Support for Estate/Probate Proceedings in Germany

Services

We advise and assist clients acting as executors or trustees of common law jurisdiction (including U.S.A., England & Wales, Singapore, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong) with regard to German law.  Our services include:

• Obtaining recognition of validity from German probate courts for international wills and the issuance of German Letters Testamentary (Testamentsvollstreckerzeugnis) for foreign executors
• Assisting with obtaining German Certificate of Heirship (Erbschein) for estates of foreign nationals or domiciliaries
• Providing legal representation for foreign heirs, beneficiaries, executors, administrators and trustees of estate in connection with obtaining assets held by German banks, insurance companies and financial institutions, passing both through or outside of probate
• Assisting with the preparation and filing of German estate, inheritance, and gift tax returns for German and foreign heirs and beneficiaries to ensure recognition of payments of foreign gift and estate taxes in Germany and deduction of such payments from any German estate, inheritance and gift tax liabilities
• Representing executors, administrators, heirs, beneficiaries and trustees before German probate courts and taxation authorities, including obtaining tax clearance for the release of German assets passing to foreign heirs and beneficiaries and defending against claims of unwarranted German estate, inheritance and gift taxes
• Consulting regarding the structuring and timing of distributions from foreign trusts by foreign trustees to German resident beneficiaries to minimize any German inheritance and gift tax liabilities

Representation throughout Germany

We represent clients in courts throughout Germany (but not at the BGH). In the case of representation in a probate court (responsible e.g. for certificate of inheritance proceedings), a trip to the place of jurisdiction will generally not be necessary, as correspondence in probate matters is usually exclusively electronic/postal and a personal appearance at the place of jurisdiction is almost never necessary. In proceedings in a district court (first instance in ZPO proceedings) or Court of Appeal  (appeal proceedings, appeals against decisions of the probate court), it will often be necessary to travel to the hearing. Due to our special expertise in international inheritance cases, courts have repeatedly ruled that our travel costs are reimbursable costs.

District Courts in Germany 

Landgericht Aachen, Landgericht Amberg, Landgericht Ansbach, Landgericht Arnsberg, Landgericht Aschaffenburg, Landgericht Augsburg, Landgericht Aurich, Landgericht Bad Kreuznach, Landgericht Baden-Baden, Landgericht Bamberg, Landgericht Bautzen, Landgericht Bayreuth, Landgericht Berlin, Landgericht Bielefeld, Landgericht Bochum, Landgericht Bonn, Landgericht Braunschweig, Landgericht Bremen, Landgericht Bückeburg, Landgericht Chemnitz, Landgericht Coburg, Landgericht Cottbus, Landgericht Darmstadt, Landgericht Deggendorf, Landgericht Dessau-Roßlau, Landgericht Detmold, Landgericht Dortmund, Landgericht Dresden, Landgericht Duisburg, Landgericht Düsseldorf, Landgericht Ellwangen (Jagst), Landgericht Erfurt, Landgericht Essen, Landgericht Flensburg, Landgericht Frankenthal (Pfalz), Landgericht Frankfurt (Oder), Landgericht Frankfurt am Main, Landgericht Freiburg im Breisgau, Landgericht Fulda, Landgericht Gera, Landgericht Gießen, Landgericht Görlitz, Landgericht Göttingen, Landgericht Hagen, Landgericht Halle, Landgericht Hamburg, Landgericht Hanau, Landgericht Hannover, Landgericht Hechingen, Landgericht Heidelberg, Landgericht Heilbronn, Landgericht Hildesheim, Landgericht Hof/ Saale, Landgericht Ingolstadt, Landgericht Itzehoe, Landgericht Kaiserslautern, Landgericht Karlsruhe, Landgericht Kassel, Landgericht Kempten (Allgäu), Landgericht Kiel, Landgericht Kleve, Landgericht Koblenz, Landgericht Köln, Landgericht Konstanz, Landgericht Krefeld, Landgericht Landau i.d. Pfalz, Landgericht Landshut, Landgericht Leipzig, Landgericht Limburg a.d. Lahn, Landgericht Lübeck, Landgericht Lüneburg, Landgericht Magdeburg, Landgericht Mainz, Landgericht Mannheim, Landgericht Marburg, Landgericht Meiningen, Landgericht Memmingen, Landgericht Mönchengladbach, Landgericht Mosbach, Landgericht Mühlhausen, Landgericht München I, Landgericht München II, Landgericht Münster, Landgericht Neubrandenburg, Landgericht Neuruppin, Landgericht Nürnberg-Fürth, Landgericht Offenburg, Landgericht Oldenburg, Landgericht Osnabrück, Landgericht Paderborn, Landgericht Passau, Landgericht Potsdam, Landgericht Ravensburg, Landgericht Regensburg, Landgericht Rostock, Landgericht Rottweil, Landgericht Saarbrücken, Landgericht Schweinfurt, Landgericht Schwerin, Landgericht Siegen, Landgericht Stade, Landgericht Stendal, Landgericht Stralsund, Landgericht Stuttgart, Landgericht Traunstein, Landgericht Trier, Landgericht Tübingen, Landgericht Ulm, Landgericht Verden (Aller), Landgericht Waldshut-Tiengen, Landgericht Weiden i.d.OPf., Landgericht Wiesbaden, Landgericht Wuppertal, Landgericht Würzburg, Landgericht Zweibrücken, Landgericht Zwickau

Probate Courts in Berlin and Brandenburg

Probate Courts in Berlin

Amtsgericht Charlottenburg, Amtsgericht Köpenick, Amtsgericht Kreuzberg, Amtsgericht Lichtenberg, Amtsgericht Mitte, Amtsgericht Neukölln, Amtsgericht Pankow, Amtsgericht Schöneberg, Amtsgericht Spandau, Amtsgericht Tiergarten, Amtsgericht Wedding.

Probate Courts in Brandenburg

Amtsgericht Bad Freienwalde (Oder), Amtsgericht Bernau bei Berlin, Amtsgericht Eberswalde, Amtsgericht Frankfurt(Oder), Amtsgericht Fürstenwalde/Spree, Amtsgericht Strausberg, Amtsgericht Neuruppin, Amtsgericht Oranienburg, Amtsgericht Perleberg, Amtsgericht Prenzlau, Amtsgericht Schwedt/Oder, Amtsgericht Zehdenick, Amtsgericht Brandenburg an der Havel, Amtsgericht Luckenwalde, Amtsgericht Nauen, Amtsgericht Potsdam, Amtsgericht Rathenow, Amtsgericht Zossen.