INHERITANCE LAW
Berlin wills and estate planning in Cologne
A will is quickly written. Whether it holds up usually only emerges when nobody can change anything any more. So I look at your assets and your family situation first, work through the compulsory shares, and only then draft the disposition that fits, from a Berlin will to a contract of inheritance with a waiver of the compulsory share.
The Berlin will: a joint will with final heirs
Only spouses can make a joint will (section 2265 German Civil Code). The same applies to registered civil partners. The widespread version is known as the Berlin will: the spouses appoint each other as sole heirs, and the children become final heirs of the survivor. The estate initially stays undivided in one pair of hands: the surviving spouse has neither to divide it nor to manage a community of heirs.
Where the spouses have provided that the estate of both is to pass to a third party after the death of the survivor, that is in case of doubt exactly what is meant (section 2269(1) German Civil Code). The children are disinherited for the first death and can therefore claim their compulsory share even then. The survivor is bound by the distribution agreed together.
A Berlin will binds more tightly than most people expect
As long as both are alive it can be changed. Revoking a mutually dependent disposition requires a notarially recorded declaration that reaches the other spouse (section 2271(1) German Civil Code). On the first death the right of revocation lapses (section 2271(2)). The surviving spouse can then, in principle, no longer alter the appointment of the children.
A disposition is mutually dependent if it was only made in that form because of the other's disposition (section 2270 German Civil Code). Whether that applies to an individual provision is a question of interpretation. Any Berlin will I draft therefore always states which provisions are to be binding and which the survivor may change.
Estate planning in Cologne: handwritten or notarial will
For an ordinary will the statute knows two routes (section 2231 German Civil Code): you write it entirely by hand and sign it (section 2247), or you have it notarially recorded. Anyone who, because of a pathological disturbance of mental activity, can no longer grasp the meaning of their declaration does not make a valid will (section 2229(4)).
A notarial will costs fees based on the value of the matter. In return you get a document whose validity is rarely successfully attacked, and proof of succession that usually spares your heirs the certificate of inheritance procedure: to correct the land register, the document together with the probate court's record of its opening is enough (section 35(1) German Land Register Code). Anyone leaving a Cologne property saves their heirs fees and weeks.
The contract of inheritance, where binding effect is wanted
The contract of inheritance is the counterpart to the will: it binds from the outset. It is concluded before a notary with both parties present at the same time (section 2276 German Civil Code) and must be made in person (section 2274). It makes sense wherever someone provides something and needs a reliable commitment in return.
Anyone who wants to keep room for manoeuvre has rights of withdrawal written into it. Without such a reservation, withdrawal is only possible in narrow statutory exceptions. The contract of inheritance is frequently combined with a waiver of the compulsory share in the same document, because both are notarially recorded and only together produce the planning certainty that is the point of the exercise.
The tools by which a will is steered
Legacy
With a legacy you give an individual, for example, an object or a sum of money without making them an heir (section 1939 German Civil Code). The legatee has a claim against the heirs and is not part of the community of heirs. A money legacy has to be payable out of the estate, otherwise the heir sells the property they were meant to keep.
Division directive
A division directive determines who receives which object when the estate is divided (section 2048 German Civil Code). It does not shift shares, it allocates objects: the house goes to the daughter, the securities portfolio to the son, and differences in value are equalised. Without such a directive the community of heirs decides, and it can only decide about estate assets jointly.
Executorship
An executor carries out your will instead of leaving it to the community of heirs (sections 2197 et seq. German Civil Code). The usual forms are winding-up executorship, which puts the estate in order and divides it, and continuing executorship, which administers the estate over a longer period (section 2209), in principle limited to 30 years (section 2210).
This makes sense where heirs are minors, or where the estate includes a business or property.
Prior and subsequent heirs
With prior and subsequent inheritance the prior heir inherits first. After an event determined by you, the estate passes to the subsequent heir (sections 2100 et seq. German Civil Code). The prior heir cannot effectively dispose of land without the subsequent heir's consent (section 2113), unless you release them from that restriction (section 2136).
