bequest
noun · Vermächtnis
A Vermächtnis under § 1939 BGB is what the deceased gives someone without making them an heir, and the German construction differs from the English one: the object does not pass at death, the beneficiary merely acquires a claim against the burdened heir to have it transferred, § 2174 BGB. English wills speak of a bequest or legacy passing to the legatee, and translating that literally promises a transfer that has not happened.
Which translation, when
Why
Bequest translates as Vermächtnis, and the pair needs care because the two systems transfer differently. Section 1939 BGB lets the deceased confer an advantage on someone by will without appointing them as heir, and the German construction is deliberately indirect: the object of the Vermächtnis does not pass to the beneficiary at death. The estate as a whole vests in the heirs at that moment, and what the beneficiary acquires under § 2174 BGB is a claim against the burdened party, normally an heir, for delivery or transfer of the thing promised. A conveyance or assignment still has to happen, the beneficiary is a creditor of the estate rather than an owner, and if the estate cannot pay he ranks with other claims. German doctrine names this the Damnationslegat, to distinguish it from systems in which title passes directly. English testamentary language runs the other way, speaking of property passing under the will to the legatee, so a literal translation of that phrasing into German asserts a transfer that has not yet taken place, and one of the German construction into English can understate what the beneficiary will eventually receive. Two boundaries complete the entry. Where the thing given effectively exhausts the estate, German courts may construe the disposition as an appointment of an heir whatever the wording says, so labelling matters less than substance. And a Teilungsanordnung, which merely tells co-heirs how to divide among themselves, gives no claim to anyone outside that group and must not be rendered as a bequest. The formal requirements a German will must satisfy are held by the last will entry, the vesting of the estate in the heirs by the estate entry.
Typical mistakes
- The object of a Vermächtnis does not pass at death, § 2174 BGB gives only a claim against the burdened heir, so wording that has property passing to the legatee misdescribes the position.
- A gift exhausting substantially the whole estate may be construed as an appointment of an heir, so the label in the will does not settle the question.
- A Teilungsanordnung directs division among co-heirs and is not a Vermächtnis, so rendering it as a bequest invents a claim.
What matters
Drafting or translating a German will clause: the text should say Vermächtnis where the person is not to become an heir, name the burdened party, and describe the beneficiary as acquiring a claim to transfer rather than the object itself.
What the machine misses
Automatic output for bequest lands on Hinterlassenschaft or Erbschaft, and the institute is the Vermächtnis of § 1939 BGB, a gift made without appointing an heir which under § 2174 BGB gives only a claim against the burdened party; the loose words also suggest that the object passes at death, which under German law it does not.
Examples
| I bequeath my library to my nephew | Ich vermache meinem Neffen meine Bibliothek |
| the legatee | der Vermächtnisnehmer |
| the person burdened with the legacy | der Beschwerte |
| a specific bequest | ein Stückvermächtnis |