Lawyer with competence in the area of inheritance law in Berlin: I take care of your inheritance concerns

As a lawyer with specialised on inheritance law in Berlin, I consult senior citizens on writing your will, take care of communications with the public offices and represent you in court.

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Writing a will is an important building block in legal preparation. Only with a will can you avoid the usual legal succession. So prepare early – and take care of your inheritance today.

Legal succession often leads to a joint heirship that has to split the inheritance among themselves. This often leads to disagreement within the joint heirship. In many cases in inheritance law there are several heirs that haven’t had contact with the deceased anymore or even parted in anger.

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Ich helfe Ihnen bei Fragen zum Thema Erbrecht in Berlin

This is how I support you as lawyer with specialised expertise in inheritance law

As your lawyer with expertise in inheritance law I will examine with you whether legal succession according to the BGB makes sense for you. That is always the starting point in my consultation as a lawyer. This often leads to the question: what happens, when nothing has been arranged during one’s lifetime?

In that context it is important to know that every inheritance case in Germany will first be considered by an inheritance court which is tasked with determining succession. Succession is important for example for requesting a certificate of inheritance or for declaring inheritance tax. In communication with the inheritance court, I can often already achieve important successes for my clients, because a certificate of inheritance grants you access to the bank accounts of the deceased and allows you to get an estimate for the inheritance.

Only if you decided against legal succession after consultation in my Berlin office, by telephone, by email or after a videocall appointment, the tools of the single will, the joint will and the inheritance contract become relevant.

I also gladly check over your already written drafts for these documents within an initial consultation.

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Arrange your inheritance with a will

Only with a last will can legal succession be changed. It can be especially useful to write a will to prevent conflict among the co-heirs within a joint heirship. This can also prevent a part of the inheritance from going directly to a social agency or being paid out to creditors of the heirs by a liquidator.

As a lawyer with expertise in inheritance law I am well acquainted with the details and options. In my office in Berlin I offer you comprehensive support in any questions around inheritance law.

I will gladly advise you!

Book an appointment for a free initial assessment or contact me by phone, e-mail or via my contact form:

Lawyer Christian Janssen from Berlin

Law school: at Hamburg University
Clerkship: at Kassel District Court
Licensed as lawyer via the bar association Berlin since 2015

Choosing the legal successor by designating an heir

The Bundesgerichtshof has once judged that the designation of an heir communicates who should follow in your footsteps. In contrast to a bequest, the designation of an heir transfers not just a single asset such as real estate or the content of a bank account to another person. Rather, the heir acts as future contact point for all legal relationships. Therefore, the heir also inherits the decedent’s debts and has to declare their taxes in the year of their death.

Especially because of the many uncertainties, you should consider carefully whether you accept the inheritance. You should consult with an expert. As your lawyer with expertise in inheritance law I advise you about the advantages and disadvantages.

The difference between preliminary and beneficiary inheritance

Especially if you want a minor to inherit, it is practical to name them as beneficiary heir with their parents as preliminary heirs. This way you can profit from tax exemptions and at the same time pass on your wealth to the generation after the next.

In my consultation I also often encounter the situation that a senior citizen approaches me with their family and we discover over time that the family feels overwhelmed with the inheritance or would prefer to only manage it for the next generation.

It can also happen that a decedent doesn’t trust their legal successors to manage their assets prudently and therefore considers to designate them as a so-called preliminary heir without exemption. Then the heir is even obligated to manage the inheritance in a way decided by the decedent and to protect it for the next generation.

Another special case occurs when the person entitled to a compulsory portion can’t care for themselves due to a disability and is dependent on government welfare. The social assistance authority would then need to be notified of the inheritance and this would lead to the inheritance being charged against previous or future benefits and thus falling to the state.

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The compulsory portion in inheritance law

The freedom to formulate your will is limited among other things by the right to a compulsory portion. Close relatives and a marriage partner can enforce this against the heirs. That means that you have first been disinherited by a will. This matter should already have been considered when writing the will. For example, a penalty clause can be built in for the case that someone entitled to a compulsory portion demands their portion. Completely disinheriting someone is only possible under strict limitations and in practice almost never happens.

As your lawyer in Berlin, I also advise you in tax and social law
Does it make sense to manage preliminary inheritance via Berlin testament? Do my heirs have to sell the furniture to pay the inheritance tax? Do children and stepchildren have the same tax-exempt amount?

I will gladly advise you on these questions as a lawyer with expertise in inheritance law in Berlin. An inheritance law consultation for me always includes consideration of tax law and social law, as only this way I can give a comprehensive consultation.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What happens with my inheritance if succession wasn’t arranged?

If no succession has been arranged, you have to expect a long and bureaucratic process.
The implementation of legal succession falls to the inheritance court which is part of the district court of the place the deceased last lived in. There you need to request a certificate of inheritance so that for example the bank account or any real estate of the deceased can be accessed. For that you have to prove that you are the only still living relative of the deceasedIf there are other relatives still alive, all of them need to reject the inheritance within six weeks after learning of the inheritance. The same applies to children of the relatives. The collected rejections have to arrive at the inheritance court before it can resolve the succession.
Since the inheritance can only be managed in the meantime, I as a lawyer with expertise in inheritance law in Berlin recommend to avoid this likely lengthy process. It often leads to real estate standing empty over long time or funds on bank accounts going unused.

