executor

noun · Testamentsvollstrecker

In German law the Testamentsvollstrecker, §§ 2197 ff. BGB, is the exception: he exists only where the deceased ordered the office, and the heirs otherwise administer the estate themselves. An English executor is the norm, appointed in nearly every will, so calling the German officer an executor without a word of explanation suggests a standard figure where German practice sees a deliberate arrangement.

Which translation, when

Testamentsvollstreckerthe office: the deceased may appoint one by disposition on death, §§ 2197 ff. BGB, and where he does, the appointee takes the estate into his administration, carries out the dispositions and holds the power to dispose of estate assets, the heirs being barred from disposing of them for as long as the office lasts; the court issues him a certificate of his own to prove the position, the Testamentsvollstreckerzeugnis.

Regel und Ausnahmethe systemic difference: an English will normally appoints executors, who obtain the grant, collect the assets, pay the debts and distribute the residue, so the office is the ordinary route by which an estate is wound up; German heirs become owners at death and administer directly, which the estate entry explains, so Testamentsvollstreckung appears only where the deceased chose it, typically to protect minors, to hold a business together or to keep quarrelling heirs apart.

Wortfeldthe neighbours: der Nachlassverwalter administers where the estate is insolvent or the heirs seek to limit their liability, der Nachlasspfleger acts where the heirs are still unknown, and both are court-appointed rather than chosen by the deceased; administrator, personal representative and trustee each point at different offices again, and the trust vocabulary is held by its own entry.

Why

Executor is usually rendered as Testamentsvollstrecker, and the pair works only if the translation makes clear that the two offices occupy opposite places in their systems. In England an executor is the ordinary figure: nearly every will appoints one, he applies for the grant, collects the assets, pays the debts and distributes the residue, and the estate reaches the beneficiaries through him. German succession has no such stage. The heirs become owners at the moment of death and administer the estate themselves, so the Testamentsvollstrecker of §§ 2197 ff. BGB appears only where the deceased deliberately ordered the office, typically to protect minor or inexperienced heirs, to hold a business together, to see a disputed division through or to keep the estate out of a beneficiary’s creditors’ reach for a time. Where he is appointed, his powers are real: he takes the estate into his administration, executes the dispositions of the will and may dispose of estate assets, while the heirs lose that power for the duration, and he proves his position with a certificate of his own issued by the probate court, the Testamentsvollstreckerzeugnis. Two neighbouring German offices should not be drawn in by mistake, because both are court appointments rather than choices of the deceased: the Nachlassverwalter, who administers where the estate is insolvent or the heirs want their liability confined to it, and the Nachlasspfleger, who looks after an estate whose heirs are not yet known. English supplies administrator, personal representative and trustee for further roles, none of which maps onto the German office, so a translation does best to keep Testamentsvollstrecker and gloss it once.

Typical mistakes

German heirs administer the estate themselves unless the deceased ordered Testamentsvollstreckung, so presenting the office as the normal route misdescribes the system.
Nachlassverwalter and Nachlasspfleger are court appointments for insolvency and for unknown heirs, so using either for an executor names a different office.
Where the office exists the heirs cannot dispose of estate assets, so a translation that leaves them in control understates the appointee’s powers.

What matters

Rendering a German will that orders Testamentsvollstreckung: the English should keep the German term with a gloss, explain that the office is exceptional rather than standard, and avoid administrator and trustee for it.

Authority

§ 2197 BGB

What the machine misses

Left to a machine, executor becomes Vollstrecker or Nachlassverwalter, one an enforcement word and the other a court-appointed administrator, and the German office is the Testamentsvollstrecker of §§ 2197 ff. BGB, which exists only where the deceased ordered it; the wrong word also implies an administration stage German succession does not have.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

the executor of the will	der Testamentsvollstrecker
execution of a will	die Testamentsvollstreckung
the estate administrator	der Nachlassverwalter
a curator for an unknown heir	ein Nachlasspfleger

More notes on these sections

estate Nachlass

trustee Treuhänder