It is not so rare for people attached to their community and without family to choose to bequeath their assets to the community (see here this example of a late discovery or here this jackpot of almost 2 million euros received by a municipality in Yvelines). And in many cases, the donor’s motivations are quite obvious. This case taking place in La Seyne-sur-Mer is more mysterious. This municipality in Var inherited all the real estate assets of one of its residents, Roger Brun, who died at the age of 84, in early 2022. The man stipulated that his legacy should be made “for the sole benefit” of the Ambroise Croizat home, an independent living residence for the elderly managed by the municipality.
Generally, in this type of scenario, we can assume that the person in question benefited from accommodation in this home. But what is intriguing in this beautiful story reported by Var Matin is that the donor who died without children had written his will when he was only 46 years old. At that time, he could not therefore benefit from the Croizat home. And he did not yet own any real estate assets at that time. According to the inventory carried out by Var Matin, the legacy includes 2 apartments of 30 m², 1 apartment of 35 m², 1 small one-story building used as a garage, a garage in a condominium building, not to mention 5 plots of land of 125 m² at 2.5 hectares located near La Seyne. The notary in charge of the estate would have valued everything at around 330,000 euros.
Property purchased after the will
Among the surprising elements of this story, we learn that the goods were all purchased by Roger Brun after his will and therefore did not come from an inheritance. It remains to be seen whether the man who worked as a plumber had a personal fortune or was simply very thrifty. Be Matin can only wonder about the generous plumber’s career and make hypotheses. One of which is that some of his ancestors were housed at the Ambroise Croizat home. He could have wanted to thank the town for services rendered to his family…
But since all this is just conjecture, the newspaper has decided to launch an appeal for witnesses to try to find out more about the donor’s life. For the moment, little is known about the situation of the properties concerned, we do not know whether they are empty or occupied or when they will be sold. Things should not drag on any longer because these properties will generate costs (charges, taxes, etc.) which could weigh on the value of the legacy if nothing is done.