The current occupants of the Château du Bosc, in Aveyron, where the painter Toulouse-Lautrec spent his childhood, do not have to pack their bags.
The Rodez Criminal Court on Wednesday dismissed the descendants of the artist who demanded that the property be returned to them and accused this sixty-year-old couple from Hérault of swindling and abuse of weakness.
At the center of this war of succession, Nicole Tapié de Celeyran, great-great-niece of Toulouse-Lautrec, who died on August 12, 2016, at the age of 91.
To the great disappointment of about fifteen "natural" heirs, and after having modified her will three times, she bequeathed the estate to this couple of friends, whom she had met barely a year earlier and who was staying with her at the château. for several months already.
The family is dismayed
The decision handed down on Wednesday was greeted with relief by the fingered heir and current owner of the castle.
“This is the victory of an old lady who fought all her life against her family,” he said.
"It is an unfortunate story of succession where ousted heirs react badly and see the evil where perhaps it is not", added Elian Gaudy the lawyer of the couple who expects, however, that the prosecution, who had required eighteen months' suspended prison sentence against his clients, is appealing.
As for the blood family, it is dismayed, according to their defender François Rastoul.
The Toulouse-Lautrec Museum in Albi was also a civil party in this case which should still experience twists and turns.
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