Invalid Sale of a Holiday Home Property by the Guardian to His Stepdaughter

Facts

The case concerns the sale of a holiday home property that the ward Sabine B. had inherited from her deceased parents. The then-guardian A. applied to the Guardianship Authority of Münchenstein for the sale of the property to his stepdaughter S. at a price of CHF 80,000. The Guardianship Authority approved the sale without appointing a representative guardian for Sabine B.

After the guardianship was transferred to Dr. Sumpf in Basel-Stadt, the sale was challenged, as there had been a conflict of interest between the guardian and the buyer. The Civil Court, the Court of Appeal, and ultimately the Federal Supreme Court upheld the claim.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court states that according to Art. 392 para. 2 of the Swiss Civil Code (ZGB), a representative guardian must be appointed even in the mere possibility of a conflict of interest between the guardian and the contracting party. This was the case here, as the guardian lived in the same household as his stepdaughter.

Without the appointment of a guardian, the guardian could not validly represent the ward in the sale of the property. The purchase contract is therefore non-binding for Sabine B.,…