Niki Lauda, ​​legal dispute over inheritance, quarrels with family

Gazzetta dello Sport

April 09, 2023

– Milan

Ongoing clash over the legacy left by Niki Lauda. The former driver, three times F1 world champion with Ferrari and McLaren, died almost four years ago, on May 20, 2019 at the age of 70, leaving a legacy of around 500 million euros, a legacy around which there is an ongoing fierce dispute.

As reported by the Austrian newspaper ‘Kurier’, two lawsuits relating to Lauda’s succession are underway at the Vienna regional court, with the widow of the former pilot, 44-year-old Birgit Wetzinger, who in two different proceedings asks from 20 to 30 million euros from the assets of the Foundation set up by the pilot in 1997.

To prevent inheritance disputes, Niki Lauda had taken care to regulate the property relations between his two families, with his sons Lukas (44 years old) and Mathias (42 years old) born from his first marriage to Marlene Knaus (67 years old) and the twins Mia and Max (13) from their second marriage to Birgit. There shouldn’t be any disputes between the two parties, but the Foundation is now being called into question. According to the will, in fact, when the direct line of Lauda’s descendants dies out, what will have been the estate will go to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.