Source: https://www.123recht.de/German-intestate-succession-law-claims-of-the-surviving-spouse-__a24063.html
Timestamp: 2018-12-14 02:37:52
Document Index: 665365433

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1931', '§ 1933', '§ 1931', '§ 1416', '§ 1482', '§ 1483', '§ 1483']

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Divorce and annulment of the marriage
If a person dies intestate and German succession applies (see our article "Private international law in Germany – succession" ) the heirs are determined by German intestate succession law.
According to § 1931 BGB the surviving spouse of the deceased is entitled to receive:
25% of the estate if there is any surviving children (or their issue) of the deceased
100% of the estate if the deceased is not survived by any of the before mentioned relatives
The spouse does not inherit if, at the time of the deceased`s death, the marriage has been divorced or annuled. Furthermore, according to § 1933 BGB the spouse is also not entitled to receive a share of the estate if at the time of the deceased's death, the conditions for the dissuolution were fulfilled and the deceased had already filed the respective petition.
Matrimonial property regime and inheritance rights
Statutory property regime of community of surplus
However, if the spouse does not inherit (e.g. because he / she renounces inheritance), he / she may still claim his forced share ("Pflichtteil") and – in addition to this – claim equlization of the surplus, which in this case is calculated according to the provisions of German familiy law. Therefore, if the surplus was very high, it may be advisable for the spouse to renounce the inheritance.
Separation of property ("Gütertrennung"),
Community of property ("Gütergemeinschaft"),
If the spouses were living under the contractual regime of community of property ("Gütergemeinschaft"), the provisions of § 1931 I and II BGB apply without modification. In particular, the spouse's share remains one fourth, even if he / she inherits together with only one or two children. The deceased's share in the joint property (Gesamtgut, § 1416 BGB) falls to his / her estate and is inherited according to the provisions of the law of succession (see § 1482 BGB).
The spouses may provide in a notarial contract that after the death of one of them the commu­nity will be continued between the surviving spouse and their joint issue (§ 1483 BGB). In this case, the deceased's share in the joint property does not fall to his estate and the joint ownership is continued between the surviving spouse and those descendants who are called to inherit under the rules of intestate succession. Only the deceased's separate and reserved property is then inherited according to the principles of the law of succession (§ 1483 I 3 BGB).
For more information about German inheritance law in English visit our website .
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