To stay a billionaire, the widow of Volkswagen's historic boss has no right to remarry

The millionaire, former president of Volkswagen and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, died on Monday at 82, leaving a considerable legacy. His fortune is estimated at 1.1 billion euros, according to Vermögen Magazin. What stir up greed. Especially in a complex family situation, of which he is one of the most fortunate members.

Many children, a family holding, two foundations

Via the Porsche SE family holding company, the Porsche and Piëch families control the VW Group, with 52.2% of the voting rights. Their total fortune is estimated at 37 billion euros, and some members of both families still sit on the supervisory board of Volkswagen, a supervisory board that retired Ferdinand Piëch in 2015.

In this already large family, where Porsche and Piëch do not necessarily always agree (it's an understatement), the clan Ferdinand holds a place apart. The former president is one of the most powerful in the holding, but he also has 12 children (13 according to Bild). He first had five with Corina, then two with Marlene Porsche, the wife of one of his cousins, and two others after an affair, as detailed in 2010 the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

With his last wife, Ursula, now 63, Ferdinand Pïech also had three children. And a life whose celibacy clause is only one of many twists and turns. At the beginning of their romance, in the 80s, he ensures that Ursula knows how to drive … "I asked him to take the wheel of an Iltis, which already was not self-evident, and start on a steep mountain road, she stalled several times, I already had a good glimpse of her. ", says Ferdinand Piëch in his autobiography, can we read in Libération.

In 2010, like these other flirtations, Ferdinand Piëch plays card on the table. It is necessary to protect the power of his clan, and only "Uschi" (the nickname of Ursula) seems to him able to preserve this family unit which passes by a financial unit. She has actually emerged over the years as the only person to whom Ferdinand Piëch trusted, as Les Echos explains in 2015.

Described as her heiress, Ursula can only really inherit if she does not remarry, could one already read at the time in the portrait that the FAZ devoted to him. And of course, if she did not leave Ferdinand.

The whole thing is recorded in the statutes of the two foundations of Austrian law, which are fiscally advantageous and manage the fortune of Piech since that date. Their names: Ferdinand Karl Alpha and Ferdinand Karl Beta, as … Ferdinand Karl Piëch, his full name.

To seal the unity, the tycoon forced his children to sign too strict statutes if they wanted their inheritance, reports Libération. Each legitimate child thus has two permanent seats, against one for non-legitimate children. At the presidency of the two foundations is Ursula Piëch, even though during his lifetime Ferdinand had his full say in the administration of his fortune. The statutes of the foundations also clearly frame their actions, reports the German press. It would be almost impossible for children to sell their shares in both foundations. If she remarries, Ursula loses the presidency of both foundations, as her seat on the advisory boards of both foundations. The Piëch, a couple and a family united, and not only until death separates them.

In France, a discriminatory clause, except in a specific case

Would such a clause of celibacy in a will be possible in France? It is most often considered discriminatory, explains a lawyer. The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights thus argues in its article 12 that "Every man has the right to marry".

Establishing a clause of celibacy could however be allowed in some inheritances in our country, when this clause was not to squander an inheritance, in order to protect the children, continues our specialist.