Ask a lawyer on the topic of Inheritance law

Will and Consequences

April 16, 2021 | 60,00 EUR | answered by Bernhard Müller

Constellation:

We would like to write a will in a way that only I or my wife can inherit the assets.
This means that if the wife F. dies, the husband M. inherits the complete assets, and if the husband M. dies, the entire assets are inherited by the wife F., and the children do not inherit anything.
I have more or less informed myself about the compulsory share for children, but we would like to keep it as low as possible.
We have 3 children.
We have the following assets:
1. A single-family house registered in both spouses' names in the land register
2. In addition, husband M. has 2 multi-family houses (1 x 6 units and 1 x 4 units) jointly owned with his brother, the wife(s) of the MH-property owner are not registered as owners in the land register.

My question is who gets what including children's compulsory share:

A.) What do the children inherit if the wife F. dies, especially in terms of the 50% share of the single-family house being registered as co-owners and what does the husband M. inherit? (including children)

B.) What do the children inherit if the wife F. dies, especially in terms of the share of the multi-family houses (under 1.), where only the surviving husband M. is registered as the owner, and what does the wife F. inherit? (including children)

C.) What are the tax implications?

D.) What would be the best form of will?

Thank you in advance for your efforts.
M. Petro

Bernhard Müller

Regarding D) It depends on who should inherit after F and M have passed away. If the children are to be the final heirs, the Berlin will with penalty clause is the best form of will.

Regarding C) Everyone has to pay taxes on their share of the inheritance. Spouses have a tax-free allowance of 500,000 euros and each child 400,000 euros.

Regarding B) If F dies, the children will not inherit anything from the multi-family houses. If M dies without a will, F inherits half of M's share of the multi-family houses and each child inherits 1/6 of the share that belonged to M.

Regarding A) If F dies without a will, M inherits 1/4 of the single-family house and each child inherits 1/12 of the house. The other half of the single-family house already belongs to M.

The compulsory share of the children is a claim for a cash payment equal to half the value of what the children would inherit if there were no will.