The price of this construction is unwieldiness, the return is control over the second generation. For a child with a disability it is combined with continuing executorship.
Calculate the compulsory shares before you distribute
Alongside children, a spouse living in the community of accrued gains inherits one quarter by law, and as a rule the share is increased by a further quarter as a flat amount (sections 1931 and 1371(1) German Civil Code). Where separation of property applies, the spouse's statutory share depends on the number of other heirs.
Lifetime gifts help only to a limited extent. Within ten years before the death they are added back for the calculation, with the value to be applied melting away by one tenth for each completed year (section 2325(3) German Civil Code). For gifts to a spouse this period as a rule does not run at all. Gifts subject to a reservation of usufruct, for example, likewise do not set the ten-year period running. A waiver of the compulsory share is notarially recorded (sections 2346, 2348), can be limited to specific assets and is usually agreed in return for compensation.
An advance power of attorney and a will do two different jobs
The will takes effect from your death. The advance power of attorney takes effect before that, when you can no longer act yourself, and spares your family guardianship proceedings. Both belong in the same advice session, but they are separate documents with separate effects. I draft both: drawing up advance powers of attorney is part of what I do.
A power of attorney that continues beyond death is additionally a practical tool for administering the estate: those authorised can keep accounts running and pay invoices before the position as heir has been proved.
Assets abroad change the legal question
Which inheritance law applies to your estate depends on your habitual residence at the time of death, not on your nationality (Article 21 EU Succession Regulation). A German national who spends their last years in Spain passes on their estate under Spanish law unless they provide otherwise.
You can choose the law of the state of which you are a national (Article 22 EU Succession Regulation). That choice of law belongs in the disposition itself, and it is one of the points that makes a will template downloaded from the internet expensive.
What makes a will vulnerable
01
Wording that can be read two ways
“My children should share the house” does not answer whether a community of heirs is intended, who may live there and who buys out whom. Unclear sentences do not lead to a compromise, they lead to court proceedings.
02
The binding effect on the survivor is underestimated
Many couples sign a Berlin will taken from a form book and assume the survivor can rearrange everything later, which as a rule is not true. Anyone who wants that freedom has to reserve it expressly in the text, before the first spouse dies.
03
The compulsory share is never calculated
If a child is passed over, a claim for money against the heirs arises. Where the assets sit in a property or in the business, something has to be sold, refinanced or funded, usually under time pressure and from a poor negotiating position.
04
The will is older than the life
Divorce, a new marriage, grandchildren, a flat that has been sold, a shareholding that has been transferred: a disposition from 2009 distributes assets that no longer exist to people who are no longer meant. After every major change the will belongs back on the table.
How I proceed
01
Taking stock
First everything goes on the table: land register extracts, account balances, shareholdings, life insurance policies, any prenuptial agreement, earlier wills, gifts made in the last ten years. Alongside that I record the family circumstances, including children from earlier relationships.
02
Aims and conflicts
Here we clarify what is to stay together and where disputes threaten. The answers are then turned into figures: compulsory share quotas, liquidity needed, the order of magnitude of the tax. The tax calculation itself I leave to your tax adviser.
03
Form and draft
Only now is it decided what you sign: a handwritten will, a notarial will or a contract of inheritance, where appropriate with a waiver of the compulsory share, executorship and a choice of law. You receive a draft with reasons, sentence by sentence.
04
Execution and safekeeping
With a notarial will I agree the draft with the notary's office and attend the recording appointment. With a handwritten will you receive a template to copy out and instructions for official safekeeping.
A typical situation
01
A second marriage, one child from the first marriage, one child together, a property in Cologne and a securities portfolio
The aim is that the wife can stay in the house without disinheriting the first child. A Berlin will would be the obvious and the wrong choice, because after the first death the first child can claim its compulsory share and the property would have to be charged to pay it.
