Wills for patchwork families

When Spanish artist Pablo Picasso passed away in 1977 in France, he bequeathed around 2000 paintings, 1300 sculptures. 3000 ceramics objects, 18000 lithographs and various sketches – and a variegated patchwork family, consisting of his second wife Jaqueline Roque, his son Paolo from his first marriage and the three children Maja, Claude and Paloma he had outside of his marriage.

As the artist did not leave a written will a family drama was inevitable. Shortly before that, French inheritance laws had been changed, permitting Maja, Claude and Paloma to be legally recognized as heirs along with Picasso ´s legitimate child Paolo.

The heirs entered into a bitter dispute over the estate, which lasted for more than four years and burnt over 30 million euros.

In 1979 when spirits eventually calmed, the family made a huge donation to the French government in order to pay of the enormous inheritance tax, almost 230 paintings, 149 sculptures, 85 ceramic objects and about 1500 sketches.

The Picasso case shows that patchwork families, being quite common especially in big cities, have to face huge struggles without a last will. This is even more true in view of the German legal system, containing a lot of complicated regulations on communities of heirs. Those cases contain a predisposition to a reprocessing of past traumas through legal instruments.

It is crucial to consider, which measures have to be taken to exclude or at least reduce the statutory portion. Is the stepfather or stepmother appointed as heir the risk of a dispute concerning the inheritance increases dramatically as the legitimate children fear an undue preference of the step-parent ´s own children.

In addition to the creation of a last will it can be advisable – as far as an equal treatment of own and the partner ´s children is desired.- to consider an adoption, as up to now stepchildren are solely treated on equal terms in regards of inheritance tax regulations. Thus stepchildren are entitled to inherit and be beneficiaries of the compulsory portion.