Estate Planning

The Beauty and Glamour of Estates, Trusts and Capacity Law

By Hull and Hull LLP

Who says estates law isn't glamorous?   A French judge in Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris, has recently rejected the second attempt by Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers to obtain guardianship over her mother, Liliane Bettencourt.  87-year-old Bettencourt is the sole heir of L'Oreal, the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company that her father founded in 1909. She is the richest woman in the world, with her current fortune estimated at 17 billion euros.

Bettencourt-Meyers failed to produce a medical certificate and 'in the absence of this document, nothing more can be done', the Paris official said.  

According to Aol News, Bettencourt-Meyers wishes to protect her mother from a celebrity photographer who befriended Bettencourt and to whom the heiress has given gifts totaling a billion dollars.  France24 reports that Bettencourt accuses her daughter of "vile doggedness" and impatience to get her hands on her fortune.      

Whether a guardianship application is motivated by the desire for power and money or genuine love and concern, a court will not interfere with an individual's autonomy lightly. For information on when a court will order a capacity assessment, see my previous blog on this topic here.

Sharon Davis

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on July 29, 2010 (boomark / email).