Acquitted murder defendant and real estate heir Robert Durst has filed a civil suit against his brother and cousin, claiming they changed the terms of a family trust to bar Durst from willing his share to his wife.

Robert Durst's father, Seymour, established the trusts in 1962 to benefit the 13 grandchildren of New York real estate magnate, Joseph Durst — whose legacy includes several office buildings in New York, including the renowned 4 Times Square building.

Durst's lawyers filed the 37-page complaint Monday in Manhattan U.S. District Court.

The former cross-dressing fugitive accuses his cousin Jonathan and brother Douglas of amending the original agreement with the intention of limiting Durst's control over how he decides to dispose of his assets when he dies.

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"These restrictions directly contravene the express power granted to Robert Durst by the controlling trust agreements, which clearly and unambiguously authorize Robert Durst to appoint his trust interests and property to his 'spouse' and 'wife,'" the suit claims.

The suit also accuses Jonathan Durst and Douglas Durst, both trustees and beneficiaries of the fund, of attempting to gain "absolute control over ... entities and properties held by Robert Durst by wrongfully purporting to restrict [his] right to appoint such interests upon his death to his wife, Debrah Lee Charatan."

The law office of Richard Siegler, long-time Durst family legal counsel, told Courttv.com that it had not yet received a copy of the suit and therefore would not comment on the matter.

The suit notes, however, that after Durst informed the trustees that he refused to comply with the terms, they wrote back, in a letter dated May 30, 2003, that they intended to "zealously to defend their actions, which were taken for the benefit of the beneficiaries of all the trusts."

Family ties

Durst's family did not learn of his December 2000 marriage to Charatan until he was arrested on Oct. 9, 2001, for murdering his neighbor in Galveston, Texas — where Durst was keeping hiding amid suspicions he was involved in the death of a friend in California.

The peculiar millionaire eventually was acquitted of chopping up Morris Black and dumping his body in the nearby bay.

He is currently facing charges of evidence tampering — for chopping up Black's body — and bond jumping — for fleeing Texas while out on bail.

The suit claims the news of his marriage "had significant financial implications for Robert Durst's relatives," who stood to gain his assets should he die unmarried and without children.

About a week after the marriage became public, shareholders met with trustees Jonathan and Douglas Durst, the suit alleges. They amended terms of the original trust to require that, among other restrictions, trustees must name lineal descendents of Joseph Durst as 50 percent trustees of all assets.

In doing so, the suit alleges, the trustees "improperly engaged in self-dealing and with a clear conflict of interest."

The suit also claims the relatives, as trustees, breached their fiduciary duty to Durst by "failing to administer the trusts in a manner consistent with the wishes of Seymour Durst" and for attempting to "secure future control over and ownership of the trust business interests for their own benefit."

Richard Siegler is also named in the suit for allegedly acting "in furtherance of his own personal interests" for allowing the changes to take place, "despite knowing of Jonathan Durst's and Douglas Durst's conflicts of interest and self-dealing.

The suit seeks unspecified damages in addition to the nullification of the terms and restrictions created by the Oct. 2003 shareholders agreement and subsequent amendments.

Durst remains in custody in Galveston even after a judge lowered his bail from $3 billion to $450,000.