{"id":1958,"date":"2024-07-30T08:25:59","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T06:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deinadieu.de\/ratgeber\/what-happens-if-i-suddenly-pass-away-without-a-will\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T11:47:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:47:07","slug":"what-happens-if-i-suddenly-pass-away-without-a-will","status":"publish","type":"ratgeber","link":"https:\/\/www.deinadieu.de\/en\/advisor\/what-happens-if-i-suddenly-pass-away-without-a-will\/","title":{"rendered":"What happens if I suddenly pass away without a will?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>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. <\/p>\n\n<!--more-->\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-create-block-deinadieu-simple\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group da-pull has-lightgrey-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\" style=\"border-top-color:var(--wp--preset--color--da-dark);border-top-width:4px;padding-right:3rem;padding-left:3rem\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quick Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-default\">\n<li>If the deceased has not made individual estate arrangements, e.g. in a will, the estate does not remain unsettled; statutory inheritance law applies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Statutory inheritance law is society&#8217;s generally accepted model for the distribution of estates.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The primary legal heirs are the genetic relatives of the deceased.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The ranking of their entitlement to inherit is determined by the so-called &#8220;parental order&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>Death is something so strange that, regardless of all experience, it is not considered possible with an entity that is dear to us, and it occurs as something unbelievable and unexpected. It is, so to speak, an impossibility that suddenly becomes reality.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<cite>Johann Wolfgang von Goethe<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Coming to terms with one&#8217;s own finiteness is not a particularly pleasant undertaking and is therefore generally avoided as far and as long as possible. Moreover, natural death, even in old age, is not a predictable event. In the words of Goethe, it is the &#8220;impossibility that suddenly becomes reality&#8221;. It is therefore not uncommon that at the time of a person&#8217;s death there is no will in which the testator (the deceased) has made a living will and thus undertaken a timely <strong>distribution of the estate according to his or her own individual wishes<\/strong>.   <\/p>\n\n<p>However, the fact that the testator has <strong>not made any voluntary inheritance arrangements<\/strong> does not mean that the distribution of the estate remains unregulated. In such cases, <strong>statutory inheritance law<\/strong> applies. <\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who inherits in the event of intestate succession?<\/h3>\n\n<p>In accordance with the social model, <strong>relatives of the testator in the genetic sense<\/strong> (so-called &#8220;cognatic&#8221; family) are primarily appointed as legal heirs (<em>&#8220;the estate runs with the blood&#8221;)<\/em>. In the case of <strong>adoption<\/strong>, the blood relationship is legally fictitious. Different-sex or same-sex spouses and life partners only inherit <em>alongside<\/em> the cognatic relatives.  <\/p>\n\n<p>The legal order of succession is based on the so-called <strong>parentel order<\/strong>. This places the relatives who are generally entitled to inherit in order of precedence, according to the <strong>number of generations<\/strong> that must be traced back <strong>to the closest common ancestor<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n<p>The first parental group comprises <strong>direct descendants<\/strong>, i.e. children; the second order includes <strong>parents and their descendants<\/strong> (i.e. sisters and brothers, nephews and nieces); the third order comprises <strong>grandparents and their descendants<\/strong> (i.e. aunts and uncles, cousins) of the deceased.<\/p>\n\n<p>A <strong>preceding parentel group excludes its subordinate group from the succession<\/strong>. If, for example, there is a direct descendant at the time of inheritance, i.e. an heir of the first order of parenteles, he or she excludes all other relatives of other orders, e.g. living parents of the testator, from the succession. <\/p>\n\n<p>Within a parental, the estate (at least in the first two parental groups) is <strong>distributed evenly according to head shares<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p>As <strong>representatives of<\/strong> <strong>their family line<\/strong>, direct descendants displace all distant descendants related to the testator through them. For example, the living daughter of a (single) testator inherits alone and displaces her own children (i.e. the grandchildren of the testator) from the line of succession. <\/p>\n\n<p>In <strong>the event of<\/strong> <strong>the predecease of the children of the testator<\/strong>, their descendants take over the inheritance rights of their parents (the so-called <strong>principle of subrogation<\/strong>). The grandchildren of the deceased then divide among themselves the share of the estate to which their mother or father would have been entitled as a descendant. <\/p>\n\n<p>If there are no legal heirs or if all heirs have renounced the inheritance, the tax authorities inherit.<\/p>\n\n<p>You can find a detailed description of statutory inheritance law and the order of succession using illustrative examples in the article on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deinadieu.de\/en\/advisor\/statutory-succession-under-german-law\/\">statutory inheritance law in Germany<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/app.testamentservice.de\/testament\/\">Draw up a free will<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1867,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[74,80,77,76,75],"ratgeber-category":[100],"class_list":["post-1958","ratgeber","type-ratgeber","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-inheritance","tag-parentel-en","tag-statutory-succession","tag-succession-law","tag-testator","ratgeber-category-testament-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<title>Hereditary Succession upon Death without a Last Will: Who Inherits? | DeinAdieu<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If someone dies without a will or contract of inheritance, intestate succession comes into force. 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