Tyrolean case to OGH

Wills of an old farmer turned into a thriller

The documents and wills that emerged (symbolic image) were recognized in court, they benefited the sisters.

(Bild: thinkstockphotos.de)

The son (70) of a deceased Tyrolean farmer is fighting for his inheritance; he considers his father's 17 handwritten wills to be forgeries. An odyssey between the courts and a desperate poster campaign ensued.

The tricky case got rolling back in 2014. One of the sisters of the now 70-year-old called the relevant district authority and claimed that there had been no residential or farm building on the farm above the village for 60 years. This was the basis for the dissolution of the farm while the old farmer was still alive; he died in 2017.

Son worked on the farm and was sure of his inheritance
His son, who had worked on the farm all his life and had been making investments since 1980, assumed that he was the heir. With reference to a notarized will from 2004.

17 handwritten documents turned up
But things turned out differently: suddenly, 17 handwritten wills favoring the sisters appeared. The now 70-year-old did not recognize this, was able to take three of the documents and suspected forgeries. A dispute arose at the district court. A handwriting expert confirmed the authenticity of the 17 letters ("very likely from the same person").

Forgeries were compared with forgeries.

Der Sohn des verstorbenen Altbauern

"But only because forgeries were essentially compared with forgeries!" emphasized the losing party. Two of his sisters had cleared out the entire house after the old farmer's death - including all the "real" documents.

The "7" is curved differently in the upper documents than in the comparison below - an indication of forgery for the son, but an expert disagreed.

(Bild: privat)

Reaction to expert opinion neglected
The son's lawyer says today: "A counter-expert opinion should have been submitted back then." The lawyer neglected to do this shortly before his retirement. Among other things, the son, who felt disadvantaged, pointed to the number "7", which was written completely differently in the father's documents than in the alleged wills. An odyssey began with the authorities, the public prosecutor's office and the public prosecutor's office, and during a visit to the village by LH Anton Mattle, a poster was put up to shake up the decisions.

Poster appeal for help during a visit by LH Anton Mattle to the lowlands

(Bild: Privat, Krone KREATIV)

On the secondary front, even at the OGH
The son's lawyer has now appealed to the Supreme Court (OGH). He found an irregularity in the files (due to the settlement of wills) and an "incorrect legal assessment". The latter concerns another front in the complex case: another son of the old farmer has been living in the officially abandoned farm for two and a half years - quite obviously unannounced. The dispute over this and how this should be assessed under inheritance law is a matter for the Supreme Court. The 70-year-old is supposed to pay 166,699 euros to his brother and is despairing over this case.