Facts
In this case, it was about the lawsuit of the legal heirs for the declaration of invalidity of two testamentary dispositions of the testator Gustav Treichler-Schneider dated April 8, 1949. The heirs claimed that these dispositions were invalid because the testator had already been incapable of judgment at the time of their creation. The defendant, the testator's foster son, disputed the standing of the plaintiffs. The Cantonal Court of Zurich dismissed the claim, as it considered the plaintiffs to lack standing. The plaintiffs then appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court held that the plaintiffs as legal heirs do indeed have a material interest in the declaration of invalidity of the dispositions of April 8, 1949. For if these dispositions were declared invalid, the estate would not go to the heirs appointed in the will of June 5, 1945, the spouses Lattmann-Schneider, but to the plaintiffs as legal heirs. The Federal Supreme Court adhered to its established case law, according to which a judgment on a will contest action only has effect between the parties to the proceedings. Therefore, the spouses Lattmann-Schneider, who did not contest the dispositions of April 8, 1949, could not…