Dismissal of the Reduction Claims against Defendant 1

Facts

[A.], [B.], [C.], D., E. and F. are siblings. After the death of their parents, the division of the estate of the father (the Testator) is disputed.

During his lifetime, the Testator transferred various assets to his children, including a property with a residential building to A. (Defendant 1) in 1990. According to the publicly recorded "Assignment Contract on Account of Future Inheritance" dated March 8, 1990, the Testator transferred his property to [A.] free of charge on account of future inheritance. The parties determined the accounting value at CHF 400,000.

[B.], [C.] and D. (Plaintiffs 1-3) requested the determination and division of the Testator's estate and to subject the transfers of ownership to [A.], E. (Defendant 2) and F. (Defendant 3) to equalization, or alternatively, to reduction. The District Court partially upheld the reduction claims against the Defendants.

Defendant 1 filed an appeal, which the Cantonal Court dismissed. Before the Federal Supreme Court, Defendant 1 renews his requests to dismiss the reduction claims against him.

Considerations

According to the case law of the Federal Supreme Court, reduction requires that the Testator actually recognized the difference in value between the performance and the consideration at the time of the conclusion of the contract. The mere recognizability of a disproportion is not sufficient.

The Federal Supreme Court concludes that the…