An inheritance worth almost two million euros, a secret daughter, a legal battle.
It was supposed to be a direct inheritance, and so it was until the recognition of a biological daughter threw the matter into court, reopening the 1.8 million euro inheritance issue.
The case concerns an entrepreneur from the province of Bologna who died six years ago. This inheritance was called into question when the Court recognized, in 2024, his relationship with his new wife, born of an extramarital affair, with direct effects on the will he had left.
In 2019, the entrepreneur, who was already ill, had filed a holographic will naming his wife as the universal heir: the two had also had a daughter, who unfortunately passed away. In July 2020, after the entrepreneur’s death, the notary certified the will.
But four years later, as mentioned, following the decision of the Bologna Court recognizing her as his daughter, the woman requested the annulment of the will, the reopening of the inheritance, and the freezing of the assets that had already been transferred to the widow.
In the decision, Judge Laura Fioroni of the First Civil Section of the Court, clarified – as reported by Corriere della Sera Bologna – that the testator’s possible knowledge of the daughter’s existence “is irrelevant”.
However, what is essential is the change in the family structure resulting from the judicial declaration of paternity. As stated in the decision, decision no. 1795/2024, which became final on October 29, 2024, by which the claim to the property was declared the biological daughter of the husband, “fulfills the requirement of the birth, after the drafting of the will, of a child of the testator”, producing the same effects as recognition and constituting the basis for the automatic revocation of the will./Mapo.al/