80-year-old Nicolas Puech is a descendant of the Hermes founder. In case you didn't know, a Hermes scarf will set you back a bundle, and that's one of the cheaper items.

So follow along ... Puech, who lives in Europe and is worth $13 billion, made a contract with a charity called the Isocrates Foundation, which he founded, to leave his fortune to the org. Its mission is to support journalism and a "civil society." Fair enough.

But Puech has had a change of heart, and wants to give half his wealth to a male "servant, former gardener and handyman." The Foundation is apoplectic, and is making sounds like it'll challenge the change, saying a contract's a contract.

But here's the twist. The contract has a provision that says if Puech becomes a father, his child would be entitled to a portion of his fortune, and if it's a son he'd get at least half.

So how's this? Puech plans to adopt his gardener, which would make the guy his only son and qualify him for a $6+ billion inheritance!!

BTW ... according to Bloomberg, the Hermes fam is the world's third wealthiest.