Marseille| A legal battle over the ownership of one of the most famous castles of France, has finally ended this morning with an astonishing result. Louis-Édouard Reille-Soult, a homeless man living on the streets of France’s 2nd largest city and who is suspected by his relatives of having some mental health issues, was finally given the ownership of the property and a large part of the family fortune (estimated to approximately 230M$), despite the objections of his siblings, cousins and nephews.
The legal battle that lasted for years, was centered on the possession of Château du Plessis-Bourré, a Château of the Loire Valley in France, situated in the commune of Écuillé in the Maine-et-Loire department. It was built in less than 5 years from 1468 to 1472, by the Finance Minister Jean Bourré, an advisor of King Louis XI. It was acquired by the Reille-Soult de Dalmatie family in 1911 and classified as an historical monument in 1931.
The impressive castle is estimated at a value of 81 million Euros.
The castle was managed by Bruno and Antoinette de Ferrieres de Sauvebeuf from 1978 until January 2009, when Mr Ferrieres de Sauvebeuf passed away, followed by his wife a few months later. Le Plessis-Bourré remained until that time, one of the few french castles inhabited by its owner. Upon the death of the couple in 2009, a long and extremely complicated legal battle began between the heirs over the possession of the castle, as many relatives of the deceased contested the couple’s legal will which bequeathed everything to the homeless Louis-Édouard Reille-Soult, a distant relative of Antoinette.
The couple had justified in the will, their choice of bequeathing all of their possessions to a distant cousin, by explaining that he is their only relative who has “a noble heart” and who “is not avaricious”.
Other members of the family, including the couple’s children, had contested the deceaseds’ choice by claiming that Louis-Édouard was mentally deranged and therefore incapable of managing such a property and the money that came with it.The court finally ruled in favor of Mr. Reille-Soult, explaining that there was no clear evidence of his ineptitude. The 51-year old man is now allowed to move into his new residence, an experience which promises to be a little disorientating at first for the man who is used to sleeping in the streets or in shelters for homeless people.
The luxurious inside of the Château reflects the history of France in a way that is both sober and sumptuous.