How Europe’s richest woman lost her fortune

As Gina Rinehart prepares to take on her children in the New South Wales Supreme Court, she could do worse than look to France, where a dispute between Europe’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, and her children has ended with a court declaring the 88-year-old unfit to manage her financial affairs.

Bettencourt, whose fortune is valued at $US23.5 billion thanks to her 30% stake in the cosmetics giant L’Oreal, is the 15th richest person in the world, according to Forbes.

For more than two years she has been locked in a bitter fight with her only daughter, Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers, over control of the family empire.

Francoise launched action in 2009 to protect her mother from what she claimed was extreme financial exploitation. Francoise alleged that a photographer named Francois-Marie Banier had charmed more than $1 billion out of Liliane, who also named the photographer as her sole heir in a new will and as beneficiary to her large life insurance policies.

This action was settled late last year, with Banier agreeing to renounce his right to the life insurance policies and Liliane agreeing to draw up a new will. There was even a public reconciliation between mother and daughter.

But a few months ago Francoise launched fresh action to become her mother’s guardian after Liliane agreed to pump €170 million into the company of a client of her lawyer, Pascal Wilhem, who has co-incidentally been appointed to manage Liliane’s affairs.

The court agreed. According to a report in Le Monde, a medical report relied on by the court said Liliane is battling “mixed dementia” and “moderately severe” Alzheimer’s disease.

The court appointed Francoise and her children to oversee Liliane’s business affairs, while grandson Jean-Victor Meyers has been appointed to watch her physical and mental health.

The sad affair does not appear to be over.

Liliane’s lawyer said he would immediately appeal the decision and said he would find it hard to tell her of the decision.

Liliane is unlikely to take it well. In an interview published on Sunday, the still feisty Liliane threatened to leave France if she was placed under guardianship.

“If it’s that, I will go abroad. If my daughter looks after me, I would feel stifled. If it’s her, I will leave,” she said.

There are a few big questions raised by this case.

If a child believes their ageing parent is being taken advantage of, should they act? Even if that parent considers themselves to be mentally sharp and highly capable?

These are extraordinarily difficult questions to answer at the best of times, but when $24 billion is involved they become fraught with potential problems.

Perhaps the best lesson is that it is crucial that strong succession plans must be put in place as early as possible and they should try and account for issues like that faced by the Bettencourt family.