Ferrari and Stellantis boss embroiled in legal battle with mother

The division of Gianni Agnelli's estate has been a hot topic for a long time, more than 20 years after his death. Now, there's a new chapter in the legal dispute between Exor CEO and Ferrari and Stellantis chairman John Elkann and his mother , Margherita Agnelli .

The company wants a larger share of the estate's inheritance - after having received more than one billion euros in the 2004 agreement on the estate. At that time, it exited the capital of Dicembre, whose ownership is now in question, according to ANSA.

This is the holding company that controls Exor—which, in turn, controls Ferrari and has a majority stake in Stellantis. It is owned by Elkann and his brothers Lapo and Ginevra.

It turns out that Margherita Agnelli , mother of the three, disputes the allocation of the property . She believes she is entitled to a larger share , as does Marella Caracciolo - her mother and Gianni's widow, who gave 25.37 percent of Dicembre to John Elkann .

'New' handwritten note

A testamentary document from Gianni Agnelli dated 1996 stipulated this - and this was what was available and known when the will was opened in 2003. Now, as part of another judicial investigation, a handwritten note from 1998 signed by the deceased businessman has been found , contradicting this wish expressed two years earlier .

This Monday (September 29), lawyers for the late millionaire's daughter filed the documents in a Turin court. In this document, Gianni Agnelli reportedly stipulated that approximately 25 percent of the holding company should belong to his other son, Edoardo (who died two years later, in 2000).

And this is how Margherita considers that, in light of this new data, her mother (Marella) should have kept and divided between them the part that would have been for Edoardo - after his premature death.

In the 1998 manuscript, reports the ANSA agency, Gianni Agnelli is said to have expressed: "I am sure that my other relatives, who already have a share in the same business, will accept this provision of mine without objection."

John Elkann's defense reaction

On John Elkann's side, the lawyers claim that the 1998 note has no influence and even speak of an initiative "more aimed at generating media confusion."

In a statement from the current businessman's defense, cited by ANSA, it reads: "At the time, Edoardo had already passed away. As a consequence, Gianni Agnelli's shares in Dicembre passed to his wife Marella and daughter Margherita. The management of the Agnelli succession was then defined, with the agreement of February 2004, following which Margherita definitively left Dicembre's capital."