Anyone who deals with the inheritance law has ever heard the concept of the “execution of the will”. But few know what is actually behind the concept of the execution of the will.
First, the knowledge that an execution of the will only occur if this the testator in his will or his inheritance has arranged is important. There is not an execution of the will without a corresponding order by the testator in his will. The executor of a will is used in particular not institutionally or by the Probate Court, to facilitate about the handling of a problematic succession.
OB and the deceased one or several executors uses and the executors entrusted with what tasks the testator, is whether the decision of the deceased alone. The testator can an executor with reference to the legal provisions in §§ 2197 so in his will of free choice by the order of execution of the will see off, et seq. BGB (German civil code) insert or decidedly set but also the executor in his will, what are my rights and it has tasks and what the deceased he expected.
What does the executor?
On the question of what does the executor of the will, the testator to decide. Two different types of execution of wills have emerged in practice.
So the deceased can confine themselves to appoint the executor with the settlement of the inheritance. In this case, the executor has to implement only the dispositions made by the testator in his will after the opening of the succession. The so-called settlement enforcement is the norm for the enforcement of a testament arranged by the testator.
The executors of the will with the mere management of the estate is in charge, then he must sift the estate as a rule, take possession, those claims are directed against the estate (E.g. legacies, inheritance tax receivables of the tax office) to regulate and then distributing the estate among heirs.
An administrative enforcement can take a long time
The pure processing of inheritance, the testator may entrust the executor of a will but also with the task to manage the estate for a certain period of time. Such a period may extend up to 30 years after the opening of the succession, BGB § 2210. Only the estate to the heirs goes after that maximum thirty-year period. An executor representative with the administration of the estate is generally not entitled to the confrontation of the estate.
Without good reason is a testator not order usually however such a duration of enforcement by the executor of a will, is will be, but basically when the deceased, that he wants to transfer his assets to the heirs or the.
In practice, there is a – also longer lasting – administrative enforcement especially in underage heirs eligible to get asked the executor of a will on the page at least until they reach the age of majority.
The impact of the execution of the will
In his Testament , the testator has arranged an execution of the will, the heirs or the consequences are drastic.
Although the heirs of the deceased of course by the order of execution of the will not lose their status as heir, the legal status of the heirs by an ordered execution of the will is substantially impaired.
As long as the execution of the will persists, has the right to the individual discount items owned by the executors of the will (and not the heirs). Also S. 2 is entitled to dispose of the items belonging to the estate only the executors (and not the heirs), § 2205 BGB.
What rights does the heir?
Notwithstanding this comprehensive transfer of rights on the executors of the will, the right to decide whether he wants to accept the registered his inheritance at all or if he wants to beat out the inheritance of course remains the heirs.
Also, the heritage in individual cases may limit his liability. He can create an estate inventory or request, if necessary, the administration of estates or the initiation of probate proceedings.
A reserved portion entitled heritage can escape the constraints associated with the order of execution of the will even to entirely. Namely, according to § 2306 BGB, he has the right to knock out the inheritance (charged with the execution of the will), and to demand its unloaded part of the will writing duty .