Disclaiming an inheritance — when and how.

As at: June 2026

The answer first. With the death, the estate passes to the heirs of its own accord — with all the assets and all the debts. Whoever does not wish to be answerable for the debts must actively disclaim the inheritance, within six weeks of learning of the death and of their position as heir (section 1944 BGB). If no one does anything, the inheritance counts as accepted once the deadline passes. A disclaimer is declared on the record at the probate court, or in notarially certified form.

The deadline does not begin on the day of death, but on the day you learn both of the death and that you have become an heir. It is six weeks — and six months if the deceased had their last residence abroad, or if you were abroad when the deadline began.

This time is short, but it is enough for an orderly review: land charges in the land register, loan agreements, unpaid invoices, the condition of a property. A common and costly mistake is to confuse it with the “three-month deadline” — that belongs to the tax notification to the tax office, not to the disclaimer. The disclaimer deadline is markedly shorter. A calm order for the first weeks is set out under the first steps.

Anyone seriously considering a disclaimer should, until the decision is made, neither use nor give away anything from the estate. For acceptance can also happen tacitly — for instance by disposing of estate items, closing accounts or distributing household goods. Such acts may count as acceptance and bar the disclaimer. Reviewing documents and securing the house are harmless; realising assets is not. When in doubt: seek legal advice first, then act.

With the disclaimer you are treated as if you had never been an heir. The share passes to the next person in line — often one’s own children. Where the estate is over-indebted, the whole line usually has to disclaim, down to minor children, for whom the parents declare as well (in certain cases with the family court’s approval). If all relatives disclaim, the state inherits in the end — and it is liable only with the estate, not with its own assets. A disclaimer should therefore be coordinated within the family, so that the debts do not unintentionally move one step further on.

Sometimes it is unclear whether the estate is really over-indebted, or it holds assets one would not wish to lose. Then it need not be a disclaimer. Inheritance law has tools that limit liability to the estate without giving it up: estate administration and estate insolvency separate the estate from one’s own assets; the plea of insufficiency (section 1990 BGB) wards off creditors where the estate is too small for an orderly administration. Any positive balance is thus preserved, while personal liability for the debts falls away. Which path holds is clarified by a lawyer working in inheritance law — and before the six-week deadline passes.

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