The Robins name resonates through Miami Beach like an emergency siren when a hurricane makes landfall — clear, insistent, impossible to ignore. For decades, Gerald “Jerry” Robins, the patriarch, helped shape the city’s skyline; his business acumen matched only by the devotion he showed to his family. But when Jerry passed away on Oct. 2, 2022, after a 20-year battle with cancer, he left behind not just a real estate legacy, but also a family feud that has grown bitter and public.
Miami Beach broker Stacy Robins, one of Jerry’s daughters, is convinced that such a pioneer would have left behind a legacy worth eight figures or more.
But her three siblings, Scott Robins, Craig Robins and Gina Robins, have maintained for years that Jerry’s assets total just over $3 million.
The second generation has been fighting it out in court for more than two years in a dispute that puts millions of dollars at stake, plus something even more valuable: the fragile bonds of real estate scions. Their 87-year-old mother, Joan, is caught in the crossfire, since her name is on joint accounts holding millions of dollars, which were allegedly part of her late husband’s sole ownership assets.
The three siblings fueled Stacy’s suspicions because they were not initially forthright about their father’s personal wealth, court records show. In June 2023, Scott, Craig and Gina filed a petition in Miami-Dade probate court that vaguely referred to three potential assets belonging to Gerald’s estate with no dollar amount attached to them. A month later, after Stacy objected to their filing, her siblings submitted an amended petition that provided a more detailed breakdown of some assets totalling more than $3 million.
But money remained unaccounted for. After more legal challenges from Stacy, her family members conceded an additional $6.1 million from investment accounts in Gerald’s name; these were transferred weeks prior to his death to joint accounts under his and Joan’s names, court records show.
Still, Stacy believes there may be a fortune far greater than the $9.3 million that’s been unearthed. In court filings, Stacy alleges the other Robins’ family members conspired to move and hide more than $30 million in assets, therefore slashing the amount of the inheritance she’s set to receive, which now stands at a little over $1 million.
Joan and her three other children responded through their attorney, Peter Prieto, who said Stacy’s legal challenges are without merit.
“She continues to repeat unsubstantiated claims that a court-appointed, neutral third party has investigated, at great expense to the estate, and found to be without any basis in law or fact,” Prieto said in an email. “We hope that Stacy will accept reality and rejoin the family so that this matter can be put behind all of us.”
Stacy maintains that she’s fighting in court to obtain an accurate valuation of Jerry’s estate and the proper distribution of all of his assets to his children, including her, she told The Real Deal in a statement.
“I have faced significant challenges in obtaining information about my inheritance,” she said. “I am pursuing my legal rights through the court process to ensure transparency and adherence to my father’s wishes as outlined in his estate planning documents.”
Death and divisions
The Robins case is not unique in South Florida’s real estate circles, where fortunes are made and lost, and family feuds can play out in the glare of public scrutiny. But the Robins saga stands out for its intensity and the high profile of those involved.
Jerry moved from New York to Miami Beach in the 1950s, establishing himself among a second wave of developers and real estate investors after pioneer Carl Fisher began building the city in the 1920s. Gina and Craig are his children from his first marriage. In 1972, Jerry tied the knot with Joan; Stacy and Scott are Joan’s children from her first marriage. Jerry adopted Joan’s children the same year the couple wed.
Jerry amassed an empire of businesses, properties and investments, including an ownership stake in media publishing companies founded by former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine.
Two of his children became developers in their own right. Scott owns Miami Beach-based Scott Robins Companies, which has co-developed projects with Levine in the city’s Sunset Harbour and other neighborhoods. Recently, Scott and Levine listed a development site in Miami’s trendy Wynwood neighborhood for $26 million. Last year, the duo partnered with Miami-based Tricera Capital to buy a distressed retail building on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road for $13.6 million from Aby Rosen’s RFR Realty.
“Dad had this inimitable capacity to give us all the tools and simultaneously stay in the background. He simply made it happen and we all, while following his wisdom, still felt we did it ourselves.”
Craig leads Miami-based Dacra, which partnered with L Catterton Real Estate and New York-based Brookfield Properties to transform the Miami Design District into a luxury fashion and arts destination. The joint venture is the largest landowner in the Miami Design District, and last year added two retail buildings in the neighborhood to its portfolio for a combined $32 million.
When he entered the real estate business in the late 1980s, Craig represented his father in successfully negotiating a partnership with Tony Goldman, a late pioneering developer, to invest in the renovation of a South Beach Art Deco hotel on Ocean Drive.
Gina is not in the real estate business, but Stacy runs her own luxury real estate brokerage, most recently representing the buyer who paid $23.5 million for an oceanfront Miami Beach home that belonged to Greek-American billionaire Dean Metropoulos.
The Robinses seemed close-knit. On his Instagram account, Craig often posts nostalgic photos. A 2019 post shows him, Gina, Scott and Stacy flanking Joan and Jerry with the caption, “Celebrating my mom’s forthcoming birthday with my wonderful family and some of her closest friends.” In another photo from the same year, Jerry has his arms around Craig and Stacy, all three February birthdays, celebrating at the Forge restaurant in Miami Beach.
“Dad had this inimitable capacity to give us all the tools and simultaneously stay in the background,” the children wrote in his obituary. “He never needed credit or praise from us or the public. He simply made it happen and we all, while following his wisdom, still felt we did it ourselves.”
But months after Jerry was laid to rest, the unity fractured. Upon his death, half of his estate would be split among his four children, with Stacy and Gina each getting 35 percent and Scott and Craig — whose own real estate careers made them independently successful — each getting 15 percent.
