Widow achieves stage victory in inheritance dispute with daughter

Catherine von Furstenberg-Dussmann

The entrepreneur has been Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the Peter Dussmann Foundation since 2011.

(Photo: Dussmann Group)

Dusseldorf Catherine von Fürstenberg-Dussmann is rarely seen in public. Late on Wednesday afternoon, however, the Chair of the Dussmann Group’s Board of Trustees had a video distributed. In it she says: “Today the court confirmed the last will of my husband, Peter Dussmann, and I am very grateful for that.”

The district court of Berlin decided on Wednesday in the family’s inheritance dispute in favor of the 72-year-old. Accordingly, she is three-quarters heir to her husband, who died in September 2013. The counterclaims by her daughter Angela Göthert were dismissed in their entirety. The verdict is not yet available.

For years, von Fürstenberg-Dussmann has been fighting with her daughter over the will of Peter Dussmann, who founded the group and made it big. It’s about hundreds of millions of euros. The Dussmann Group, which grew up with cleaning and care services and also operates the Kulturkaufhaus in Berlin, recently had a turnover of 2.31 billion euros.

In April 2014, Fürstenberg-Dussmann filed an action for a declaratory judgment with the Berlin District Court. Dussmann left her 75 percent of the estate and not just 50 percent as claimed by her daughter Angela Göthert. Dussmann had ordered the change in favor of his wife when he was already seriously ill. His daughter denies that her father was still able to make this decision of his own free will.

In Wednesday’s video, von Fürstenberg-Dussmann goes on to say that a long nine years have passed: “Sometimes this very personal family matter was difficult and painful for me.” But she felt it was important to stand up for her husband to ensure that his desires be granted.

The inheritance dispute at Dussmann could continue

It is possible that her daughter would appeal. But she is confident and hopes for a reconciliation: “That me and my daughter Angela can put all this behind us and write a new chapter in our lives.” Life is too short, concludes von Fürstenberg-Dussmann.

When asked by the Handelsblatt, Andreas Urban, lawyer for the Dussmann subsidiary Angela Göthert, said: “We will review the verdict and then make a decision as to whether we should take action.” The verdict can be appealed to the Court of Appeal.

Von Fürstenberg-Dussmann had already achieved a partial success in 2019. At that time, brain researcher Pedro Faustmann confirmed in a report that in May 2010 company founder Peter Dussmann was able to voluntarily change his will from 1981 – as his widow claims.

At the time the will was changed, Dussmann was in a clinic in Berlin after a stroke in October 2008 and a fall in spring 2009. At times he was barely responsive. Even at that time there was little hope that the entrepreneur would ever recover.

According to the widow, Dussmann did not agree with his son-in-law, the esotericist Roland Göthert. He didn’t even show up for the wedding. That’s why he wanted to make his daughter worse off than originally planned.

The group of companies has long been managed by a foundation headed by von Fürstenberg-Dussmann. The company structures are designed in such a way that “our company is not affected by personal matters,” she said when the figures were presented in spring 2022.

More: Dussmann posts record sales – and intends to continue growing in technical services

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