02
A combination is closer to the mark
A right of residence or a usufruct for the wife as a legacy, the children appointed as heirs in fixed shares, a division directive for the securities portfolio and, with the first child, a notarial waiver of the compulsory share limited to the property in return for compensation. Whether that holds is decided by the calculation, not by the template.
Office in Cologne, cases throughout Germany
Appointments take place at Jakordenstrasse 8 in 50668 Cologne, by video on request. For the estate itself, the court with jurisdiction is later the one in whose district the deceased last had their habitual residence (section 343(1) FamFG). So for anyone living in Cologne, the will ends up with the probate court at the Cologne Local Court.
As a lawyer for inheritance law in Cologne I advise clients from Cologne and the surrounding area, from Bergisch Gladbach to Pulheim, and throughout Germany as well, wherever the court happens to sit.
YOUR QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
No, a will is valid without a notary if you write it entirely by hand and sign it (section 2247 German Civil Code). Printed texts, or texts written by someone else, are invalid even with your signature. Together with the record of its opening, the notarial document as a rule replaces the certificate of inheritance, including before the land registry (section 35(1) German Land Register Code).
As a rule, no. On the death of the first spouse the right to revoke the mutually dependent dispositions lapses (section 2271(2) German Civil Code). There is one statutory way out: you disclaim what the deceased spouse left you and thereby become free again. That costs you the inheritance. What matters, therefore, is the text you sign during your lifetime.
You can exclude a child as an heir, but the compulsory share remains. Disinherited children, spouses and in certain cases parents have a claim for money against the heirs amounting to half the value of their statutory share (section 2303 German Civil Code). Two routes are reliable: a notarially recorded waiver of the compulsory share, usually in return for compensation, or an arrangement that keeps the amount of the claim manageable.
I bill by time; my hourly rate is 280 euros plus 19% VAT. The basis is a fee agreement that you receive before we start. The statutory fees under the German Lawyers' Fees Act (RVG) form the minimum. The first meeting is also billed by time; there is no flat rate for a short conversation. Notary and court costs are charged separately.
A will is safest with the probate court. On your application, the probate court at the Cologne Local Court takes a handwritten will into special official safekeeping (section 2248 German Civil Code). Notarial wills go there automatically. The safekeeping is noted in the Central Register of Wills kept by the German Federal Chamber of Notaries. Anyone who nevertheless keeps their will themselves should at least tell one trusted person where it is.
Getting your disposition right, once
If you want to arrange your estate or have an existing will reviewed, bring what you have. In the initial consultation we clarify which form suits your assets and your family situation, and what has to be calculated.
INHERITANCE LAW
Berlin wills and estate planning in Cologne
A will is quickly written. Whether it holds up usually only emerges when nobody can change anything any more. So I look at your assets and your family situation first, work through the compulsory shares, and only then draft the disposition that fits, from a Berlin will to a contract of inheritance with a waiver of the compulsory share.
The Berlin will: a joint will with final heirs
Only spouses can make a joint will (section 2265 German Civil Code). The same applies to registered civil partners. The widespread version is known as the Berlin will: the spouses appoint each other as sole heirs, and the children become final heirs of the survivor. The estate initially stays undivided in one pair of hands: the surviving spouse has neither to divide it nor to manage a community of heirs.
Where the spouses have provided that the estate of both is to pass to a third party after the death of the survivor, that is in case of doubt exactly what is meant (section 2269(1) German Civil Code). The children are disinherited for the first death and can therefore claim their compulsory share even then. The survivor is bound by the distribution agreed together.
A Berlin will binds more tightly than most people expect
As long as both are alive it can be changed. Revoking a mutually dependent disposition requires a notarially recorded declaration that reaches the other spouse (section 2271(1) German Civil Code). On the first death the right of revocation lapses (section 2271(2)). The surviving spouse can then, in principle, no longer alter the appointment of the children.
