Inheritance & Foundation Law

With our experienced team of inheritance and tax lawyers, we assist you with all the aspects of inheritance planning and structuring. We analyse your goals and together we find a tailored, tax-optimised solution. We are able to offer you a decisive advantage, as a result of the narrow interlocking of civil-law and tax-law competence. All of our team members have been admitted to practise as special counsels for inheritance law and/or tax law for many years. For years we have been involved in the training and further education of tax advisors in the area of inheritance tax law.

Our spectrum of advice includes both the configuration of inheritance-law disposals (last will and testament, contracts of succession by inheritance, etc.) and also assistance with anticipated legal succession. We are particularly specialised in the area of company succession. Of course we can take into account questions of corporate law that may arise in this context. We also assist founders with the establishment and the ongoing support of their foundations, either inter vivos, or as a testamentary trust. We are frequently deployed by our clients as executors of wills. We are also experienced in the structuring and implementation of property-right succession with international implications.

In our integrated practice group “Family and Wealth” (Familie & Vermögen), we combine our competencies in inheritance- and foundation law with our expertise in tax and corporate law, and give comprehensive advice to private individuals and entrepreneurs regarding the multifaceted issues which arise in connection with their private and/or entrepreneurial assets.

We can assist you by:

• advising private individuals in the framework of property-right succession planning (last will and testament, anticipated legal succession)
• advising entrepreneurs on the planning and implementation of company succession
• rendering advice on art bequests and deceased estates
• rendering advice on international inheritance tax law
• creating and maintaining emergency files/healthcare powers of attorney/living wills
• supplying real-estate valuation for inheritance-tax/gift-tax purposes
• setting up and taking care of foundations, including internationally
• representing heirs and those entitled to compulsory portions (Pflichtteilsberechtigte) in the event of inheritance disputes, in court or in settlement talksexecuting last wills and testaments