German inheritance law provides for so-called "compulsory heirs". If they are disinherited by testamentary disposition, those entitled to a compulsory portion are nevertheless entitled to a certain minimum inheritance share - usually half the value of their statutory inheritance share. According to the law, the descendants and the spouse of the deceased are entitled to a compulsory portion, as well as the parents if applicable.

Simple example for understanding:

Testator E is unmarried and leaves only one daughter T. E has assets amounting to EUR 5,000.00 (= value of the estate) and made a will during his lifetime in which he leaves everything to his best friend B.

What does his daughter T get?

T is the only descendant of E. As such, she is the first-order heir according to statutory succession pursuant to Section 1924 (1) BGB and is entitled to a compulsory portion pursuant to Section 2303 (1) sentence 1 BGB. As there is no spouse or other descendants of E, T would have become the sole heir to the entire estate by operation of law if E had not made a will. She would therefore have inherited his assets in the amount of EUR 5,000.00 alone.

However, E did not include T in his will and thus disinherited her. If T does not take action and does not actively claim her compulsory portion, she will be left empty-handed in accordance with the will.

However, she can also claim her compulsory portion. According to Section 2303 (1) sentence 2 BGB, she is then entitled to half the value of her statutory inheritance share. As she would inherit everything by law and E had assets of EUR 5,000.00, she is entitled to half of this and therefore a compulsory portion of EUR 2,500.00.

Solution: If T claims her compulsory portion, she receives 2,500.00 euros. If she does not do this, she receives nothing.

Unfortunately, the cases are not always so straightforward in practice. Particularly in the case of many parties, it is often not clear to those entitled to a compulsory portion whether and to what amount they can receive. This is where the right to information about the compulsory portion often helps, as it provides clarity about the amount of the estate to which every person entitled to a compulsory portion is generally entitled.

Or perhaps you are currently planning your estate and would like to leave as little as possible to a person entitled to a compulsory portion? There are also numerous structuring options here.

Get in touch with us. We will be happy to advise you on determining and claiming your compulsory portion or planning your estate.