A disposition is mutually dependent if it was only made in that form because of the other's disposition (section 2270 German Civil Code). Whether that applies to an individual provision is a question of interpretation. Any Berlin will I draft therefore always states which provisions are to be binding and which the survivor may change.
Estate planning in Cologne: handwritten or notarial will
For an ordinary will the statute knows two routes (section 2231 German Civil Code): you write it entirely by hand and sign it (section 2247), or you have it notarially recorded. Anyone who, because of a pathological disturbance of mental activity, can no longer grasp the meaning of their declaration does not make a valid will (section 2229(4)).
A notarial will costs fees based on the value of the matter. In return you get a document whose validity is rarely successfully attacked, and proof of succession that usually spares your heirs the certificate of inheritance procedure: to correct the land register, the document together with the probate court's record of its opening is enough (section 35(1) German Land Register Code). Anyone leaving a Cologne property saves their heirs fees and weeks.
The contract of inheritance, where binding effect is wanted
The contract of inheritance is the counterpart to the will: it binds from the outset. It is concluded before a notary with both parties present at the same time (section 2276 German Civil Code) and must be made in person (section 2274). It makes sense wherever someone provides something and needs a reliable commitment in return.
Anyone who wants to keep room for manoeuvre has rights of withdrawal written into it. Without such a reservation, withdrawal is only possible in narrow statutory exceptions. The contract of inheritance is frequently combined with a waiver of the compulsory share in the same document, because both are notarially recorded and only together produce the planning certainty that is the point of the exercise.
The tools by which a will is steered
Legacy
With a legacy you give an individual, for example, an object or a sum of money without making them an heir (section 1939 German Civil Code). The legatee has a claim against the heirs and is not part of the community of heirs. A money legacy has to be payable out of the estate, otherwise the heir sells the property they were meant to keep.
Division directive
A division directive determines who receives which object when the estate is divided (section 2048 German Civil Code). It does not shift shares, it allocates objects: the house goes to the daughter, the securities portfolio to the son, and differences in value are equalised. Without such a directive the community of heirs decides, and it can only decide about estate assets jointly.
Executorship
An executor carries out your will instead of leaving it to the community of heirs (sections 2197 et seq. German Civil Code). The usual forms are winding-up executorship, which puts the estate in order and divides it, and continuing executorship, which administers the estate over a longer period (section 2209), in principle limited to 30 years (section 2210).
This makes sense where heirs are minors, or where the estate includes a business or property.
Prior and subsequent heirs
With prior and subsequent inheritance the prior heir inherits first. After an event determined by you, the estate passes to the subsequent heir (sections 2100 et seq. German Civil Code). The prior heir cannot effectively dispose of land without the subsequent heir's consent (section 2113), unless you release them from that restriction (section 2136).
The price of this construction is unwieldiness, the return is control over the second generation. For a child with a disability it is combined with continuing executorship.
Calculate the compulsory shares before you distribute
Alongside children, a spouse living in the community of accrued gains inherits one quarter by law, and as a rule the share is increased by a further quarter as a flat amount (sections 1931 and 1371(1) German Civil Code). Where separation of property applies, the spouse's statutory share depends on the number of other heirs.
Lifetime gifts help only to a limited extent. Within ten years before the death they are added back for the calculation, with the value to be applied melting away by one tenth for each completed year (section 2325(3) German Civil Code). For gifts to a spouse this period as a rule does not run at all. Gifts subject to a reservation of usufruct, for example, likewise do not set the ten-year period running. A waiver of the compulsory share is notarially recorded (sections 2346, 2348), can be limited to specific assets and is usually agreed in return for compensation.
An advance power of attorney and a will do two different jobs
The will takes effect from your death. The advance power of attorney takes effect before that, when you can no longer act yourself, and spares your family guardianship proceedings. Both belong in the same advice session, but they are separate documents with separate effects. I draft both: drawing up advance powers of attorney is part of what I do.
