{"id":1668,"date":"2025-02-26T15:26:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T14:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/notarkoenig.com\/sind-erben-unterhaltspflichtig\/"},"modified":"2025-02-26T15:26:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T14:26:00","slug":"sind-erben-unterhaltspflichtig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/notarkoenig.com\/en\/sind-erben-unterhaltspflichtig\/","title":{"rendered":"Are heirs liable to pay maintenance?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Westphalian Chamber of Notaries.<\/em>\u00a0Many people want to ensure that their loved ones are financially secure - even after their own death. Anyone who pays maintenance to a relative during their lifetime makes a significant contribution to their livelihood. But what happens when the person liable to pay maintenance dies? Does the payment obligation automatically pass to the heirs or does it end with the death?<\/p>\n

Can relatives still claim maintenance from the inheritance after death? No, says the\u00a0Civil Code \u00a7\u00a7 1602 ff<\/a>. The maintenance obligation only exists due to kinship and not due to other legal ties. Only if someone dies after the third day of a month must their heir make the maintenance payments that were already due at the time of death.<\/p>\n

Find out here why the\u00a0Right to a compulsory portion remains despite separation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Spousal maintenance must be paid by heirs<\/h3>\n

The situation is different for people who were previously married: If the deceased was divorced and had to pay spousal maintenance, heirs must continue to make maintenance payments. This is because the maintenance is based on a contract, judgment, settlement and according to the law \u00a7\u00a7 1933 sentence 3, 1586b BGB. How high the payments are, however, is limited to the amount of an imaginary compulsory portion of the ex-spouse (which he or she would have received if the marriage had not been divorced).<\/p>\n

Spouses should seek advice from a notary in good times when everyone still understands each other. They can then draw up the relevant contracts as a deed or as a legal order (a so-called title). They then refer to an emergency in the event of divorce or separation due to death.<\/p>\n

Marriage or inheritance contracts can relieve heirs<\/h3>\n

Making provisions with a marriage contract is cheaper and less stressful than a dispute in court. The contract can include agreements on accrued gains and maintenance. It can also stipulate whether, if one spouse dies, the surviving spouse should receive maintenance from the heir.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, it is possible, after the divorce action is pending in court, to file a so-called\u00a0Divorce settlement agreement\u00a0<\/a>Various questions need to be clarified: Who is allocated the matrimonial home, what about the equalization of gains, how are maintenance and pension equalization structured - and, for example, how can it be ruled out that further maintenance will be paid if the person obliged to pay maintenance dies? Such rights can also be excluded in an inheritance contract.<\/p>\n

If you would like advice on this topic from a notary in advance, you can find it on the Internet at\u00a0https:\/\/notar.de\/<\/a>\u00a0the right contact person. You can also visit the online consumer portal of the Chamber of Notaries at\u00a0https:\/\/ratgeber-notar.de\/<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Westphalian Chamber of Notaries. Many people want to ensure that their relatives are financially secure - even after their own death. Anyone who pays maintenance to a relative during their lifetime makes a significant contribution to their livelihood. But what happens when the person liable to pay maintenance dies? Does the payment obligation automatically pass to the heirs or does it end with the death? Can...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/notarkoenig.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/notarkoenig.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/notarkoenig.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notarkoenig.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notarkoenig.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/notarkoenig.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/notarkoenig.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notarkoenig.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notarkoenig.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}