{"id":30613,"date":"2024-08-10T14:56:34","date_gmt":"2024-08-10T12:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fiala.de\/?p=30613"},"modified":"2026-06-22T21:44:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T19:44:51","slug":"childrens-compulsory-share-german-inheritance-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fiala.de\/en\/childrens-compulsory-share-german-inheritance-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Children’s Compulsory Share in German Inheritance Law: Claiming Despite a Will"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Children’s compulsory share in an inheritance<\/h2>\n

Parents cannot simply disinherit their biological or adopted children entirely. German succession law guarantees close relatives – children in particular – a minimum share in the estate even where they have been disinherited: the so-called compulsory share (Pflichtteil, German forced-heirship entitlement). The following sets out what the compulsory share for children means in detail, how it is calculated, the conditions under which children can claim it, and what strategies parents in blended or business-owning families have to account for compulsory-share claims in their estate planning.<\/p>\n

What is the compulsory share for children?<\/h2>\n

The compulsory share is a statutory minimum portion of the estate to which certain close relatives are entitled. Under § 2303 BGB<\/a> (German Civil Code), those entitled include the descendants of the deceased, that is, their children (biological and adopted, whether born in or out of wedlock). Grandchildren and great-grandchildren may also be entitled to a compulsory share, but only<\/em> where the parent through whom they would inherit (the deceased’s child) has already predeceased. Stepchildren, by contrast, are not statutory descendants – they have no compulsory-share entitlement of their own unless they were adopted by the deceased. Alongside the children, the spouse or registered civil partner and – where there are no children – exceptionally the deceased’s parents are also entitled to a compulsory share. Siblings of the deceased and more distant relatives are not<\/em> entitled.<\/p>\n

The compulsory share guarantees these close relatives a financial stake in the estate, even where the deceased provided otherwise in a testamentary disposition (will or contract of inheritance). The statutory rule thus deliberately restricts the deceased’s freedom of testation. The purpose of compulsory-share law is to ensure that parents fulfil their duty of care towards their children, as it were, beyond death<\/em>, and that the closest family members are protected against complete disinheritance. Conversely, it also reflects the fact that children owe their parents a degree of loyalty and support – someone who would, for example, be obliged to provide maintenance to close family members during their lifetime should not come away entirely empty-handed on death.<\/p>\n

Definition<\/b>: A child’s compulsory share equals one half of the statutory share of the estate to which the child would have been entitled under intestate succession had there been no will. This claim is always a monetary one – the child therefore has no entitlement to specific estate assets, but only to payment of a sum of money equal to the value of the compulsory share. Disinherited children thus do not become heirs, but acquire a monetary claim against the heirs.<\/p>\n

Important:<\/em> The compulsory-share claim arises only on succession, that is, on the death of the deceased. During the parents’ lifetime, a child cannot unilaterally demand the compulsory share in advance. There is no right for a child to have its share paid out during the parents’ lifetime. However, parents and child may reach a different arrangement by agreement<\/em> – more on this below under the heading of waiver of the compulsory share.<\/p>\n

Intestate succession and calculating the child’s compulsory-share quota<\/h3>\n

The amount of a child’s compulsory share is always determined by reference to the child’s statutory inheritance quota. One must therefore first consider the position that would arise in the absence of a will. Under the rules of intestate succession (§§ 1924 et seq. BGB<\/a>), children, as the deceased’s closest descendants (heirs of the first order), normally inherit the estate, where applicable together with the surviving spouse. A child’s individual inheritance quota depends in particular on the number of children and on the deceased’s marital status and matrimonial property regime. The disinherited child’s compulsory-share quota is then derived from that inheritance quota by halving it.<\/p>\n

The following sets out some typical scenarios for the inheritance quota and compulsory-share quota of children:<\/p>\n