It’s about a dubious will and 250,000 euros: In the family of Andreas Lederhofer from Munich, a thriller has broken out about the grandmother’s will. She had actually bequeathed her estate to the grandchildren – but suddenly the father, who had long since left the family, received everything. Did things go right?
Munich – For ten years, the grandson took care of his elderly grandmother – she had no contact with her son. But when it came to the inheritance, the son suddenly got in touch with his mother again – and secured the estate of 250,000 euros.
It is cases like these that make inheritance law so complex – Andreas Lederhofer (37) from Munich* experienced it himself, he is the grandson in the case described and says: “The whole family was surprised when my father became the sole heir. We only found out about this when the will was read.” Because the father had left the family years ago. In her will, Grandma had actually stipulated that Lederhofer should inherit, together with his sister and aunt.
The three of them had lovingly taken care of grandma and organized help when she was no longer able to take care of herself since January 2020. “Unfortunately, by the time she was 90 years old, she had deteriorated extremely,” says Andreas Lederhofer. “She no longer knew which of us was married to whom.” A neurologist did a test with the elderly woman in mid-2020. “By then she could no longer draw a dial.” Diagnosis: progressive dementia. Accordingly, the neurologist also found that the senior citizen is only partially able to testify.
Inheritance dispute in Munich: did the father take advantage of grandma’s dementia to get her inheritance?
The suspicion of the family: The father had exploited this situation – and secretly contacted his mother again. Because the grandmother had issued powers of attorney for the father and his new wife in May 2020 – unnoticed by the family. A year and a half later she died. Since then, the argument about the will has been smoldering: is the change in favor of the father valid? The probate court must now decide that. “Of course we fight for the inheritance,” says Lederhofer. “But for us it’s not about the money, it’s about the principle.”
Legally, the focus is primarily on whether the senior citizen was still able to testify. “We can’t imagine that she deliberately chose my father as the sole heir,” says Lederhofer, who hired lawyer Prof. Wolfgang Böh to handle the case. He says: “The question will arise as to whether the wills are invalid with regard to the ability of the testator to testify.” Legally, paragraph 2229 paragraph 4 of the German Civil Code applies. “The task will be to use medical information to have the state of health of the testator checked by an expert.”
Level 1 is about an underlying psychiatric illness (here dementia) and Level 2 is about the question “whether this underlying illness meant that the testator was no longer able to freely form his or her will. If this is confirmed by an expert, then the wills are invalid.” This also applies to a notarial will, “since the notary, as a medical layman, is not in a position to assess the state of health of the testator. In both cases we will conduct the proceedings before the probate court.” *tz.de/muenchen is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
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