Dispute over inheritance: Specialist lawyer explains how to reduce the compulsory portion - and thereby save millions

Created: 2022-12-16, 8:14 p.m

By: Andreas Thieme

Analyzing the assets and liabilities of a deceased after the inheritance can be quite time-consuming.

© Christin Klose/dpa-tmn

Many people think generously of their families after their own death.

But there are often arguments in families.

A lawyer gives tips for testators. 

Munich - If there is a dispute with the children within the family, their inheritance can be excluded by a will.

"However, so-called compulsory portion claims remain as monetary claims," ​​says Prof. Wolfgang Böh from Munich.

These amount to 50 percent of the statutory inheritance law, adds the specialist lawyer for inheritance and tax law.

So if a single person has two children and would like to disinherit one child, this disinherited child has a compulsory share claim with a ratio of one to four.

"All in all, it is difficult to completely rule out a claim to a compulsory portion." However, Böh recommends the following measures that can at least lead to a reduction in these claims.

Tip 1: Gifts can reduce the entitlement to a compulsory portion

Lifetime donations can lead to the compulsory portion being reduced.

It is true that such donations are still taken into account within certain periods of time for the claim to a compulsory portion.

"The older a donation is, the lower the value to be taken into account," says Böh.

However, this design should not be carried out without legal advice, as there are many pitfalls where the goal of reducing the compulsory portion is missed.

Tip 2: Marriage or adoption lowers the claims

A typical constellation is that a person lives in a non-marital relationship and has children from a previous relationship.

"Then only the children are entitled to an inheritance and thus a compulsory share," says Wolfgang Böh.

Compulsory portion claims can be reduced by getting married, as this significantly reduces the number of children.

A similar approach is that the later testator adopts a person during his or her lifetime, if this is appropriate in individual cases.

"This also reduces the rate."

Tip 3: Move abroad, because there is no right to a compulsory portion

Rather unusual, but in individual cases a far-reaching option is that the later testator moves abroad.

"There are numerous countries around the world, especially in the Anglo-American legal area, that do not have a right to a compulsory portion," explains Böh.

Since Germany, with a view to the so-called EU Inheritance Regulation, applies the question of which inheritance law applies to where the deceased had his last habitual residence, the foreign inheritance law would be applicable in the event of a move.

"In this case, there is no longer any entitlement to a compulsory portion."

Tip 4: Lifetime gifts

In individual cases, gifts that have already been made to the person entitled to a compulsory portion can lead to a reduction in the entitlement to a compulsory portion.

"This should be checked in individual cases to avoid the compulsory portion," advises Böh.