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Dear Mr. Morley, GERMAN LAW - INHERITANCE LAW. PLEASE ONLY

 
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  • Answered by:legal eagle
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Customer Question

Dear Mr. Morley,

GERMAN LAW - INHERITANCE LAW. PLEASE ONLY ANSWER IS YOU ARE AN EXPERT IN THIS.

My mother, a Danish citizen, but living in Germany for the last 30 years, is married to a German (for 26 years now). Before the marriage, my mother signed a prenup, basically signing all her rights to his vast estate away. She also gave up working, meaning that her pension is diminished. He wants to give his estate to his child (from former marriage) and his grandchild. However, we came across this article (see below) and it has given us hope. My mother has cared and been his sole care taker all these years.

Pls. let us know if you can advise us on this and also, what your fee is.

Best regards, XXXXX XXXXX

GERMANY
Prenuptial agreements are enforceable. However, Germany's Federal Court of Justice recently ruled that notarized prenuptial agreements that seriously disadvantage one party in a marriage could be deemed invalid. The judges stated that while, in principle, a contract may state that one of the partners has renounced his or her right to receive alimony, if the agreement is one-sided it would be morally unacceptable and could therefore be challenged. The court also ruled that a spouse is free to contest the contract in instances of imbalance where her partner's income has risen dramatically during the marriage because, for example, she was home caring for children.

http://www.international-divorce.com/prenups_around_the_world.htm

 

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Country relating to Question: Germany

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ONLY ANSWER IS YOU ARE AN EXPERT ON GERMANY INHERITANCE LAW.

Submitted: 348 days and 7 hours ago.
Category: German Law
Value: $28
Status: CLOSED
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Expert:  Fran-mod replied 348 days ago.

Hi, I’m a moderator for this topic and I wonder whether you’re still waiting for an answer. If you are, please let me know and I will do my best to find a Expert to assist you right away. If not, feel free to let me know and I will cancel this question for you. Thank you!

Customer replied 347 days and 16 hours ago.

What more information do you need? You can see that I have not had a reply yet.....

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Expert:  Fran-mod replied 347 days and 16 hours ago.

No further information is needed. Sometimes, finding the right Expert can take a little longer than expected and we thank you greatly for your understanding. We’ll be in touch again shortly.

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Expert:  legal eagle replied 347 days and 14 hours ago.

Dear Customer,


thank you for using Just Answer.


With prenups it depends on what they are about.





If wife support is excluded that may not be possible if as you say it is one- sided.

Then you can contest the prenup.


If a prenup excludes a pension scheme it may be contested as well


If a prenup includes the separation of the properties it cannot be contested .


If a prenup includes the separation of the properties every spouse is free to give away his or her assets



If I have helped please click accept




Best



C. Schiessl
attorney-at-law










Customer replied 347 days and 12 hours ago.

This is regarding property in Germany - her husband has several buildings/apartments. This is all relating to the court decision mentioned in my previous message. Can this, based on the court decision, be contested?

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Expert:  legal eagle replied 347 days and 8 hours ago.

Dear Customer,

there is 3 different things you can exclude in a prenup


First it is the wife support when ill or when raising a child

Second it is the dividing of the pension scheme

Third it is the assets.


Number one and two are easy to contest as they are considered kind of core values.

Numbe 3 is different aks it is considered as not so important.


So prenups about the assests are hardest to contest.

This would only be possible if she did not sign the prenup out of her own free will, was deceived, threatened or was mentally unstable.



If I have helped please click accept

Customer replied 347 days and 7 hours ago.

So I take that that the link I sent you regarding the new court ruling would have no effect?

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Expert:  legal eagle replied 346 days and 20 hours ago.

No, it would only have effect if she signed away her claim for the pension scheme or wife support.

The sharing of the assest is just not as protected by the new jurisdiction


If I have answered your question please click accept

Thank you

Customer replied 346 days and 13 hours ago.

This is what the thing is called she signed away: "Pflichtsteil". Can this be contested with the new court ruling? That's all we want to know and then we'll accept your answer. Thank you.

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Expert:  legal eagle replied 346 days and 13 hours ago.

Dear Customer,


the Pflichtteil is the legal share of the inheritance.

It has nothing to do with the new court decisions which were all about family law ( wife support, pension schemes and so on) and were necessary because of a financial or structural imbalance between the two spouses that enabled one spouse to get the other spouse to sign

If she signed her legal share away which is only possible when notarized it can be contested only if she did not do it out of her own free will, but was forced, deceived or mentally unstable at the time she signed the contract.


I hope I was able to answer your question

Clicking accept and giving me my accept Nr 221 would be greatly appreciated

Thank you so much






Customer replied 346 days and 13 hours ago.

yes, but she did not have any money when she signed and is now ONLY left with his pension and it is very unbalanced (he has many many millions) and she has nothing. They have been married for almost 30 years.

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Expert:  legal eagle replied 346 days and 11 hours ago.

Dear Customer.

the legal share she can give away freely.

It is the wife support and the pension plan that cannot be signed away so easily.

The legal share is another matter altogether, because in the case of a divorce she would not get anything as well.

I `d strongly adivice her to take the marriage contract and let a family law lawyer see it because in order to say something definite you have to look through the contract




If your question is answered please click accept

Customer replied 346 days and 8 hours ago.

I don't think you have quite understood my question, which is why I haven't accepted the answer and why I must keep asking questions - sorry. This is NOT re. wife support or pension. This is regarding the document she signed before the marriage - the Pflichtsteil. We want to know if she has any hope of contesting the Pflichtsteil as she will not be given any money (apart from his pension) out of the will and will be left rather pennyless. Thank you.

Accepted Answer

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Expert:  legal eagle replied 345 days and 20 hours ago.

Dear Customer,

of course I have understood your question

The couurt decision you have cited is about wife support and pension plans only

Nothing else


The legal share ( Pflichtteil ) is a different matter altogether.

It follows different rules.


If she was of sound mind while signing it the chnaces of contesting it are slim.


It can be nil and void if it is contra bonae mores, which is quite rare




So my advice is to let a lawyer look trough it



So as I have answered your queation pleasee click accept

Thank you


Expert TypeAttorney
Category: German Law
Pos. Feedback: 97.9 %
Accepts: 375
Answered: 4/25/2012

Experience: More than 18 years of experience in practicing law

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