Judgment of the Higher Regional Court
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Can an heir delegate information to a lawyer?
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Quarreling is often inevitable when it comes to the inheritance of a deceased relative. But you don’t win every argument. Photo: Christin Klose / dpa-tmn
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Brandenburg It is well known that formalities can be argued. Especially in the case of inheritance, you can dwell on details. But you don’t win every argument.
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Anyone who is disinherited can assert a compulsory portion against the heirs. For their calculation he can request information about the existence of the estate. Often this task is completely delegated to a lawyer.
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But is that okay? Or are heirs obliged to personally sign the information provided? No, thinks the Higher Regional Court Brandenburg (Az .: 3 U 38/19), like that Working group inheritance law of the German Bar Association (DAV) reports.
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The case: a man is married for the second time. When he dies he is inherited by his widow alone. The sons of the man from the first marriage request information from her about the estate to calculate their compulsory portion claims. Their stepmother hires a lawyer to compile the directory. A short time later, he will also send the requested list. The sons consider this to be inadequate because the widow did not personally sign the register of estates.
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The verdict: The information owed by the heir does not have to be signed by the heir himself, judge the judges. The law does not prescribe a specific form. This corresponds to the almost unanimous opinion in literature and case law on the right to information of a person entitled to a compulsory portion. The contrary opinion recently advocated by the OLG Cologne, Hamm and Munich is not convincing.
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Because neither the classification as a highly personal declaration of knowledge nor the possibly resulting need to provide the information in writing necessarily require a handwritten signature of the person obliged to provide information. It only follows from this that the heir must provide the information himself, but not that he may not use third parties, such as a lawyer, to transmit it.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201103-99-192509 / 3
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