The trial of a Valencian notary accused of falsifying the will of an elderly woman with no direct descendants and brain damage in 2012 has the backdrop of the battle for the millionaire estate bequeathed by the deceased: 12.1 million euros. The will, signed by the woman with her fingerprint, included as the main heir the Gozalbo Marqués Foundation, a social assistance entity founded in Madrid by the deceased a few months before she suffered her first stroke. She also bequeathed to her late husband’s nephews, also patrons of the entity. The president of the foundation, retired general José Luis MC, and priest Javier RM, patron of the entity, received a total of 650,000 euros. In addition, the head of administration and the old woman’s tax advisor obtained an inheritance of 650,000 euros each. If the will is declared null, the funds will go to the Generalitat Valenciana, according to regional regulations. Manuel MP, the second cousin of the deceased who reported the facts to the Prosecutor’s Office, would take a small bite of the inheritance if the possibility is opened for the Autonomous Administration of inheriting intestate (the legal term that refers to the procedure for allocating assets in the assumption of a void will).
The last session of the trial, held this Friday before the second section of the Provincial Court of Valencia, included the testimony of the experts and the accused, the notary María José FV. All the heirs, present in the courtroom, appear as participants for lucrative purposes for the alleged crime of falsification of a public document. The president of the court had to ask the priest Javier RM to stop gesticulating and comment on the statement of three medical experts (“He has been doing it all day,” he warned him).
The deceased, widow of the well-known Valencian lawyer Luis GJ, amassed an enormous estate that forms the core of the trial in which the notary faces a request for a sentence of five years in prison for an alleged crime of falsification of a public document, in addition to special disqualification for the exercise of her profession as a notary for five years
The will, to which elDiario.es has had access, indicates that the notary considered that the woman with brain damage had the “necessary legal capacity” to grant her millionaire inheritance. This newspaper has also had access to the inheritance acceptance deed, signed before another notary by José Luis MC as president of the charitable, Catholic and non-profit foundation.
He is a retired Air Force major general who appears as the sole administrator of Riola Fruits SL and Esla Compañía de Inversiones SA, according to the data recorded in the Commercial Registry. Both companies were property of the deceased and in the will they appear as payers of the legacies.
Esla Compañía de Inversiones SA, dedicated to the rental of real estate assets, has a net worth of 9.6 million euros. The expert in charge of real estate appraisal, proposed by the insurance company’s defense, referred to a total of “57 properties” in the trial. The retired general explained during the first session of the oral hearing that he trusted the notary and stressed that he presides over a “non-profit foundation.”
“They all profited,” according to the Lawyers
“The Generalitat Valenciana is harmed by this alleged crime of falsehood,” stated the lawyer from the Lawyers’ Office in her report of conclusions. The representative of the Generalitat Attorney’s Office concluded that during the hearing the “trajín” of her late husband’s nephews at the Aigües Vives Hospital in Alzira (València) has been proven, after the woman, then 80 years old, suffered two strokes. “All of them profited from the amount of the inheritance,” he recalled.
The lawyer from the Generalitat Attorney’s Office also indicated that during the three sessions of the trial it has been “proven” that the accused “seriously breached” her professional obligation.
For her part, the notary declared that she knew the elderly woman through her professional relationships with her deceased husband in her previous assignment. The accused reported that on August 24, 2012, she went to the Aigües Vives de Alzira Hospital, a center specialized in patients with brain damage, and was able to “interact” with the woman, asking her “contrast questions.” “He moved his hand, he held her hand and he squeezed it, he moved his eyes and his head,” he stated when asked by the prosecutor.
The woman, according to the accused, contacted her before the first stroke to discuss her project to establish a foundation and her inheritance plans. In August 2012, after having suffered two strokes, the deceased husband’s nephew, Joaquín FP, telephoned the notary to have the elderly woman sign the will in the center of Aigües Vives. The notary stated that she had “no interest” in signing the will (“neither in this one nor in any other,” she added).
“He could express himself, he showed emotions and he could understand and respond to the questions I asked him. We went point by point, I explained to him and made sure he understood,” declared the notary.
On the contrary, the prosecutor considered that, as the experts “have clearly stated,” the elderly woman “did not have the capacity” to make a will of such complexity. A “glaring, clear and absolutely clamorous” situation, according to the representative of the Public Ministry, who stated in the presentation of her conclusions that “the evidence has been sufficiently compelling.”
For her part, the lawyer for the insurance company with which the notary had contracted a policy related to her professional practice and which is considered directly liable, said that the accused “does not enjoy coverage” in this case. The policy, he added, does not cover “willful actions.”
The experts: two neurologists and a forensic expert
Three medical experts also appeared in the last session of the trial: a forensic expert from the Institute of Forensic Medicine proposed by the Prosecutor’s Office and two neurologists (one proposed by the foundation’s defense and another by the insurance company). The coroner said that, given the elderly woman’s situation, “on a cognitive level it is impossible to establish any type of communication,” as she is in a “state of minimal consciousness.” “To make a will a high degree of skills is needed,” said the expert.
The neurologist proposed by the foundation’s defense refuted this thesis, arguing that the state of minimal consciousness was incompatible with the patient’s ability to make certain movements. On the contrary, the neurologist proposed as an expert by the insurer, in a more vehement tone, assured that the elderly woman was “half in a coma.” “I can’t believe that this woman had the capacity to make a will,” the expert concluded.
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