A power of attorney that continues beyond death is additionally a practical tool for administering the estate: those authorised can keep accounts running and pay invoices before the position as heir has been proved.
Assets abroad change the legal question
Which inheritance law applies to your estate depends on your habitual residence at the time of death, not on your nationality (Article 21 EU Succession Regulation). A German national who spends their last years in Spain passes on their estate under Spanish law unless they provide otherwise.
You can choose the law of the state of which you are a national (Article 22 EU Succession Regulation). That choice of law belongs in the disposition itself, and it is one of the points that makes a will template downloaded from the internet expensive.
What makes a will vulnerable
01
Wording that can be read two ways
“My children should share the house” does not answer whether a community of heirs is intended, who may live there and who buys out whom. Unclear sentences do not lead to a compromise, they lead to court proceedings.
02
The binding effect on the survivor is underestimated
Many couples sign a Berlin will taken from a form book and assume the survivor can rearrange everything later, which as a rule is not true. Anyone who wants that freedom has to reserve it expressly in the text, before the first spouse dies.
03
The compulsory share is never calculated
If a child is passed over, a claim for money against the heirs arises. Where the assets sit in a property or in the business, something has to be sold, refinanced or funded, usually under time pressure and from a poor negotiating position.
04
The will is older than the life
Divorce, a new marriage, grandchildren, a flat that has been sold, a shareholding that has been transferred: a disposition from 2009 distributes assets that no longer exist to people who are no longer meant. After every major change the will belongs back on the table.
How I proceed
01
Taking stock
First everything goes on the table: land register extracts, account balances, shareholdings, life insurance policies, any prenuptial agreement, earlier wills, gifts made in the last ten years. Alongside that I record the family circumstances, including children from earlier relationships.
02
Aims and conflicts
Here we clarify what is to stay together and where disputes threaten. The answers are then turned into figures: compulsory share quotas, liquidity needed, the order of magnitude of the tax. The tax calculation itself I leave to your tax adviser.
03
Form and draft
Only now is it decided what you sign: a handwritten will, a notarial will or a contract of inheritance, where appropriate with a waiver of the compulsory share, executorship and a choice of law. You receive a draft with reasons, sentence by sentence.
04
Execution and safekeeping
With a notarial will I agree the draft with the notary's office and attend the recording appointment. With a handwritten will you receive a template to copy out and instructions for official safekeeping.
A typical situation
01
A second marriage, one child from the first marriage, one child together, a property in Cologne and a securities portfolio
The aim is that the wife can stay in the house without disinheriting the first child. A Berlin will would be the obvious and the wrong choice, because after the first death the first child can claim its compulsory share and the property would have to be charged to pay it.
02
A combination is closer to the mark
A right of residence or a usufruct for the wife as a legacy, the children appointed as heirs in fixed shares, a division directive for the securities portfolio and, with the first child, a notarial waiver of the compulsory share limited to the property in return for compensation. Whether that holds is decided by the calculation, not by the template.
Office in Cologne, cases throughout Germany
Appointments take place at Jakordenstrasse 8 in 50668 Cologne, by video on request. For the estate itself, the court with jurisdiction is later the one in whose district the deceased last had their habitual residence (section 343(1) FamFG). So for anyone living in Cologne, the will ends up with the probate court at the Cologne Local Court.
As a lawyer for inheritance law in Cologne I advise clients from Cologne and the surrounding area, from Bergisch Gladbach to Pulheim, and throughout Germany as well, wherever the court happens to sit.
YOUR QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
No, a will is valid without a notary if you write it entirely by hand and sign it (section 2247 German Civil Code). Printed texts, or texts written by someone else, are invalid even with your signature. Together with the record of its opening, the notarial document as a rule replaces the certificate of inheritance, including before the land registry (section 35(1) German Land Register Code).
As a rule, no. On the death of the first spouse the right to revoke the mutually dependent dispositions lapses (section 2271(2) German Civil Code). There is one statutory way out: you disclaim what the deceased spouse left you and thereby become free again. That costs you the inheritance. What matters, therefore, is the text you sign during your lifetime.
