Inheritance and Beneficiary Acceptance - Rechtswinkel

Questioner

My mother died on June 5th last. She has a will, but no executor has been appointed. We are six heirs, five have accepted the inheritance unconditionally, one has accepted the inheritance beneficiary, the same five have signed a declaration/authorization for one of the five heirs to settle the estate. One continues to refuse to sign a declaration/authorization. What can/must the five other heirs do now?

Lawyer

In the event of beneficiary acceptance by one of the heirs, a mandatory procedure must be followed, a settlement procedure that runs via the subdistrict court. All heirs are then liquidators; there is no executor. The refusing heir is therefore right.

Questioner

I don't really understand what procedure I should follow. The rest have already authorized me to handle banking and tax matters. She is the only one who does not want to give me power of attorney. What should I do now? Who should I approach? And am I obliged to do this?

Lawyer

If one of the heirs accepts the inheritance in this way, subject to a surplus, a request must be sent to the subdistrict court judge of your mother's last place of residence. Then a mandatory settlement procedure follows, usually a light form. A statement of expenses and benefits must be drawn up. All known creditors must be approached. Anyway, you can read enough about it on the internet. If there is no real estate, it is not necessary to approach a notary, certainly not if the bank accepts you as an authorized representative and wants to settle the affairs. However, the request must first be sent and no actions may be performed that are not strictly necessary and cannot wait.

Questioner

Have I read the law correctly and should the person who accepted the inheritance subject to surplus now go to court or should we?

Lawyer

Beneficiary acceptance must be requested; if one of the heirs does so, this method of acceptance is the appropriate procedure for all.