Hermès heir wants to bequeath part of his fortune to a domestic worker
Published: Friday, Dec 1st 2023, 19:20
Zurück zu Live Feed
A descendant of the founder of the French luxury fashion house Hermès wants to adopt a domestic worker. This employee is to receive part of his fortune of several billion Swiss francs.
Nicolas Puech, who is single and childless, has decided to "turn his estate upside down" and bequeath part of his assets to the 51-year-old employee: This was reported by the "Tribune de Genève" on Friday.
Puech lives in the canton of Valais and, according to the newspaper, is the largest single shareholder of the luxury brand known for its leather handbags. The magazine "Bilanz" estimates the Hermès heir's fortune at nine to ten billion Swiss francs.
According to the Geneva newspaper, Puech had instructed a lawyer in October 2022 to reorganize his estate and initiate adoption proceedings. According to the newspaper, adopting an adult is not impossible in Switzerland, but it is unusual. If the adoption procedure is successful, the domestic worker could inherit "at least half" of the billion-euro estate.
According to the newspaper report, the planned adoption has met with resistance. According to the report, Puech signed an inheritance contract in 2011 in favor of the Geneva-based foundation Isocrate, which supports journalistic projects to combat disinformation.
When asked by AFP, the foundation stated that it had "recently" learned of its founder's intention to revoke the inheritance contract. The foundation regrets that its charitable activities are threatened by circumstances "completely beyond its control".
©Keystone/SDA
German 
English 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic