María Kodama in Madrid, in a 2018 image. Emilio Naranjo (EFE)
Five nephews of María Kodama, executor and last heiress of Jorge Luis Borges, appeared in court this Tuesday to claim their aunt's inheritance.
It is the latest twist in a succession plot that has captured the attention of the Argentine cultural circuit in the last 10 days.
Kodama, who married the country's most important writer in 1986 and has been in charge of her legacy ever since, died on March 26 and both her lawyer and her clerk have not found a will.
Without a designated heir, her lawyer had requested this Monday that the estate be declared vacant in order to designate a curator.
The next day the relatives appeared.
The legacy of Jorge Luis Borges, one of the most important writers of the 20th century, is in the air these days.
Kodama, who for almost three decades monitored any publication about her husband, had announced that she planned to leave her legacy in the hands of two universities outside of Argentina, because she did not trust national institutions.
But she didn't put it in writing.
"She told me that 'she had everything arranged', that whoever was going to succeed her was going to be 'stricter than her' in defending Borges' work," said the lawyer, Fernando Soto, in the petition that he shared on Monday with the media.
In the same document, Soto stated that Kodama had revealed to him that he had a brother, who died in 2017, with whom he hardly had a relationship.
Since no heir had raised their hand more than a week after Kodama's death, Soto, who is also a member of the Borges International Foundation that Kodama presided over until his death, thought that he should present the vacancy petition to protect that inheritance.
One day after its public announcement, five people who claim to be the children of Jorge Kodama have appeared before the Court to claim the inheritance due to the family bond.
Mariana, María Belén, Matías, Martín and María Victoria Kodama, the latter lawyer for all of them, appeared on Tuesday in court as heirs to the assets of María Kodama and the legacy of Jorge Luis Borges.
They must prove the relationship before the judge and hope that a will does not appear that displaces them from the line of succession.
In their presentation they have asked for the same thing as Soto: a provisional inventory of the assets and the protection of the archive that Kodama kept between first editions, decorations and manuscripts.
"I am very happy and it relieves my spirit that María Kodama's nephews have presented themselves as heirs in the inheritance file," said Soto.
"A new stage opens in the protection of the work of Borges".
Doors are still open.
Kodama died at the age of 86 in a hotel on the northern outskirts of Buenos Aires, but he maintained two apartments in the center of the city, the Borges family mansion where the foundation works in the name of the writer, and he rented two apartments in the cities of Geneva and Paris.
The possibility that a will of his own handwriting appears in any of these properties is an idea that the lawyer does not rule out, although he would find it strange for "such an organized person."
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