Your lawyer for the assertion of compulsory portion claims in Germany

I can help you if you have been disinherited!

Welcome to the assertion of compulsory portion claims

There are numerous misunderstandings about compulsory portion claims that need to be cleared up from the outset:

The circle of persons entitled to a compulsory portion is very narrow in Germany:

Those entitled to a compulsory portion are:

1. descendants of the testator, i.e. children, if the children are already deceased, grandchildren, if they are already dead, the great-grandchildren;

2. spouses or registered partners;

3. parents of the deceased, if the deceased has no children or other descendants.

The following are not entitled to a compulsory portion:

Siblings of the deceased,
nieces and nephews,
grandparents,
other distant relatives.

Very important: Claims to a compulsory portion expire after 3 years! The limitation period begins on January 1st of the year following the year of the death or the year in which you became aware of it. The period for asserting claims then ends on 31.12. of the third following year.

So if you have a death in 2022, you must claim this compulsory portion by 31.12.2025 and do so in court. If you fail to do so, the other party can refuse to fulfill this claim due to the statute of limitations.

Claims for deaths in 2021 and earlier are already time-barred, unless you only became aware of them later. If in doubt, have it checked!

Therefore, take care in good time and contact a competent lawyer!

Claims for a compulsory portion are quite common in our international inheritance law practice. This is because there are two typical constellations:

- A German (husband/wife) goes abroad, has children there, separates, returns home, has a new relationship there and the children abroad are forgotten, disinherited, simply not named in the will.

- A non-German lives in his country, has children there, leaves the country, goes to Germany and starts a new life there. Again, other people are named as heirs, the children "at home" are not taken into account.

If you find yourself in such a situation, then you are not alone; in our practice this is everyday life! This may be little consolation, but perhaps it is more helpful to know that in Germany at least the compulsory portion cannot be taken away from you. This is half of what you would have been legally entitled to.

An example:

Father is American, has two children from his first marriage, gets divorced, goes to Germany, remarries there, wife has two children, also from her first marriage. The father writes a will in Germany making his wife his sole heir, shortly afterwards he lives and later dies. Since Germany was his habitual residence, German law has to be applied, unless he made a choice of law in his law will for US law.

The two children in the US are entitled to a compulsory portion. By law, they would each be entitled to 25 % of the estate; the compulsory portion would then be 12.5 %.

With an estate value of €100,000, for example, this can be worthwhile, as it amounts to €12,500. Per capita.

Costs of asserting compulsory portion out of court

What is the procedure for asserting a claim to a compulsory portion?

The assertion of a claim to a compulsory portion in Germany usually takes place in several steps and usually begins with an out-of-court attempt to enforce the claim. Only if the heirs do not respond or provide insufficient information will legal action be necessary. The procedure for such enforcement is described below.

1. out-of-court assertion

First, the claim is asserted out of court by means of a letter from a lawyer.

Content of the lawyer's letter

In the letter, the person entitled to the compulsory portion draws the heirs' attention to their claim. Information about the estate is requested, in particular a list of assets, debts and any gifts made by the deceased. At the same time, a deadline is set for the heirs to provide the information and calculate the compulsory portion.

Reactions of the heirs

There are typically two problematic reactions:

No response: the heirs do not respond to the letter.
Incomplete or incorrect information: The heirs submit an estate inventory that is incomplete or conceals significant values.

In such cases, the only option for the person entitled to a compulsory portion is often to go to court.

2. bringing an action in stages

If an out-of-court settlement fails, a so-called step action can be brought. In German civil procedure law, this is specifically designed to enforce several claims in stages.

Procedure of the step-by-step action

The step-by-step action consists of three sections, which are heard one after the other:

Right to information

In the first stage, the person entitled to a compulsory portion demands complete and detailed information about the estate. If the information provided by the heirs is not sufficient, a notarized inventory of the estate may be requested.
Necessary valuations, for example by experts for real estate or other assets, are also part of this stage.

Entitlement to an affidavit

If there are doubts about the accuracy or completeness of the information, the heirs may be required to make an affidavit. This is to ensure that no assets have been concealed.

Claim for payment

As soon as the information is available and the values have been determined, the last stage is to calculate the compulsory portion amount. The court then decides whether and to what amount the heirs are obliged to pay.

3. result of the step-by-step action

a. Successful enforcement

The court can order the heirs to pay the compulsory portion. The costs of the proceedings are usually borne by the unsuccessful heirs.

b. Settlement during the proceedings

The parties often agree on a payment during the step-by-step proceedings in order to avoid further court and legal costs.

c. Sanctions for false information

If the heirs provide incomplete or false information and confirm this in an affidavit, they may face criminal penalties. This can lead to the heirs having to bear further financial burdens in addition to the compulsory portion payments.

4. conclusion

Asserting a claim to a compulsory portion is often a multi-stage process. The multi-stage action offers an effective way of first establishing transparency about the estate before the claim for payment is enforced. Anyone wishing to assert claims should consult an experienced lawyer from the outset in order to effectively manage both the out-of-court communication and the court proceedings.

The disadvantages are that court costs must first be paid if a claim is brought and the regional court will usually have jurisdiction, which means that legal fees will be incurred. On the other hand, in the case of compulsory portion claims, there is a certain probability that the lawsuit could be won. However, this remains subject to a very expert examination by the lawyer.

Costs of enforcing the compulsory portion

Back to the Homepage

Here you can return to the homepage, where you will find all legal areas, languages, contact forms, and FAQs.

Some legal information

Here you will find the information we wish to provide to help you understand your rights. If you cannot find something you think should be here, please feel free to contact us. We have taken great care to include guidance on each of our pages so that you don’t have to search for long.