Mom Loses Court Battle Against Son Over $5K Bar Mitzvah Gift
Jordan Zeidman sued his mother for money she withheld from him for almost eight years. (Photo: Facebook/Jordan Zeidman)
A 20-year-old was awarded $5,000 from his estranged mother this week after he sued her for the bar mitzvah money she withheld for nearly eight years.
Jordan Zeidman, a student in Long Island, New York, told the court that his maternal grandmother promised him $5,000 during his 2007 bar mitzvah. According to court papers cited in the New York Post, Zeidman’s grandmother told the boy, “I’m going to give it to your mom to hold for you.” But Jordan never saw the money, until now. A judge ruled on Tuesday that Shirley Lynne Zeidman, Jordan’s mother, must give her son the money, plus 9 percent interest for the last eight years and lawyer’s fees, Jordan’s lawyer, Steven Cohn, tells Yahoo Parenting. That should amount to somewhere between $10,000 and $11,000, Cohn says.
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Jordan has long had a strained relationship with his mother, according to Cohn. “The parents were divorced in 1997 and the mother had custody of the three children, Jordan being the youngest,” Cohn tells Yahoo Parenting. “Because of a number of events, the children wound up being raised by their father. The relationship between children and mother deteriorated — she was not invited to the bar mitzvah, but she came with her mother nevertheless.”
That was when Jordan’s grandmother, Rachel Steinfeld, who the family called “Baba,” promised the money. “She was like, ‘I have $5,000 for you. Just like I gave to your brother and sister,’ ” Jordan said, according to the court papers cited in the Post.
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During the trial, Cohn says both Shirley and her mother denied that Jordan was promised the money, but the evidence — including a bank statement with a handwritten note in Shirley’s handwriting that said “I owe Jordan $190 + $5,000 from Baba” — proved otherwise.
Jordan did not respond to Yahoo Parenting’s request for comment, and neither Shirley Zeidman nor Steinfeld could be reached.
“In order for Jordan to get closure, he wanted to hold his mother accountable for taking his money, because she took a whole lot more from him than just that,” says Cohn. “He had a difficult time being in the same courtroom as her.”
The case has been going on for a year and a half, Cohn says, who adds that Tuesday’s verdict was validating for his client, who still has a great relationship with his father. “I think this was Jordan’s way of letting his mother know he still exists and he still has anger,” Cohn says. “I honestly don’t think it was really about the money, only a byproduct of what he felt he needed to do for himself. I think for Jordan this verdict meant a lot.”
Shirley’s lawyer, who did not respond to Yahoo Parenting’s request for comment, told the Post that he will likely appeal the decision, but Cohn says justice was served. “The judge wrote a very comprehensive decision based on the trial,” he says. “I don’t think there’s any question that it was the right decision.”
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