German private client lawyers of Graf Partners are experts in UK-German probate, estate admin, inheritance tax, finding and closing German bank accounts and selling inherited German property.
Bernhard SchmeilzlMarch 4, 2024
German Intestacy Rules Explained The German rules about what happens when a person dies without having made a valid will (intestacy), are set out in section 1923 to 1936 German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, an English translation being available here. Intestate succession affects many families because roughly two out of three Germans die without having a valid Will in place. German intestacy rules are very different from those in Common Law countries. Children of the…
Bernhard SchmeilzlMay 9, 2016
German Litigation Expert Bernhard Schmeilzl of Graf Legal explains the Basics of Contentious Probate If it is unclear whether a last will is valid, it can get messy between the potential beneficiaries. In Germany, this is even more so because -- in contrast to the UK -- German law knows no administration of the estate by a personal representative. Instead, the heirs (in German: Erben) have the right to administer the estate themselves. Due to…
Bernhard SchmeilzlJuly 11, 2014
The Basics of British-German Inheritance Cases When a British expat lives in Germany for some time, he or she will most probably have a German bank account and other German assets, maybe even have bought property over here. The majority of these British expats have never thought about the inheritance law implications of such foreign assets. They simply assume that UK law applies. This is, however, not always the case. Especially if German probate law…
Bernhard SchmeilzlJuly 1, 2013
What is the German IHT Nil-Rate Band? German inheritance law, including inheritance tax law, works very differently from the UK system (for German probate see here and here). While in the UK the estate as such is taxed (with one single nil-rate band of currently 325k GBP being available as tax relief) you find a completely different inheritance tax concept in Germany: German tax authorities do not look at the estate but at the individual…
Bernhard SchmeilzlJuly 1, 2013
Who inherits in Germany if there's no valid will? German inheritance law works by the principle of universal and direct succession, i.e. the heirs automatically become the owners and possessors of the entire estate, i.e. all assets that the deceased had owned (by the way: they also inherit all the debts of the deceased). Details are explained here. Now, what happens if German law applies and there is no last will? It's fairly easy: Spouses…
Bernhard SchmeilzlJune 6, 2013
How estates are administered in Germany There exist, as we have explained here, fundamental differences between the inheritance law concepts of the UK and Germany. Since UK probate law requires a personal representative, many testators in the UK appoint an executor in their will. In Germany, however, where a "personal representative" is unknown due to the principle of universal succession, the inheritors come into ownership as well as into possession of the estate automatically and…
Bernhard SchmeilzlMay 8, 2013
How to get access to an Estate under German Inheritance Law When a UK citizen dies while having possessions in Germany (bank accounts, deposits, shares, insurance claims or property), one must first determine whether the estate is governed by German hereditary law and thus falls into the competence of German probate courts: Basically, both from a UK and a German legal perspective this depends on where the deceased was domiciled, i.e. the place where a…
Bernhard SchmeilzlMay 7, 2013
Close relatives are always entitled to a portion of the estate. Period! Really? According to German inheritance law, close relatives have a right to claim a portion of the estate, even if the testator did not want to leave them anything and has consequently disinherited them. This so called "Pflichtteil" is mostly translated with "statutory share", "forced share" or "compulsory share". However, it is difficult to find the correct English word, because this concept does…
Bernhard SchmeilzlMarch 22, 2013
German Succession Rules and Probate Proceedings explained German inheritance law as well as German probate rules differ very much both from UK law as well as USA probate. Under German statutory law, there are many formal requirements which must be followed. A good source for initial informationis about the law of succession in Germany (or any other European country for that matter) is the official EU website "Successions in Europe". It answers a few basic questions…
Bernhard SchmeilzlOctober 10, 2012