You can exclude a child as an heir, but the compulsory share remains. Disinherited children, spouses and in certain cases parents have a claim for money against the heirs amounting to half the value of their statutory share (section 2303 German Civil Code). Two routes are reliable: a notarially recorded waiver of the compulsory share, usually in return for compensation, or an arrangement that keeps the amount of the claim manageable.
I bill by time; my hourly rate is 280 euros plus 19% VAT. The basis is a fee agreement that you receive before we start. The statutory fees under the German Lawyers' Fees Act (RVG) form the minimum. The first meeting is also billed by time; there is no flat rate for a short conversation. Notary and court costs are charged separately.
A will is safest with the probate court. On your application, the probate court at the Cologne Local Court takes a handwritten will into special official safekeeping (section 2248 German Civil Code). Notarial wills go there automatically. The safekeeping is noted in the Central Register of Wills kept by the German Federal Chamber of Notaries. Anyone who nevertheless keeps their will themselves should at least tell one trusted person where it is.
Getting your disposition right, once
If you want to arrange your estate or have an existing will reviewed, bring what you have. In the initial consultation we clarify which form suits your assets and your family situation, and what has to be calculated.
INHERITANCE LAW
Berlin wills and estate planning in Cologne
A will is quickly written. Whether it holds up usually only emerges when nobody can change anything any more. So I look at your assets and your family situation first, work through the compulsory shares, and only then draft the disposition that fits, from a Berlin will to a contract of inheritance with a waiver of the compulsory share.
The Berlin will: a joint will with final heirs
Only spouses can make a joint will (section 2265 German Civil Code). The same applies to registered civil partners. The widespread version is known as the Berlin will: the spouses appoint each other as sole heirs, and the children become final heirs of the survivor. The estate initially stays undivided in one pair of hands: the surviving spouse has neither to divide it nor to manage a community of heirs.
Where the spouses have provided that the estate of both is to pass to a third party after the death of the survivor, that is in case of doubt exactly what is meant (section 2269(1) German Civil Code). The children are disinherited for the first death and can therefore claim their compulsory share even then. The survivor is bound by the distribution agreed together.
A Berlin will binds more tightly than most people expect
As long as both are alive it can be changed. Revoking a mutually dependent disposition requires a notarially recorded declaration that reaches the other spouse (section 2271(1) German Civil Code). On the first death the right of revocation lapses (section 2271(2)). The surviving spouse can then, in principle, no longer alter the appointment of the children.
A disposition is mutually dependent if it was only made in that form because of the other's disposition (section 2270 German Civil Code). Whether that applies to an individual provision is a question of interpretation. Any Berlin will I draft therefore always states which provisions are to be binding and which the survivor may change.
Estate planning in Cologne: handwritten or notarial will
For an ordinary will the statute knows two routes (section 2231 German Civil Code): you write it entirely by hand and sign it (section 2247), or you have it notarially recorded. Anyone who, because of a pathological disturbance of mental activity, can no longer grasp the meaning of their declaration does not make a valid will (section 2229(4)).
A notarial will costs fees based on the value of the matter. In return you get a document whose validity is rarely successfully attacked, and proof of succession that usually spares your heirs the certificate of inheritance procedure: to correct the land register, the document together with the probate court's record of its opening is enough (section 35(1) German Land Register Code). Anyone leaving a Cologne property saves their heirs fees and weeks.
The contract of inheritance, where binding effect is wanted
The contract of inheritance is the counterpart to the will: it binds from the outset. It is concluded before a notary with both parties present at the same time (section 2276 German Civil Code) and must be made in person (section 2274). It makes sense wherever someone provides something and needs a reliable commitment in return.
