As of: March 2, 2024, 5:00 a.m
By: Laura Hindelang
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A will regulates who inherits what shares.
Strict regulations apply to the document.
If it is not written by hand, it loses its validity.
With the will you regulate your estate and determine who should inherit which parts.
This is particularly important if the last will of the beneficiary, the testator, does not correspond to the legally established line of succession.
Anyone who writes a will can distribute their assets as they wish.
The author himself determines who should inherit.
In order for the last will to be valid, some rules must be observed when drafting the document that serve to protect the testator.
The will must be written entirely by hand
One of the most important regulations: The will must be written and signed entirely by hand, informs the
Federal Ministry of Justice
.
Documents written on a PC are invalid from the outset, regardless of the signature.
The authenticity of the will can only be verified based on the individual features of the handwriting.
The advantage of a will written by hand is that it can be written down inexpensively, anywhere and at any time.
© Westend61/Imago
The regulation is intended to protect the testator from possible manipulation.
The legislature wants to ensure that a will found actually comes from the testator and corresponds to his wishes.
The handwritten letter serves to prove the authenticity of the will he wrote down, it says on
Dr.
Beier & Partner, specialist lawyers for inheritance law from Darmstadt.
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If the will consists of several pages, you should number them individually, then staple them together and - to avoid any doubt - date and sign each page.
The will can easily be changed afterwards.
Dr.
In this case, Beier & Partner
recommend signing again.
In this way, the testator documents that the changes are serious and final declarations of intent.
If addenda are written on a separate sheet, this must also be signed.
No lettering is as authentic as the signature.
The signature should also clarify the identity.
If the signature is missing, the document loses its validity.
An exception occurs when spouses draw up a joint will.
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The date and place should not be missing from the last will
The last will is also ineffective if it was written by a third person, for example because the testator's hand was already shaky.
A will can only ever be written by the testator personally; any representation in drawing up a will makes it invalid, even if the testator signed it himself.
As the
Finanztip
portal reports, the document is also void if the testator lacks “testamentary capacity”.
This is the case, for example, if the person is so ill that they can no longer form clear judgments.
The place and date should not be missing from the will.
Although the information is not legally required, it becomes important if several wills appear.
Without specifying the time, it cannot be determined which of the documents is the most current version, write
Dr.
Beier & Partners
.
If there are different wills, doubts may arise as to their validity.
It is possible that all documents will be kept so that legal succession ultimately occurs.
In order to avoid questions and ambiguities, it is crucial that all information in the will is formulated clearly and precisely.
This starts with the title: The last will should be recognizable as such.
That's why the Finanztip
portal recommends
naming the document as a "will" or "my last will".