Sibling rivalry takes on a new and unhealthy twist with the New York Post’s recent revelation that the adult children of the late real estate magnate Abe Hirschfeld have been engaged in an unseemly battle in the New York County Surrogate’s Court.

Hirschfeld , long a colorful character one New York’s real estate and political scene died in 2005. Court papers now show that his daughter Rachel has accused his son Elie of forcing Mt. Sinai Hospital to take extraordinary measures to prolong his life in order to save a 300 million dollar real estate deal, even though this was allegedly against medical advice and meant exposing his father to having to suffer through his last days in great pain.

Elie is accused by his sister of attempting to steal his father’s real estate assets. A provision in the deal that was purportedly concocted to accomplish this would have caused it to collapse it Hirschfeld pre-deceased the completion of the agreement. Medical and court records repeatedly referenced the dysfunctional nature of the Hirscheld’s relationship and the need for intervention.

There must be more to this than money. The idea that a sixty-something child of an enormously wealthy person needs three hundred million dollars to himself or herself to the exclusion of a sibling is mind-boggling. Again, your lawblogger must point out that one of the duties of a parent is to do whatever can be done to see to it that his or her children love each other. The Hirschfeld’s are prime examples of this.