Court makes important ruling for heirs: What you should know

München – They say friendship ends with money. And when it comes to inheritance, bitter disputes even arise between family members.

After all, it often involves tens of thousands of euros. Such sums create mistrust. One fear is that main heirs will set aside assets so that other heirs receive no or a smaller compulsory share of the inheritance.

Arrest by inheritance law

In such a case it has Higher Regional Court Munich has now found that anyone who feels like they are being ripped off can be subject to a so-called “arrest”. Inheritance law ensure that basic assets or Money is frozen until the compulsory portion is paid out – if there is reasonable suspicion (Az: 3 W 1443/24 e).

The compulsory portion of an inheritance is generally available to spouses or registered life partners, children (including those born out of wedlock or adopted) and the testator’s parents.

How high the compulsory portion is

The amount of a compulsory portion depends on the number of heirs. The The compulsory portion is always half of the statutory portion of the inheritance.

Example: A widowed woman has two daughters. The assets are 100,000 euros. The woman dies and previously disinherited daughter 2. She is entitled to her compulsory portion. The legal share would be 50,000 euros, half of which is 25,000 euros, which Daughter 2 will definitely receive.

In the specific case from Munich, a person entitled to a compulsory share had doubts that the main heiress would pay him money from a property sale. It was about 400,000 euros. That’s why he applied for an arrest for this amount.

Judges agreed with the plaintiff

The reason: Such an arrest is in principle permissible if there is a well-founded suspicion that the enforcement of the claim to a compulsory portion could be thwarted or made more difficult.

The court saw this as given in the present case, after the heiress had the only valuable asset – in this case a Propertymore precisely a piece of land – had sold. And without informing the compulsory share heir about it.