The inheritance-law revision has been in force since 1 January 2023, yet its possibilities have not arrived in many estate plans. The key changes: the compulsory share of descendants was reduced from three quarters to one half of the statutory entitlement, the parents' compulsory share was abolished entirely. The spouse's or registered partner's share remained at one half.
What sounds technical is practically significant: the freely disposable quota has grown. Whoever draws up a will today can favour the surviving spouse or partner more strongly, transfer a business specifically to the suitable successor, or consider charitable causes more generously, without violating compulsory shares.
The flip side: wills from before 2023 may work differently today than intended. Whoever wrote back then that the children were to be \u201cset to the compulsory share\u201d meant three quarters of their statutory entitlement; today the same wording means one half. Depending on the family situation that is intended, often it is not. Inheritance contracts and settled allocations also deserve a fresh look.
The review pays off especially for patchwork families, where the balance between the new partner and children from earlier relationships must be finely tuned, for entrepreneurial families wanting to pass on business assets in one piece, and for cohabiting couples, who still have no statutory inheritance right at all without a will.
Our advice: take the will in hand once and ask three questions. Do the quotas still match the intention? Does the plan use the new freedom? And is it settled what applies in the case of simultaneous death or incapacity? Our estate-planning checklist helps with the preparation; the amendment itself belongs in expert hands so that form and effect hold.
