What happens if there are no heirs?

Westphalian Chamber of Notaries. If a deceased person had no direct relatives, the estate passes to more distant relatives or, if no heirs can be identified, to the state. Anyone who wishes to arrange the distribution of their assets individually instead of following this legal succession has various options for structuring their estate according to their own wishes.

Succession regulated by law

In Germany, the succession regulated according to so-called orders. First-order relatives are the children, with grandchildren taking the place of deceased children. Second-order relatives are the parents or their children, i.e. the siblings of the deceased. This scheme continues down to the last order, the state. The state inherits if there are no more legal heirs.

Managing asset succession during your lifetime

Leaving nothing of value behind is difficult to achieve in practice. If you have sufficient retirement provisions, assets such as real estate or money can be transferred to third parties or charitable institutions during your lifetime, allowing you to personally experience the impact of your assets. If you do not want to completely relinquish control over your assets, you can set up a non-charitable foundation, for example for your own family or for social purposes, and endow it with foundation capital.

Self-determined succession through a will

The most practical and popular way to determine succession is to draw up a will. The testator is free to decide how to distribute their estate among specific persons and in what proportions, taking into account the statutory compulsory portion regulations. They can also use the will to set up a foundation or a executor to enforce the provisions. It is advisable to have the will drawn up and certified by a notary so that the last will and testament is formally and substantively valid and to avoid bureaucratic hurdles for the heirs.

If you would like advice on this topic from a notary in advance, you can find it on the Internet at https://notar.de/ the right contact person. You can also visit the online consumer portal of the Chamber of Notaries at https://ratgeber-notar.de/.