Anyone who wants to keep room for manoeuvre has rights of withdrawal written into it. Without such a reservation, withdrawal is only possible in narrow statutory exceptions. The contract of inheritance is frequently combined with a waiver of the compulsory share in the same document, because both are notarially recorded and only together produce the planning certainty that is the point of the exercise.
The tools by which a will is steered
Legacy
With a legacy you give an individual, for example, an object or a sum of money without making them an heir (section 1939 German Civil Code). The legatee has a claim against the heirs and is not part of the community of heirs. A money legacy has to be payable out of the estate, otherwise the heir sells the property they were meant to keep.
Division directive
A division directive determines who receives which object when the estate is divided (section 2048 German Civil Code). It does not shift shares, it allocates objects: the house goes to the daughter, the securities portfolio to the son, and differences in value are equalised. Without such a directive the community of heirs decides, and it can only decide about estate assets jointly.
Executorship
An executor carries out your will instead of leaving it to the community of heirs (sections 2197 et seq. German Civil Code). The usual forms are winding-up executorship, which puts the estate in order and divides it, and continuing executorship, which administers the estate over a longer period (section 2209), in principle limited to 30 years (section 2210).
This makes sense where heirs are minors, or where the estate includes a business or property.
Prior and subsequent heirs
With prior and subsequent inheritance the prior heir inherits first. After an event determined by you, the estate passes to the subsequent heir (sections 2100 et seq. German Civil Code). The prior heir cannot effectively dispose of land without the subsequent heir's consent (section 2113), unless you release them from that restriction (section 2136).
The price of this construction is unwieldiness, the return is control over the second generation. For a child with a disability it is combined with continuing executorship.
Calculate the compulsory shares before you distribute
Alongside children, a spouse living in the community of accrued gains inherits one quarter by law, and as a rule the share is increased by a further quarter as a flat amount (sections 1931 and 1371(1) German Civil Code). Where separation of property applies, the spouse's statutory share depends on the number of other heirs.
Lifetime gifts help only to a limited extent. Within ten years before the death they are added back for the calculation, with the value to be applied melting away by one tenth for each completed year (section 2325(3) German Civil Code). For gifts to a spouse this period as a rule does not run at all. Gifts subject to a reservation of usufruct, for example, likewise do not set the ten-year period running. A waiver of the compulsory share is notarially recorded (sections 2346, 2348), can be limited to specific assets and is usually agreed in return for compensation.
An advance power of attorney and a will do two different jobs
The will takes effect from your death. The advance power of attorney takes effect before that, when you can no longer act yourself, and spares your family guardianship proceedings. Both belong in the same advice session, but they are separate documents with separate effects. I draft both: drawing up advance powers of attorney is part of what I do.
A power of attorney that continues beyond death is additionally a practical tool for administering the estate: those authorised can keep accounts running and pay invoices before the position as heir has been proved.
Assets abroad change the legal question
Which inheritance law applies to your estate depends on your habitual residence at the time of death, not on your nationality (Article 21 EU Succession Regulation). A German national who spends their last years in Spain passes on their estate under Spanish law unless they provide otherwise.
You can choose the law of the state of which you are a national (Article 22 EU Succession Regulation). That choice of law belongs in the disposition itself, and it is one of the points that makes a will template downloaded from the internet expensive.
What makes a will vulnerable
01
Wording that can be read two ways
“My children should share the house” does not answer whether a community of heirs is intended, who may live there and who buys out whom. Unclear sentences do not lead to a compromise, they lead to court proceedings.
02
The binding effect on the survivor is underestimated
Many couples sign a Berlin will taken from a form book and assume the survivor can rearrange everything later, which as a rule is not true. Anyone who wants that freedom has to reserve it expressly in the text, before the first spouse dies.
03
The compulsory share is never calculated
If a child is passed over, a claim for money against the heirs arises. Where the assets sit in a property or in the business, something has to be sold, refinanced or funded, usually under time pressure and from a poor negotiating position.
