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All Posts By

Bernhard Schmeilzl

German ProbateGerman Succession & Inheritance LawInternational ProbateProperty in Germany

International Wills: What your English Solicitor does not tell you (but should)

Drafting Wills for British or American Clients with Assets outside the UK / USA You are a British or American citizen but have assets abroad, let's say in Germany, Austria, France, Italy or Spain. Your English solicitor or your American lawyer suggests you make a Will which deals only with your national estate, i.e. the Will is restricted in such a way that it shall only apply to your assets located within the UK or…
Bernhard Schmeilzl
July 24, 2017
German Sports LawyersSports Law Experts Germany

The German Baseball Lawyer

On the lighter side: A personal message from Graf & Partner's managing partner Bernhard Schmeilzl. In my unpaid (how could that happen to me being a lawyer) moonlighting job as chairman of the board of the largest German baseball organisation, Regensburg Buchbinder Legionnaires, the place where German MLB baseball star Max Kepler trained before getting signed by the Minnesota Twins, I was asked to give an interview for a short piece about the early years…
Bernhard Schmeilzl
July 14, 2017
German Law

Our Munich Office has relocated

Same part of town, but larger and more modern offices! Since 1st of June you can find our Munich lawyers in the modern and centrally located Agendis Business Center building on Radlkoferstr. 2. We are looking forward to meeting you in our new office! For those clients who specifically chose our firm because we were located right next to the Octoberfest area: Relax, the new office is only 500 meters south-west of the old one.…
Bernhard Schmeilzl
June 2, 2017
Uncategorized

Elective Share Rules under German Inheritance Law (Pflichtteil)

German Testators cannot fully disinherit their Children and their Spouse. Not even their Parents for that matter! It has always been a principle of German inheritance law that close relatives are entitled to a portion of the deceased's estate, even if the deceased had expressly disinherited those close relatives in his or her Last Will and Testament. This is called "Pflichtteil" (section 2303 German Civil Code), which can be translated forced share or compulsory portion…
Bernhard Schmeilzl
May 29, 2017
Conveyancing GermanyGerman LawProperty in Germany

Purchase German Property by Online Auction?

Beware of buying German real estate through the internet. It does not work that way in Germany! Our firm specalises in German-British and German-Amercian legal matters. Thus, we are sometimes contacted by non-German clients who proudly tell us that they have just successfully bought German property by way of online auction, for example from "MIDLAND ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD" or another online auction service provider. There is just one small problem with this: In order to…
Bernhard Schmeilzl
May 29, 2017
German LawGerman ProbateGerman Succession & Inheritance LawInternational ProbateLitigation in Germany

Does a German Last Will & Testament become void if the Testator later marries or has Children?

Does marriage automatically void previous wills under German law? Not automatically, but the surviving spouse and/or the child may challenge the Will for being "outdated". The German legal term is "Anfechtung" according to section 2079 German Civil Code (Section Wills & Probate), which states: Section 2079 German Civil Code Avoidance for omission of a person entitled to a compulsory portion A testamentary disposition may be avoided if the testator has omitted a person entitled to a…
Bernhard Schmeilzl
May 29, 2017
German Succession & Inheritance LawInternational Probate

Higher Probate Fees in the UK as of May 2017

Update 25 April 2017: The below post is outdated because due to Theresa May's snap election called for 8th June 2017, the British government has dropped the plans to raise probate fees (at least for now). More on the matter here. Please note that the UK Probate fees will change from May 2017. For estates with a value of up to £50,000 (pre IHT) the fees will be nil. This is an improvement, because the…
Bernhard Schmeilzl
April 7, 2017
Business in GermanyGerman Corporate Law

Checklist for forming a UK Limited Company

If you do business on an international level, you should carefully choose the ideal company form to use. Should, for instance, your business depend upon attracting German customers and/or suppliers, the best choice may not be an English limited liability company, because such a company does not have the best reputation in Germany. In this case, you might want to opt for a German GmbH (for details on how to establish a German limited liability…
Bernhard Schmeilzl
March 27, 2017
Civil actionDebt collectionGerman Corporate LawGerman LawGerman Tort LawGoing to courtLitigation in Germany

Pursuing Legal Action in Germany?

You found the German law firm perfectly equipped to address your legal needs in Germany Since 2003, German law firm Graf & Partners specialises in providing legal advice and litigation services to British and American clients. Our international litigation lawyers run the leading expert law blog on German civil litigation rules in English language: www.GermanCivilProcedure.com The majority of our clients come from Britain, the USA or other English speaking countries and are in need of pursuing…
Bernhard Schmeilzl
March 15, 2017
Business in GermanyCivil actionDebt collectionGerman Corporate LawGerman LawGoing to courtLitigation in Germany

Pitfalls of German Law (Part 2)

Be careful when suing a German Kommanditgesellschaft (KG), an Offene Handelsgesellschaft (OHG) or a Gesellschaft bürgerlichen Rechts (GBR) The single most common mistake foreign claimants and their non-German litigation lawyers make when taking a German business to court is that they only sue the partnership itself and not the personally liable partners (persönlich haftende Gesellschafter). To avoid any misunderstanding: This post deals with German partnerships (Personengesellschaften) as debtors, not with German limited liability companies (GmbH)…
Bernhard Schmeilzl
March 15, 2017