Judge decides not to sanction lawyer

WEST PALM BEACH — An attorney embroiled in the epic divorce of Burt and Lucille Handelsman won’t be slapped with sanctions for falsely accusing the “Mayor of Worth Avenue” with secreting away $1 million.

In a two-paragraph order Friday, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Scott Suskauer denied a request from Burt’s attorney to sanction lawyer Joel Weisman, who is representing Lucille in the couple’s war over their estimated $550 million real estate empire.

Weisman said he immediately disclosed his mistake. Unfortunately, he said, the accounting error wasn’t discovered until after he publicly berated 90-year-old Burt for squirreling away $1 million, claiming he did so to make sure he didn’t have to share it with his 89-yearold ex-wife.

In the request, attorney Alan Kluger claimed Weisman made “material misrepresentations to this court” to influence how to split the couple’s vast holdings, which include some of the toniest shops on Worth Avenue, bars and restaurants in Delray Beach and apartment and office buildings in upstate New York.

The trial, which began in February when Suskauer granted Lucille’s request for a divorce and has continued in fits and starts, will resume in July. Suskauer has been listening to real estate experts and forensic accountants in an effort to determine how to divide the real estate, much of which is also owned by the couple’s three adult children.

Already complex, the process is further complicated because the children no longer want to be in business with their father. For his part, Burt blames his children for spurring the divorce and has said he considers them his enemies. Lucille, who is known as Lovey, has decided to end her nearly 70-year marriage because Burt was in love with Fort Lauderdale lawyer Jane Rankin, the couple’s longtime legal adviser.