✍️ Will and contract of inheritance
In brief
You can write and sign a will alone by hand. Typed text is not enough.
Minors aged 16 and over can only make a will before a notary.
Spouses can make a joint will. It is enough for one of them to write the text by hand and the other to sign it personally.
You conclude a contract of inheritance before a notary. Both sides must be present at the same time.
A will can be valid even if it has no date. Date and place are advisable, though.
If you are planning a will yourself: a notary or a lawyer can help avoid mistakes.
Step by step
- Clarify your wishesWho is to receive what? Who is to be entitled to a compulsory portion?
- Choose the formHandwritten or notarial. Contract of inheritance only notarial.
- Add date, place and signatureSign with first name and surname.
- Keep it safeOfficial custody with the court or a notary makes it findable through the register of wills.
Deadlines
- A typewritten or printed individual will does not meet the form requirement of § 2247 BGB.
- Anyone who does not understand what they are signing (for example because of a pathological disturbance of mental activity) cannot make a valid will (§ 2229 BGB).
- A contract of inheritance is binding. Later differing wills may be invalid. Advice is particularly advisable here.
- A will cannot simply remove the compulsory portion.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Handwritten will
Under § 2247 BGB the testator can make a will by a declaration written and signed in their own hand. They should state when (day, month, year) and where they wrote it. The signature should include first name and surname. If the testator signs in another way and this suffices to establish authorship and seriousness, validity is not affected (§ 2247 Abs. 3 BGB). Minors and persons unable to read handwriting cannot make a will in this form (§ 2247 Abs. 4 BGB); minors aged 16 and over can do so only by a declaration to a notary or by handing an open document to the notary (§ 2233 Abs. 1 BGB).
Joint will
§ 2267 BGB eases the form for spouses: it is enough for one spouse to make the will in the form prescribed by § 2247 BGB and for the other to co-sign the joint declaration in their own hand. The co-signing spouse should state when and where they signed.
Testamentary capacity
Under § 2229 BGB a minor can make a will only after turning 16, without the consent of the legal representative. Anyone who, because of a pathological disturbance of mental activity, mental weakness or disturbance of consciousness, cannot understand the significance of their declaration lacks testamentary capacity.
Contract of inheritance
§ 2276 BGB: a contract of inheritance can be concluded only by notarial record with both parties present at the same time. For contracts of inheritance between spouses or betrothed persons combined with a marriage contract, the form of the marriage contract suffices.
Not checked
Contesting wills, the binding effect of reciprocal dispositions, provisional and subsequent heirs and executorship are not covered in depth here.
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