Behind the thin veil of wealth, opulence and notoriety, sometimes there lurks malcontent, betrayal and even viciousness that are contained within a bubble of exclusivity.
However, when a rich individual dies, this bubble often bursts and reveals the hidden truths. This is what happened with Maria Malfatti, an Italian woman who died in November 2023, and had enormous wealth that exceeded R101 million.
Malfatti, who died at the age of 80 was a descendent of Valeriano Malfatti, a former mayor of Rovereto (an Italian city) and vice-president of Vienna’s Parliament.
She is said to have held a variety of valuable assets, notably many flats, a historic property in the town centre, and large quantities of money in bank accounts.
Yet Malfatti had never married and had no children to bequeath the family money to, so her nephews were set to receive everything.
But the heiress obviously had different intentions, as she opted to give everything to the woman who had cared for her in the last years of her life.
According to la Repubblica, the woman’s relatives were clearly startled to find that they had all been passed over in favour of the woman who had served as the elder’s caretaker.
“Obviously, the legitimate heirs did not stand idly by: as soon as they heard about their relative's will, they filed a complaint with the Rovereto prosecutor's office, assisted by the lawyer Luca Fedrizzi,” la Repubblica reported.
According to the report, the nephews said their relative in the last period of her life was no longer very lucid and they reportedly think the assistant took advantage of her and that is how she was named the sole heir.
The deceased woman’s nephews are said to believe that the caretaker named herself as the only heir to the Malfatti fortune, thereby excluding them from the will.
A judge agreed to freeze all assets while an inquiry is conducted.
IOL