A dispute is raging over the legacy of the entrepreneur who died in 2021.
(Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Dusseldorf Robin Brühmüller could soon be a very rich man: The executor of the will of entrepreneur Heinz Hermann Thiele (Knorr-Bremse, Vossloh), who died in spring 2021, has achieved a stage victory before the Munich probate court.
The lawyers for Thiele’s widow Nadia wanted to get Brühmüller removed as executor. They failed: After the court had already dismissed an application against Brühmüller’s dismissal on July 13, 2022, the complaint has now also been dismissed.
Nadia Thiele wants to get rid of Brühmüller because he could demand far too high a fee from her point of view. In the will, Thiele wrote that the executor would be paid according to the new “Rhenish table”.
Thiele was a fully qualified lawyer – and should have known exactly what was happening
A percentage is deposited there for large fortunes. For very large inheritances – from five million euros – 1.5 percent can be calculated. But Thiele’s legacy is bigger than big. His company investments and real estate portfolio are said to be worth several billion euros.
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According to the probate court, the remuneration recorded in the will is no reason to withdraw Brühmüller’s mandate. As a fully qualified lawyer and successful businessman, Thiele was able to read, understand and question the will he had written. The deceased was by no means a layman who could have been manipulated by his advisor. The opposite is true: Thiele has repeatedly dealt with the will and thought it through.
>> Read also: Power gamble over the multi-billion dollar legacy of the Knorr- Bremse patriarch
For Nadia Thiele’s lawyers, the decision is a reason to appeal to the next instance, the Munich Higher Regional Court. In addition, they continue to fight on another front. You have filed your own lawsuit before the Munich I District Court, which explicitly concerns Brühmüller’s level of remuneration.
Through “fraudulent behavior towards the testator”, he had the effect that the supposedly “normal” remuneration should be applied in this case. The executor had thus enriched himself by enormous sums. This was never the intention of Heinz Hermann Thiele.
There are 225 million euros or more for Brühmüller
Brühmüller’s lawyers have submitted a brief rejecting the allegations made in the lawsuit. In it they reveal for the first time that the Thiele executor considers remuneration in the three-digit million range to be conceivable.
Brühmüller’s lawyers write that the fee for the executor of the will, who takes care of securing the life’s work of the testator, could well be in the order of 225 million euros or more. With an estate value of 15 billion euros, this cannot be regarded as inappropriate. A spokesman for Brühmüller did not want to comment on this when asked.
The Munich I public prosecutor’s office is investigating the executor, initiated by the lawyers Nadia Thieles. Thomas Fischer from the law firm Gauweiler & Sauter had come to the conclusion in an expert opinion that Brühmüller could possibly be liable to prosecution in connection with the drafting of the Thiele will.
Among other things, it is about the suspicion of infidelity and fraud. On November 7, investigating officers even searched the premises of Brühmüller’s law firm in downtown Munich, that of his longtime notary, the premises of the Thiele asset management company Stella in Grünwald, and offices at Knorr-Bremse that Brühmüller used. The executor denies the allegations.
More: Heinz Hermann Thiele’s widow files a lawsuit