Shortly before he died in 2017, Kohl successfully sued his one-time biographer Heribert Schwan for including extracts from his interviews in the journalist's 2014 book, called "Legacy: The Kohl Protocols."
A district court ruled that Schwan violated Kohl’s privacy rights for publishing comments made by Kohl when Schwan worked together with the ex-chancellor following his departure from office in 1998.
Maike Kohl-Richter took legal action to claim the compensation after Kohl’s death but the court ruled in 2018 that she was not entitled to the money.
Germany's highest judicial authority backed the lower court's judgment, saying in a press statement that monetary compensation in her case was "not inheritable in principle and was written off upon the death of the previous plaintiff."