An 80-year-old member of one of New York's wealthiest real estate families has sued her own brother and daughters, accusing them of cutting off her monthly six-figure trust payments and trying to seize $2.5 million tied to her name. Constance Milstein, granddaughter of late family patriarch Morris Milstein, filed the suit in New York County Supreme Court against her brother Philip L. Milstein and her daughters, Abigail Black Elbaum and Joanna M. Milstein.
According to the New York Post, Constance — who also goes by Connie — alleges her family members used her time serving as U.S. ambassador to Malta under the Biden administration to seize control of her rights and assets. She also seeks to replace trustees Peter Grossman and James Sligar, whom her attorneys accuse of plotting against her alongside Philip and her daughters, the paper reports.
Trust Payments Stopped in 2025
At the center of the dispute is a trust held in the name of Vivian Milstein, for which Grossman and Sligar serve as co-trustees, per the same report. The two allegedly told Connie in the summer of 2025 that they would stop regular distributions of $125,000 per month from the trust, even though they allegedly knew she relied on those payments to fund her lifestyle.
Philip separately issued a drawdown notice around the time the payments were cut off, demanding that Connie's trust contribute $2.5 million to the family business by September 2025, the outlet notes. Connie's attorneys say that notice was intended to pressure her during settlement talks concerning disputes over interests in various Milstein businesses.
Dueling Claims Over Spending and Trust Authority
A memorandum from Grossman and Sligar argued that Abigail and Joanna, as primary beneficiaries, had the power to remove and replace trustees, and described Connie only as a discretionary beneficiary of the trust, according to the report. Philip's spokesperson declined to comment on why the daughters sought to stop Connie's payments, while Grossman and Sligar's lawyers denied exploiting Connie's lack of liquidity.
The same memorandum alleges Connie spent $7 million on a Montreal residence, more than $8 million on two New Hampshire homes, and over $5 million on jewelry and personal items. It further alleges she spent $3 million on an annual private aviation contract over several years, even as she auctioned off jewelry for $7.5 million, per the report.
Connie's family filed a counterfiling seeking dismissal of her lawsuit, alleging the trust was created primarily for her two children and that she spent approximately $23.5 million over the past few years. Philip's spokesperson said the lawsuit lacks legal and factual merit, while Connie's attorneys called the counterfiling a distraction and alleged that Philip and Abigail used settlement negotiations to pressure her, the Post reports.
The Post also notes that Connie once paid a $5,000 fine over alleged bribery of homeless people to vote for Al Gore; her spokesman said the episode was a misunderstanding.
A Family Business Built Over Generations
The feud lands atop a fortune built across generations. Morris Milstein had founded the Circle Floor Company by 1919, according to Forbes, and his sons Seymour and Paul later transformed that flooring business into a real estate empire, founding Milstein Properties in the late 1950s, as Business Insider reported. The family bought Emigrant Bank for $90 million in the 1980s, and together went on to develop roughly 50,000 apartments, 8,000 hotel rooms, and 20 million square feet of office space, per Forbes, including properties such as One Lincoln Plaza and the historic Jefferson Hotel in Washington, D.C., according to the Post's account. The Milstein family's assets are now estimated at $3.1 billion, the outlet reports, inherited from Morris Milstein's sons Seymour and Paul.
That inheritance has not come without conflict. Seymour pushed to split the family fortune into two smaller businesses, while Paul reportedly wanted his son Howard to control the business. Philip sued cousins Howard and Edward in 1999 over management of Douglas Elliman, and Paul and Howard sued in 2000 to try to remove Philip as head of Emigrant, the Post notes; Howard ultimately kept control of Milford Management and Milstein Properties. Seymour and Paul eventually settled their succession struggle in 2003, after lawsuits had torn the family apart, Forbes reported, and Seymour died in 2001.
A separate, earlier Milstein family legal fight produced a notable ruling: in 2002, the New York Appellate Division affirmed an order appointing a neutral referee to conduct a sealed-bid auction of the parties' Builtland Properties, according to records on CourtListener. An earlier appeal from a February 2002 order was dismissed as superseded by that June 2002 ruling.
Family Ties to Ogden CAP Properties
Philip co-founded Ogden CAP Properties alongside Connie and Abigail, the Post reports. Abigail is now a co-founder and principal at Ogden, having started her banking career at JPMorgan; she also serves on Columbia University's board of trustees, per the Post's reporting. Joanna, meanwhile, worked as an art historian in Florence and reportedly visited the Louvre with her mother when she was eight years old.
Attorney Peter Grossman, who represents the principals of Ogden CAP Properties and the Seymour Milstein family, has served in that capacity since 2002, according to a biography published by Dog Tag Inc.
Connie, for her part, previously lived in a Georgetown mansion and has appeared as a panelist speaking to women in real estate, the Post notes. She has said that working in a family business can require setting sensitivities aside — a sentiment that now sits uneasily alongside the courtroom battle unfolding between her and her closest relatives.
