The German right to a compulsory portion protects the direct relatives of the testator from being completely disinherited. The right to a compulsory portion is based on the constitutional principle of family solidarity. The compulsory portion is not a genuine inheritance right, but must be actively enforced by the person entitled to the compulsory portion […]

If several persons inherit together, they are jointly entitled to the administration and distribution of the estate, unless the deceased has made a different arrangement. In practice, this often means that the community of heirs also becomes a community of fate in matters of property, which can usually only be ended by the so-called “settlement”.

If the deceased failed to make a testamentary succession arrangement, the estate is distributed in accordance with statutory inheritance law. Inheritance is determined according to a statutory order of precedence based on the degree of kinship to the deceased person.

What happens if someone dies without leaving a will or an inheritance contract? In this case, the statutory succession applies in Germany, which we explain in this article.