Why should families take heed of the Alain Delon inheritance dispute?
Delon’s son Alain-Fabien Delon posted what he says is a recording of his sister Anouchka subjecting their father to alleged manipulation. In the secret recording, Anouchka can be heard telling Delon repeatedly that he and she are victims of a plot by his sons.
Delon’s sons believe their sister is seeking to manipulate their father and control his life. Since Delon’s stroke in 2019, he has allegedly been in a frail state of health and his sons say their sister has taken advantage of this to persuade him to move to Switzerland. For tax reasons, such a move is expected to enhance her share of the inheritance. The sons contend their father’s wellbeing is better served by remaining at his home in Douchy in France’s Loire region, which they claim is what he wants.
Lasting powers of attorney and deputyships
Situations like these highlight the importance of ensuring that an individual’s wishes for their future are recorded when they have capacity. In England and Wales, this is best achieved by use of lasting powers of attorney (LPAs). LPAs are documents in which an individual nominates one or more people to oversee their property and financial affairs, and/or health and welfare decisions when they can no longer do so.
Importantly, LPAs allow the individual to record any specific preferences or instructions, such as where they wish to live or if their attorneys should have the authority to agree to or refuse life-sustaining treatment. Up to four attorneys can be selected, and some individuals opt for a non-biased attorney (e.g., a family friend, or professional) to act amongst these. In Delon’s situation, an independent attorney could provide an objective view of Delon’s best interests, thereby mitigating any family tensions that arise over the management of his assets and medical care.
Where an individual has already lost capacity, it will not be possible for them to execute an LPA. In those circumstances, if there is a dispute over a decision affecting the individual, an application must be made on their behalf to the Court of Protection, either to determine that particular issue or to appoint a ‘deputy’ to make decisions for them more generally. This option is more costly and time consuming, a deputy’s powers are more restricted, and their actions more closely supervised than an LPA attorney. Otherwise, however, the two roles are similar. Most importantly, both deputies and attorneys must ensure that the decisions they make are in the individual’s best interests and in reaching that conclusion they must take on board the views of the individual themselves as well as that of their family members.
Manipulation and suspicion - building a claim
If it is suspected that someone is manipulating an elderly relative, as in Delon’s scenario, it is wise to document all suspicious activity - in case you should need to build a case and provide evidence to support your claims. This includes collating evidence of any unusual spending, expensive ‘gifts’, unexpected bank account changes, or missing valuables. It also includes gathering witness accounts of any strange behaviour and illustrative correspondence (e.g. emails, letters, and messages). Delon’s son Alain-Fabien’s recording of his sister may be useful in this sense; however, where a recording has been made covertly, the permission of the court is required to use it as evidence in England and Wales. It is widely believed that covert recordings are not admissible evidence, but in actual fact, the court will normally allow them as long as they have probative value and are reliable and relevant to the issues in dispute.
If the evidence demonstrates that manipulation of a vulnerable person has occurred, then the validity of any will they made at the time may be called in to question. A lesser-known ground of will challenge is ‘fraudulent calumny’, which applies where someone has ‘poisoned the testator’s mind’ against somebody else (as it is alleged Anouchka has done by describing herself and Delon as ‘victims’ of her brothers’ plot). Again, a substantial amount of evidence is required to demonstrate that a false representation has been made to the testator about the other person with the intention of inducing the testator to disinherit them (or leave more to the perpetrator). The court then decides on the balance of probabilities whether the false representation induced the testator to change their will. If so, that will must be set aside.
Comment
The family feud surrounding Alain Delon’s assets and autonomy marks a tragic final act for the star’s life. Nobody chooses for their family to fall out, but fame, fortune, and a failure to communicate wishes or carry out effective estate planning can render it inevitable. Aging heads of high-net-worth families would be wise to make their intentions for the future of their family’s wealth clear and to put in place structures and strategies for the transfer not just of that wealth, but also of their decision-making powers.
Samara Dutton is a partner and Abbie Armstrong is a trainee solicitor at Collyer Bristow.
