Only months after they kissed and made up, France's richest woman, the L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, and her daughter appear to have fallen out again.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the heiress's only child, is reported again to be seeking to have her mother made a ward of court after Bettencourt, 88, invested €170m (£151m) in a company belonging to one of her lawyer's clients.
The two buried the hatchet in December after a three-year estrangement over Bettencourt's decision to give a society photographer more than €1bn worth of art masterpieces, cash and life-insurance policies.
But the second act of what French newspapers call the Bettencourt affair erupted on Tuesday, after Bettencourt Meyers, 57, alerted the authorities, claiming at least one member of her mother's entourage appeared to be taking advantage of her deteriorating mental state.
Her accusations were directed at Pascal Wilhelm, Bettencourt's lawyer and the man appointed in January to manage her "interests".
The latest spat in France's long running family feud saw a judge, police officers and five doctors turn up at Bettencourt's home on Tuesday to check on her health. Their arrival at the house in the chic Paris suburb of Neuilly at 8am – at least two hours before the heiress reportedly makes her morning appearance – was prompted after Bettencourt failed to keep two medical appointments. » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Wednesday, June 08, 2011
LE MONDE: La famille Bettencourt se déchire à nouveau. Alors que les deux parties s'étaient réconciliées, en décembre 2010, aux termes d'un protocole d'accord, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, soutenue par ses deux fils, a saisi la juge des tutelles de Courbevoie, mardi 7 juin, de nouvelles demandes visant à mieux assurer la protection juridique de sa mère, Liliane.
Dans sa requête, dont Le Monde a eu connaissance, elle estime notamment que "des inquiétudes sont apparues qui font craindre de nouvelles dérives contraires aux intérêts de Mme Liliane Bettencourt". Il est question, en particulier, de "la protection de la personne" de la milliardaire, mais aussi de "la gestion de ses biens".
Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers assure en outre être la victime d'"un véritable dénigrement". Selon ses dires, plusieurs personnes, dont l'infirmier et le médecin de l'héritière de L'Oréal, auraient constitué un véritable cordon sécuritaire visant à l'écarter. "Se reconstitue autour de Mme Liliane Bettencourt un cercle qui se prétend affectif, au détriment de sa famille", relève la requête. » | Le Monde pour Le Monde.fr | Mercredi 08 Juin 2011
