The legacy of an entire district fits into three large safes in Erding.
You are in the estate department of the local court, which has been located at Gestütring 2 since September.
Erding - The legacy of an entire district fits into three large safes in Erding.
You are in the estate department of the local court, which has been located at Gestütring 2 since September.
Every year, 1,600 lives and what is left of them in values are legally settled here.
A visit to the new realm of the wills.
The probation officers of the Erdingen judiciary have their offices on the first floor.
You are trying to address biographies that have gone astray.
Among them, Justitia deals with lives that have come to an end, more precisely judicial administration officer Petra Kolb, justice administration inspector Maximilian Schmid, five other employees and two security guards.
They found accommodation at the Gestütring almost six months ago because there was simply no more space in the court itself, on Münchener Strasse.
The land registry had to go out beforehand and is now staying with the municipal utilities on the Gries.
The Kolb team receives mail from the town halls every day, a good 1,600 times a year.
It is always about death, more personally formulated about the testator.
“The registry offices transmit the deaths to us.
It is then our job to identify the heirs, ”explains the judicial officer.
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In September 2020, the probate court moved to Gestütring 2, where it shares the second branch of the Erdingen judiciary with the probation officers.
© Hans Moritz
Fresh mail is left lying around for two weeks, explains Schmid.
But not because you know it from the authorities, “but because we want to give the bereaved some time to mourn”.
The probate court usually finds out from the undertakers who the first point of contact is.
The probate court tries to find out who is entitled to the inheritance - spouse, children or already the grandchildren.
But the parents of a dead person can also be entitled to inheritance.
And Kolb and her colleagues are researching the last ruling: Is there a will?
Is there a contract of inheritance?
Sometimes all they have to do is go to the room with the safes.
Inside are thousands of wills, each one in a brown envelope with a number in gray plastic boxes.
"Every citizen is free to deposit his or her last will with us," says Kolb.
It costs 75 euros, but the last document of life is in safe hands.
Because it does happen that the last will cannot be found - or that it suddenly disappears, but that is very rare, says Kolb.
It is even rarer that a will was subsequently changed by a third party.
This is then a criminal offense - forgery of documents.
A will must be handwritten and signed by both spouses.
The Rechtspfleger advise consulting a notary, especially in the case of higher assets, when drafting.
"This prevents problems when interpreting the last will," says Schmid.
His superior knows that this last will is sometimes not the last.
“There are already people who come to us because they want to change something, to appoint a new partner or to delete a close relative.” From a legal point of view, it is always a new testament.
What if there is no last will?
"Then the legal succession comes into force", explains Schmid - in the case of married testators, for example, the spouse and children inherit.
For them, the probate court is the point of contact to get a certificate of inheritance, the document to be able to claim the property of the deceased for themselves.
Kolb also explains what the probate court is not: “It is not our job to determine the amount of the estate.
When we have found the right people, the case is done for us.
We don't know how great the inheritance is. ”Dr.
Stefan Priller, press spokesman for the local court, has good advice on this: "Everyone should get a death folder that lists what is inherited - accounts, land, savings contracts, houses, cars and so on." "It is often not that easy to find out what someone has owned."
Sometimes this is detective work.
"We have already had cases in which we have gone to cemeteries to copy the names off the gravestones," says Kolb.
There are also heir investigation institutes that are even internationally active.
What if at first glance there are no heirs?
Then, says Kolb, lawyers are used to manage the estate.
They would then have to go to a dead person's apartment to look for clues about those entitled to inheritance.
“Only if absolutely nobody can be found does the inheritance go to the state.
But that often takes years. ”Before doing so, the Rechtspfleger also takes a look at the land registry to find the property and owner.
The probate court cannot help disputing parties at all.
If an inheritance is struggled, relatives who feel they have been treated unfairly must take civil law action against the main heir.
"Then it comes to claims under the law of obligations," explains Priller.
The right to the compulsory portion always exists.
In the event of a dispute, he can only be sued under civil law.
Almost, because an inheritance can also go completely empty, for example if it is proven that he sought after the life of the testator.
According to Kolb, a debt restructuring judge is also needed when there is doubt that the author of a will still knew what he was doing.
"That happens about ten times a year," sums up the judicial officer, who is as free in her position as a judge.
In principle, debts can also be inherited.
However, the surviving dependents have six weeks after taking note of the financial circumstances to reject the inheritance.
Because the dispute over inheritance is as old as wills, Priller advises avoiding the formation of communities of heirs as far as possible.
The more peaceful way is to appoint one person as the sole heir, supplemented by legacies for the benefit of other beneficiaries.
For example: a child is the sole heir, but is obliged to cede the property to the brother and the bank assets to the sister.
All of this can be decreed in the will.
Hans Moritz
The probate court
at Gestütring 2 is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Appointments can be made by the Citizen Service on Tel. (0 81 22) 40 04 01. At the entrance, every visitor must undergo a security check.
