Types of wills

Wills created under German law can be seperared into two catergories;

• ordinary wills and
  
• emergency wills

The will of a German, established abroad, will be valid in Germany isnsofar as it is valid in its place of establishment.. Therefore one should always indicate the place in which the will was established.

The ordinary will

A will in Germany can, pursuant to § 2231 BGB of the BGB be made before a Civil Law Notary in the form of a memorandum or in one's own hand.

The testator dictates his will to the Civil Law Notary or hands it in written form to the CLN
As the testator explains his last will to the notary or he hands a document with the explanation that the document contains his last will the will will be established (§ 2232 BGB). The testator may give the CLN his will either openly or with the contents sealed. The testator furthermore need not have written the will personally.

The testator can also establish his will through a hand written, signed will. The testator should include in the declaration the time and place in which it was made. The signature must include the full name of the testator (§ 2247 BGB).If the testator signs in other way and if this signing is sufficient for the statement of the authority of the testator and the serious intention of its explanation, then such a signing will not invalidate the will.

The emergency will

The emergency will is for such situations as when it is feared that the testator will die before he can visit a CLN to establish his will the following methods will establish an emergency will:

• pursuant to § 2249 BGB the recording of the will before the town mayor or
• pursuant to § 2250 BGB by an oral will in the presence of three witnesses or
• pursuant to § 2251 BGB during a sea voyage on board a German ship in international waters in the presence of three witnesses.

Joint wills

A joint will can be established by married couples (§ 2265 BGB) as well as people in registered civil partnerships pursuant to § 10 of the Civil Partnership act (§ 10 LPartG).

Compulsory delivery

Whoever posesses a will, which was not lodged with the public authorities, is obligated by §2259 BGB to deliver without delay, upon hearing of the testator's death, the will to the Court of Probate. This is the case insofar as the will is located within Germany.

Disabled will

The aim of a disabled /handicapped will is that the disabled /handicapped person beqeauthes his assets in order that the “Nachrangsprinzip”, which provides that one should not claim social assistance if one can provide for oneself or will be provided for by relatives, does not swallow up all of his assets. The organization of such a will is one of the CLN's most difficult tasks, since here the special needs of the disabled and the asset situation, along with the family structure have a particular significance.