But the problem was how much was in the pot to begin with.
The three siblings said the estate had roughly $3.2 million in it, according to an amended petition.
In June 2023, after her siblings filed court petitions to be representatives of Jerry’s estate, Stacy launched her legal battle against them, accusing them of excluding roughly $6.1 million from the tally of their father’s assets.
The $6.1 million discrepancy, Stacy argued, was no accounting error. She believed her siblings were deliberately omitting assets — specifically, four investment accounts and the minority stake in two Miami Beach commercial properties — from the probate process, in violation of their father’s will.
The legal war over Jerry’s will
In her petition, Stacy objected to her siblings being named as co-personal representatives of the estate and called for an independent curator to oversee the process.
Stacy’s siblings and her mother denied any wrongdoing. At the time, the foursome provided a statement to TRD that they had been “fully transparent with Stacy and has given her complete access to information regarding the assets in Jerry’s estate.” Yet, over the past two years, they have tried to stymie Stacy’s motions to obtain financial records and other documentation.
Stacy and her family members did agree to have a court-appointed curator, Miami-based lawyer Marsha Madorsky, who specializes in estate, trust and guardianship matters, oversee Jerry’s estate and address her concerns, court records show.
In September of last year, Madorsky submitted an updated inventory list of Jerry’s assets that included the $6.1 million, increasing the total to $9.3 million, and thus validating Stacy’s contention that those funds were part of the estate when her siblings allegedly transferred the money to their parents’ joint accounts before Jerry’s death.
Still, Stacy objected that Madorsky had not dug deeper to locate other investments her father had after the curator informed the presiding judge, Bertila Soto, that she had not been able to turn up any other assets.
But Soto sided with Madorsky in denying Stacy’s lawyers from conducting their own discovery and issuing subpoenas to her relatives and people with knowledge of the assets, including former Miami Beach Mayor Levine, court records show.
Through corporate entities, Jerry had a minority stake valued at up to $3.6 million in two office buildings on 9th Street and Alton Road in Miami Beach owned by Levine’s media publishing company.
A month later, Stacy filed a civil lawsuit against Joan and her three siblings, accusing them of tortuous interference. In her complaint, Stacy alleges her mom, Scott, Craig and Gina worked to turn Jerry against her during the final months of his life by making disparaging remarks and false accusations about her.
The lawsuit does not go into detail about what they allegedly said about Stacy, but it states that her relatives did so in order to “be in a position to easily [and] unduly influence Gerald to transfer or gift themselves substantial assets and/or to execute new beneficiary designation forms naming themselves and/or their children as beneficiaries.”
At the time, Jerry was heavily medicated with painkillers as his condition gradually deteriorated, the complaint states. Stacy alleged her biological brother Scott was the ringleader.
“During the final weeks of Gerald Robins’ bout with cancer, Scott Robins never left their father’s side,” the lawsuit alleges. “Nearly every time Stacy Robins visited her father, Scott Robins was there. With the exception of approximately one hour, Stacy Robins never had a moment alone with her father during this time period.”
Stacy’s smoking gun?
As part of her court pleadings, Stacy included a Stifel client profile for a money market account that listed Jerry Robins’ net worth at between $30 million and $40 million and noted he had liquid assets between $10 million and $20 million. Scott is listed as a trusted contact person.
Stacy and her attorneys contend the Stiefel client profile offers some evidence that Jerry’s estate is worth way more than $9.3 million, and that curator Madorsky is not doing her job to track down missing accounts.
Joan and her siblings had access to all of Jerry’s financial records, investment accounts and accountants up until his death, and they “wrongfully caused Gerald to transfer millions of dollars’ worth of assets out of [his] individual name to Defendants and/or for their benefit,” the lawsuit states.
Stacy’s relatives took advantage of Jerry’s weakened physical and mental state, she alleged, adding that he was suffering from a “severely diminished capacity” and would have lacked the ability to authorize the transfers. A month before his death, Jerry was receiving at-home hospice care, which is normally provided when a person is nearing end of life.
A week before Jerry died, her siblings allegedly made Jerry change the ownership of the Stiefel account, which held $4.2 million, from his name to both him and Joan, the complaint states. Scott was allegedly given authority over the account. Then, two days before Jerry’s death, Stacy’s relatives allegedly had Jerry convey another investment account with $1.2 million from his sole ownership to joint ownership between him and his wife. Stacy’s mother and siblings also allegedly transferred Jerry’s stake in Levine’s Alton Road properties to themselves.
“While Gerald was under the influence of these potent pharmaceuticals, Scott brought Gerald documents to sign, and assets that Gerald owned were conveyed out of his ownership—some into a trust, and some to his surviving spouse, Joan,” the lawsuit states. “But for these conveyances, these assets would constitute part of Gerald’s probate estate.”
Stacy alleged Scott has signatory authority over the new accounts in their mother’s name, giving him de facto control over the funds.
But at an April 22 hearing, Judge Soto stayed Stacy’s lawsuit while her challenge of the probate case remains pending.
According to a hearing transcript, Madorsky told Soto that Gerry’s Stifel client profile was filled out by one of the firm’s brokers who wrote $30 million to $40 million “based on a guesstimate that he had did, and that Mr. Robins never gave him that information.” Madorsky claimed the broker told her so during a phone conversation and that she would be taking his deposition.
As the legal battle drags on and the search for the money becomes more — not less — mysterious, the personal toll is evident. The Robins siblings, once united by family and fortune, now find themselves estranged, their relationships strained by accusations and counter-accusations.