process in Ulm - Adopted children have no inheritance right from Drogerieunternehmer Muller
Erwin Müller, the well-known entrepreneur from the Mueller drugstore chain, has won the inheritance dispute with his three adult adoptive children. In a ruling announced on Monday, the Ulm Regional Court dismissed the children's demand to declare a contract for waiving their inheritance share as null and void in a civil case. The court set the dispute value at 30 million Euro, the statutory maximum.
In 2015, Erwin Müller and his wife adopted three acquaintances as adults. At the time of the adoption application, the claimants waived their inheritance shares through a notarized contract. However, they later filed a lawsuit.
Court dismisses claim – judgment not yet binding
The court rejected the claimants' declaration that this waiver was invalid due to procedural errors. The court also found no grounds for it to be invalid based on formal reasons. Furthermore, the court could not detect any immorality in the waiver of inheritance shares.
During the oral hearing on May 6, 2024, the chamber could not be convinced, based on the testimony, that the adoptive children had been promised various financial commitments and pledges in exchange for their waiver of inheritance shares from the Müller couple. The court also stated that the adoptive children were already in the middle age at the time of adoption – this was not about young adults who could not grasp the implications of their waiver. The judgment is not yet binding.
Müller chain threatened with insolvency in inheritance dispute
According to media reports, the adoptive children are a married couple and the brother of the husband. Müller is said to have met them while hunting. The adoption reportedly took place after Müller's rift with his biological son.
The "Bild" newspaper estimated the potential inheritance share at 500 million Euro. Müller's wife Anita told the newspaper last year that, in the event of a successful claim, this would have serious consequences for the drugstore chain, as "the company would be bankrupt – and 40,000 employees would be unemployed". Müller allegedly wanted to revoke the adoption "due to gross ingratitude", but this could only be done with the consent of both parties and was rejected by the adoptive children.
Erwin Müller, the entrepreneur from the renowned Mueller drugstore chain based in Ulm, was involved in an inheritance dispute with his three adopted adult children. The court hearing took place in the Ulm Regional Court.
Despite the potential inheritance share worth 500 million Euro, as reported by the "Bild" newspaper, the court found no grounds to declare Erwin Müller's adopted children's waiver of inheritance shares invalid, and the judgment is yet to be binding.
