last will

Which translation, when

Why

The document is das Testament, defined in § 1937 BGB, and German form law runs it on two tracks, § 2231 BGB, the notarial will, § 2232 BGB, and the private will, which § 2247 BGB requires to be handwritten from the first word to the signature, the date a strong should. The typed, two-witness English form earns nothing as a German-form will, § 125 BGB, the emergency wills of §§ 2249, 2250 BGB being the exotic exception where German law itself counts witnesses, though foreign-form wills travel under their own conflict rules, the point here is the German form. Joint wills are rationed too, das gemeinschaftliche Testament exists for spouses and registered partners only, §§ 2265 ff. BGB. And behind the form sits the money rule English testamentary freedom does not expect, der Pflichtteil, § 2303 Abs. 1 BGB, descendants, the spouse and, absent descendants, the parents hold a money claim of half the intestate share that a Testament cannot remove, the narrow disinheritance grounds of § 2333 BGB aside, a burden, not a co-ownership. Der Wille meanwhile stays what it always was, volition, der letzte Wille survives as idiom and der Wille des Erblassers as the interpretation formula, but the file needs the document word.

Typical mistakes

• Der Wille des Verstorbenen names a state of mind, the document is das Testament, and while der letzte Wille lives as idiom and der Wille des Erblassers as interpretation vocabulary, the probate file runs on the document word.
• Form does not travel, the typed and witnessed English will earns nothing as a German-form will, § 125 BGB, valid German means handwritten throughout, § 2247 BGB, or notarial, § 2232 BGB, so validity must be checked before vocabulary.
• Der Pflichtteil bites in money, § 2303 Abs. 1 BGB, half the intestate share for descendants and spouse, so I leave everything to my wife arrives in Germany with the children’s money claim attached.

What matters

Estate planning memos hit both walls in one paragraph: the client’s existing will, typed and witnessed, is safest re-executed in German form for the German assets, handwritten throughout, § 2247 BGB, or before a notary, § 2232 BGB, and the plan to leave everything to the spouse meets der Pflichtteil, § 2303 BGB, the children’s money claim that only the narrow grounds of § 2333 BGB could remove. Der Wille des Mandanten is what the lawyer drafts around, not the document itself.

Examples