Facts
In the present case, it concerned the estate of the deceased E., who left his wife and five children as legal heirs. The main asset of the estate was a property, the valuation and allocation of which the heirs could not agree on. The son S. (the appellant) offered to take over the property, whose market value was estimated at 150,600 Swiss francs, for a payment of 41,000 Swiss francs, which the other heirs rejected.
Since the heirs could not reach an agreement, the daughters T., U., V. and W. (the respondents) requested the competent division authority of the municipality of G. to order the public auction of the inheritance property. The division authority granted the request and ordered that the property be publicly auctioned after the decision became legally binding. The appellant unsuccessfully filed cantonal legal remedies against this order.
Considerations
According to the Federal Supreme Court, the division authority is entitled, within the scope of its decision on the type of auction (public or only among the heirs), to also answer preliminary substantive legal questions, as long as the inheritance division court has not yet made a legally binding decision and no inheritance division lawsuit is pending.
This includes, if necessary, the examination of whether the petitioning heir is entitled to the inheritance and whether the requested sale of the inheritance asset by way…