04
The will is older than the life
Divorce, a new marriage, grandchildren, a flat that has been sold, a shareholding that has been transferred: a disposition from 2009 distributes assets that no longer exist to people who are no longer meant. After every major change the will belongs back on the table.
How I proceed
01
Taking stock
First everything goes on the table: land register extracts, account balances, shareholdings, life insurance policies, any prenuptial agreement, earlier wills, gifts made in the last ten years. Alongside that I record the family circumstances, including children from earlier relationships.
02
Aims and conflicts
Here we clarify what is to stay together and where disputes threaten. The answers are then turned into figures: compulsory share quotas, liquidity needed, the order of magnitude of the tax. The tax calculation itself I leave to your tax adviser.
03
Form and draft
Only now is it decided what you sign: a handwritten will, a notarial will or a contract of inheritance, where appropriate with a waiver of the compulsory share, executorship and a choice of law. You receive a draft with reasons, sentence by sentence.
04
Execution and safekeeping
With a notarial will I agree the draft with the notary's office and attend the recording appointment. With a handwritten will you receive a template to copy out and instructions for official safekeeping.
A typical situation
01
A second marriage, one child from the first marriage, one child together, a property in Cologne and a securities portfolio
The aim is that the wife can stay in the house without disinheriting the first child. A Berlin will would be the obvious and the wrong choice, because after the first death the first child can claim its compulsory share and the property would have to be charged to pay it.
02
A combination is closer to the mark
A right of residence or a usufruct for the wife as a legacy, the children appointed as heirs in fixed shares, a division directive for the securities portfolio and, with the first child, a notarial waiver of the compulsory share limited to the property in return for compensation. Whether that holds is decided by the calculation, not by the template.
Office in Cologne, cases throughout Germany
Appointments take place at Jakordenstrasse 8 in 50668 Cologne, by video on request. For the estate itself, the court with jurisdiction is later the one in whose district the deceased last had their habitual residence (section 343(1) FamFG). So for anyone living in Cologne, the will ends up with the probate court at the Cologne Local Court.
As a lawyer for inheritance law in Cologne I advise clients from Cologne and the surrounding area, from Bergisch Gladbach to Pulheim, and throughout Germany as well, wherever the court happens to sit.
YOUR QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
No, a will is valid without a notary if you write it entirely by hand and sign it (section 2247 German Civil Code). Printed texts, or texts written by someone else, are invalid even with your signature. Together with the record of its opening, the notarial document as a rule replaces the certificate of inheritance, including before the land registry (section 35(1) German Land Register Code).
As a rule, no. On the death of the first spouse the right to revoke the mutually dependent dispositions lapses (section 2271(2) German Civil Code). There is one statutory way out: you disclaim what the deceased spouse left you and thereby become free again. That costs you the inheritance. What matters, therefore, is the text you sign during your lifetime.
You can exclude a child as an heir, but the compulsory share remains. Disinherited children, spouses and in certain cases parents have a claim for money against the heirs amounting to half the value of their statutory share (section 2303 German Civil Code). Two routes are reliable: a notarially recorded waiver of the compulsory share, usually in return for compensation, or an arrangement that keeps the amount of the claim manageable.
I bill by time; my hourly rate is 280 euros plus 19% VAT. The basis is a fee agreement that you receive before we start. The statutory fees under the German Lawyers' Fees Act (RVG) form the minimum. The first meeting is also billed by time; there is no flat rate for a short conversation. Notary and court costs are charged separately.
A will is safest with the probate court. On your application, the probate court at the Cologne Local Court takes a handwritten will into special official safekeeping (section 2248 German Civil Code). Notarial wills go there automatically. The safekeeping is noted in the Central Register of Wills kept by the German Federal Chamber of Notaries. Anyone who nevertheless keeps their will themselves should at least tell one trusted person where it is.
Getting your disposition right, once
If you want to arrange your estate or have an existing will reviewed, bring what you have. In the initial consultation we clarify which form suits your assets and your family situation, and what has to be calculated.