a thing as a safe short sale?) Then, a little while later, her second son committed suicide.

Recently, Jonathan was recommitted to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene after results from his psychological testing showed he is not well enough to stand trial for the murder of his mother. “He has a history of psychological illness,” said Gotlin. In March, the 44-year old son was sentenced to an upstate psychiatric hospital after a jury found him “not criminally responsible by reason of mental disease” for the murder.

According to media reports, mother and son got into a row over his smoking habit. Out came the kitchen knife, which Jonathan apparently used to repeatedly stab his mother.

Now, Jonathan’s father, Steven Schwartz, is suing his son, The New York Post reports. Schwartz, who divorced Fischler years ago, is also suing on behalf of the second, deceased son, Kenneth Schwartz, who committed suicide in 2013 after learning that his stepfather, Burton Fischler, had nearly wiped them off the financial map. FYI—Barbara was the daughter of Norman Weiden, a financial guru who ran a charity which his daughter took over after his death.

Still with me?

By 2013, only about $700,000 was left in Barbara’s estate. Looks like somebody else made a killing here.

Last year, the management of Barbara’s estate was removed from the care of 63-year old Burton M. Fischler to husband number one. Steven Schwartz is a retired Merrill Lynch executive so one may hope he knows better. If all goes according to plan, the civil suit will provide Steven Schwartz with the younger son’s share of whatever money he may be awarded in his lawsuit against son number one.

Oh—there’s more.

Kenneth Schwartz committed suicide at 39, beside himself over his potential financial situation and grief, presumably. “For the last decade of her life, my mother generously paid all my bills and was my sole source of financial support, so much so that I rarely received mail at my own apartment,” he stated in his lawsuit against his stepfather.

“Believing that I would probably inherit a few million dollars from my mother, reassured me that in the midst of the tragedy, I would at least have enough money to live on,” he stated in the suit.

In January 2013, about six months after learning that he could no longer count on his mother’s support, Kenneth killed himself.  “I had lost both my brother and my mother to an act of unspeakable violence that I will never understand,” Kenneth wrote to the court six months before he committed suicide.

Adding to all this misery is the fact that Barbara was “almost completely housebound and largely bedridden with many health problems, including battles against addiction to the many painkillers she was prescribed for her medical problems,” according to Kenneth’s lawsuit.

Prior to killing his mother, Jonathan lived down the hall in the family’s luxury apartment. According to his brother, he was a total recluse, remaining locked in his room even when Kenneth came to visit.

The stepfather also had his problems. “Burt worked as a wealth management advisor, had been married twice before, and had relatively few financial resources of his own,” Kenneth stated. His stepfather approached Kenneth just days after Barbara’s death, asking him to relinquish control of his mother’s estate, which, against his better judgement and his deceased mother’s wishes, he did. Now the picture gets a little clearer. Barbara had signed a post-nuptial agreement with Burton that prevented him from overseeing her finances after her death.

According to court documents, Burton claimed that his wife “wanted to take higher than average risk” and said he was playing the market with a “long-term strategy.” And now there’s no one left to disprove that.

Ah but for the best laid plans of mice and men, and for the attorneys who must make sense of it all.

This was posted on Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 at 5:45 pm and is filed under Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.