Can a person who has been designated as heir reject the inheritance and claim the compulsory portion instead?

Generally, a rejection of the inheritance also forfeits the compulsory portion. In that case, the exclusion from succession isn’t caused by the decedent but by the actions of the relative themselves. However, there are the following exceptions:
If the decedent and their spouse don’t have a marriage contract, the spouses live in the statutory property regime of community of acquisitions. The spouse can then demand the compensation of acquisitions instead of the compulsory portion.
The same is true when the relative entitled to a compulsory portion is limited by preliminary or beneficiary inheritance, execution of the will, or predetermined distribution of assets, or is given obligations through a bequest or condition: In this case the inheritance can also be rejected and instead the compulsory portion can be demanded.

How does the cooperation with you work in inheritance law?

In the first step I contact your legal cost insurance to see whether they will cover the costs for hiring me. If you don’t have a legal cost insurance, I will inform you of the expected costs and write an invoice for an advance payment and request you sign my authorisation.
In the next step I initiate contact with the opposing side, the government agencies and the court. As your lawyer with expertise in inheritance law, I will of course regularly keep you informed of the current situation and will recommend further steps.
Through this communication you will always keep an overview of the work I’m doing and the associated costs.

Can a person entitled to a compulsory portion who has been left out dispute the inheritance contract of the decedent?

Often the disinheriting or leaving out of a person entitled to a compulsory portion can be disputed. This applies for example when the person entitled to a compulsory portion has been left out in a disposition by will due to a mistake or lack of knowledge of their existence. In that case they are not only entitled to their compulsory portion. They can rather dispute the disposition by will entirely along §§ 2079, 2281 Abs. 1 BGB, with the result that the will is considered void from the start.

Can inheritance or compulsory portion of the spouse or children be reduced by giving gifts while alive?

If the decedent gifts something to the person entitled to a compulsory portion, they can decree that the value of the gift is calculated into the compulsory portion, § 2315 BGB.
Through the gifting the value of the inheritance and therefore the value of the compulsory portion is reduced. The latter is reduced additionally via the decision to deduct from the compulsory portion.

How does the inheritance court hear of my death so the will (testament or inheritance contract) can be opened properly?

To inform the inheritance court of the death, I recommend giving the testament or inheritance contract into the care of the district court. With the opening of the inheritance file, they can immediately access it.

Does the heir have a right to information about the assets of the decedent during their lifetime?

Such a right to information doesn’t exist. Even after the decedent’s death, information can only be demanded after the inheritance has been accepted.

What is the difference between bequest, succession, inheritance, inheritance share, and compulsory portion?

Decedent: the heir becomes the universal successor of the decedent. They have to take over not only their assets but also their debts.
A legatee meanwhile has a claim against the heir to a bequest in the form of the payment of a sum or the handing over of an object. Other than that, the legatee has no obligations.
Succession means the date of the decedent’s death. This day is enormously important for the calculation of deadlines for rejecting the inheritance or claiming the compulsory portion.
An inheritance describes the total value of the assets that are handed over. This is important for example for calculating inheritance tax.
Inheritance share: joint heirs have to reveal to each other what share they have received. This is also referred to as inheritance quota.
The compulsory portion is half of the inheritance share by law for the person entitled to it.

In what form does a will have to be written?

According to § 2247 Abs. 1 BGB it is a constitutive requirement for a handwritten will that it has been written and signed by the respective decedent’s own hand. The signature of the decedent is a necessary and indispensable condition for the validity of the will, because only it guarantees the seriousness and final decision-making of the decedent, as OLG Naumburg stressed in its decision from the 30^th of July 2021 – 2 Wx 55/20 ((NJ 2022, 75, beck-online).

What is a bequest?

A bequest, other than the designation of an heir, doesn’t designate a person as the decedent’s successor, but gives a claim against the heir to hand over an object or to pay a sum of money from the inheritance. This is especially useful when there are several heirs, but only one is supposed to handle the inheritance locally.

What is the execution of a will?

Do you have several heirs and want to prevent conflict within the community of heirs?
In your will you can already appoint an executor of the will. It can make sense to appoint someone who is not also an heir, as that would bring conflict potential.
I will gladly support you as executor of your will and make sure that your last will is carried out fully.
The costs are calculated based on the size of the inheritance and are paid by the heirs.

Other areas of law

Pension law

I would also be happy to assist you in drawing up your own personal living will, health care proxy, and power of attorney.

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Social law

I would be happy to explain how you can use the costs of care to structure the transfer of your assets to the next generation.

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Tax law

I will prepare your tax return, check your tax assessment, lodge an appeal, and handle the proceedings before the tax court.

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Airbnb law

When planning to rent out an apartment or house via the Airbnb portal, there are usually tax issues to be clarified. I would be happy to assist you with this.

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