Intensely personal battle over Florida woman’s estate

It is about a 200-mile drive south of Brevard County to get to Morningside. The Miami neighborhood north of downtown was home to Andrea Greenberg, a well-known figure in the city’s real estate industry and her longtime boyfriend, Alejandro Aparicio. After Greenberg’s unexpected death last October at age 54, her family and friends began to suspect Aparicio, 60, of wrongdoing.

Suspicions intensified as it became clear that Aparicio withdrew large sums from his dead girlfriend’s bank account, including $10,000 on the day she died. An autopsy was inconclusive about the cause of her death, but a toxicology report stated that she died of “acute…drug toxicity” from the opioid fentanyl.

A friend said Greenberg’s “drug of choice” was shopping. Regardless of her loved ones’ suspicions, police say they are treating the death as an overdose unless evidence surfaces indicating otherwise.

Not long after her death, Aparicio filed a petition to probate a will — a will that made him sole beneficiary and executor of her estate (worth more than $1 million). Greenberg’s sister then an emergency petition to be appointed executor and in January, her attorney challenged the validity of the will.

The lawyer cited two sworn affidavits from Greenberg friends who said she was in Orlando on the day she supposedly signed the will in Miami-Dade County and had it notarized.

After a hearing was scheduled to determine the validity of the will, Aparicio withdrew his claim and petition for administration of his girlfriend’s estate.

According to a news report, Greenberg’s sister has since been appointed personal representative of the estate. At her request, the estate’s assets are frozen and the estate is asking Aparicio to leave the couple’s home. In return, Aparicio is seeking to recover $700,000 he claims to have spent to renovate the property.

We do not know how these disputes will be resolved, but it is clear that there is more than just significant sums at stake. For both sides, the differences are intensely personal.