trustee
noun · Treuhänder
Treuhänder for the everyday holder, but the role-word shifts with the setting: Testamentsvollstrecker for a trustee under a will, §§ 2197 ff. BGB, Verwalter for an administering office. And none of them holds title the way a trustee does, German law has no split ownership.
Which translation, when
Why
Trustee is a person, and the German word depends on what the person does, because no German office reproduces the trustee’s position. A common law trustee holds the legal title and the beneficiary holds the equitable interest; German law has neither that split nor a holder who owns for another in equity. For a trust set up between living parties the usual rendering is Treuhänder, but the fit is loose: the Treuhänder holds the assets in his own name outright and the Treugeber has only a contractual claim, so the beneficiary’s protected interest does not carry across. For a trustee under a will the closer office is the Testamentsvollstrecker, appointed by the testator under § 2197 BGB, who administers the estate and may take possession of and dispose of its assets under § 2205 BGB while the heir is barred from dealing with them, yet even he does not own the estate, the heirs do, he holds an office over it. Where the trustee merely administers, Verwalter serves. So the translator chooses the role-word by the instrument, and flags that none of them carries the trustee’s legal title.
Typical mistakes
- Trustee under a will is usually the Testamentsvollstrecker, §§ 2197, 2205 BGB, not the Treuhänder, and the two offices differ in appointment, powers, § 2205 BGB, and the heir’s position: under a Testamentsvollstrecker the heir cannot dispose of the estate assets, § 2211 BGB.
- A German Treuhänder holds full title and the Treugeber only a claim, so the trustee’s split with a beneficiary does not survive the word, the protected equitable interest is lost.
- None of the German role-words carries the trustee’s legal title over the trust assets, German law has no split ownership, so the trustee’s ownership should not be read into Treuhänder, Testamentsvollstrecker or Verwalter.
What matters
A will drafted in English names a trustee to hold the estate for the children: the German rendering is Testamentsvollstrecker with the powers of §§ 2197 and 2205 BGB, not Treuhänder, and the difference reaches appointment and the heir’s freedom to act. An inter vivos arrangement takes Treuhänder, with the note that the beneficiary gains a claim, not an interest in the assets.
What the machine misses
Machine output renders trustee as Treuhänder across the board, and for a trustee under a will that is the wrong office: the German instrument is the Testamentsvollstrecker of §§ 2197 and 2205 BGB, with different powers and a different bar on the heir. The flat Treuhänder also carries the suggestion of a holder who owns for another in equity, which German law does not provide, and the beneficiary’s interest quietly disappears.
Examples
| to appoint a trustee | einen Treuhänder bestellen |
| the trustee holds the assets on trust | der Treuhänder hält das Vermögen treuhänderisch |
| the trustee under the will | der Testamentsvollstrecker |
| the trustee’s powers | die Befugnisse des Treuhänders |
More notes on these sections
estate Nachlass