Facts
On October 4, 1965, Dr. T. passed away in Bern. His legal heirs are his three daughters M., H. and D. Dr. T. left a holographic last will dated July 16, 1964, in which he laid down detailed provisions for the division of his estate.
The heiresses concluded a partial partition agreement on September 23, 1969. As they could not agree on the further division of the estate, M. filed a lawsuit against her two sisters on April 20, 1970. The Court of Appeal of the Canton of Bern, in its judgment of December 20, 1973, carried out the division of the remaining estate and assigned, among other things, the properties Beatusstrasse 32 and Dufourstrasse 47 in Bern to M.
D. appealed against this judgment to the Federal Supreme Court and requested that the property Dufourstrasse 47 be assigned to her.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court concluded that the assignment of the properties Beatusstrasse 32 and L. to M. by the testator in his will is to be considered as a partition provision and not as an advance legacy. The testator used the wording in his will that he "ordered that the following items be assigned to my daughter M. in the division of the estate", which indicates a partition provision.
Even if the testator wanted to favor M. out of gratitude for her services, this does not mean that he wanted to give her more than the difference between the market value and…