disclaimer of inheritance

noun · Ausschlagung

Because a German estate vests in the heirs automatically, refusing it takes an act: the Ausschlagung, declared to the probate court within six weeks, § 1944 BGB, or six months where the deceased lived abroad or the heir is abroad when the period starts. Silence means acceptance, and with it liability for the debts, which is why the deadline is the single most urgent date in German succession practice.

Which translation, when

Ausschlagungthe act: the estate passes to the heir by operation of law, so an heir who does not want it must actively renounce; the declaration is made to the Nachlassgericht either for the record or in publicly certified form, § 1945 BGB, and once the period has run without a declaration the estate counts as accepted.

sechs Wochenthe period: renunciation is possible only within six weeks, § 1944 Abs. 1 BGB, running from the moment the heir learns of the devolution and of the ground of his appointment, and where he is appointed by a disposition on death not before the court has notified it, Abs. 2; the period is six months where the deceased had his last domicile only abroad or where the heir is abroad when it begins, Abs. 3, which is the provision cross-border files turn on.

Verzicht ist etwas anderesthe neighbour: the Erbverzicht is a notarial contract made with the deceased during his lifetime, not a reaction to a death, and the Pflichtteilsverzicht is its narrower relative, so translating disclaimer as Verzicht moves the act years back in time and into another form; the vesting that makes the Ausschlagung necessary in the first place belongs to the estate entry.

Why

A disclaimer of inheritance is the Ausschlagung, and it exists because German succession works without an administration stage: the estate vests in the heirs at the moment of death, debts included, so anyone who does not want it must act. The act is a declaration to the Nachlassgericht, made either for the record at the court or in publicly certified form, § 1945 BGB, and the timing is unforgiving. Renunciation is possible only within six weeks, § 1944 Abs. 1 BGB. The period runs from the point at which the heir learns both of the devolution and of the ground on which he was called, and where he is called by a disposition on death it does not begin before the court has notified that disposition, Abs. 2. It stretches to six months where the deceased had his last domicile only abroad or where the heir is abroad when the period begins, Abs. 3, the provision that matters in every cross-border file and the one clients most often discover too late. Letting the period pass counts as acceptance, and the heir then answers for the debts of the estate, subject to the separate machinery for limiting that liability. For the translator the word to avoid is Verzicht. An Erbverzicht is a notarial contract concluded with the deceased during his lifetime, by which a prospective heir gives up his future position, and the Pflichtteilsverzicht is its narrower form; both happen years before the death and in another form entirely, so rendering disclaimer with them misplaces the act. The automatic vesting that makes the Ausschlagung necessary is held by the estate entry.

Typical mistakes

The period is six weeks and only six months in the cross-border cases of § 1944 Abs. 3 BGB, so a translation without the deadline omits the most time-critical fact in the file.
Doing nothing amounts to acceptance and brings liability for the debts, so describing renunciation as a formality understates what silence costs.
An Erbverzicht is a lifetime notarial contract with the deceased, so rendering disclaimer as Verzicht moves the act into another institute.

What matters

Advising an heir abroad on a German estate: the note should name the Ausschlagung, state the six-week period and the six-month variant of § 1944 Abs. 3 BGB, and describe the form required by the Nachlassgericht.

Authority

§ 1944 BGB
§ 1945 BGB

What the machine misses

A machine version of disclaimer of inheritance gives Verzicht auf das Erbe, which names the lifetime notarial contract instead, and the act after a death is the Ausschlagung, declared to the Nachlassgericht within six weeks under § 1944 BGB; the wrong word costs the reader both the form and the deadline on which everything depends.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

to disclaim the inheritance	die Erbschaft ausschlagen
the declaration must reach the probate court	die Erklärung muss beim Nachlassgericht eingehen
in publicly certified form	in öffentlich beglaubigter Form
the estate is deemed accepted	die Erbschaft gilt als angenommen

More notes on these sections

estate Nachlass