Wealth transfer

If you do nothing, your estate will be passed on as stipulated by law. However, should this legal framework not correspond to your wishes, you need to act. Once drawn up, dated and signed, a will is valid until revoked or amended.

Once dated and officially certified, a correctly drafted inheritance contract is valid until revoked. A contract of inheritance that has been concluded with adult children usually offers more flexibility in terms of potential arrangements than a will.

Should you lose your decision-making capacity, a legal authority will sooner or later be appointed to represent your interests. A written advance care directive lets you specify who should represent you. For example, you can grant your spouse power of attorney in an advance care directive to act on your behalf. Or your children, close relatives or someone else you trust.

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With an advance on inheritance, a portion of the inheritance is paid out while the testator is still alive. Parents, for example, can grant a child an early inheritance at any time. Unlike a loan, any advance on inheritance is irrevocable. The advance inheritance needs to be compensated for when the inheritance is divided.

As a general rule, a daughter, son or other another heir is not obligated to repay the advance, even if the parents later find themselves in financial difficulty. Heirs are not automatically entitled to an advance inheritance: an advance is always voluntary and should be recorded in a written contract.

Both family members and non-family members can receive part of the inheritance by deed of gift. In legal terms, a gift is defined as the “allocation during one’s lifetime of an asset free of charge.” This means the person receiving the gift does not have to provide consideration in return, and as a general rule it does not have to be offset in the inheritance.

The revised inheritance law came into force on 1 January 2023. It means that testators are now free to dispose of a larger portion of their estate than before.

If no probate documents (testament or inheritance contract) exist, Swiss inheritance law provides for a defined order of inheritance with legally stipulated quotas and compulsory shares.

In cases of inheritance, the matrimonial property is first divided up and assets are shared between husband and wife. Children do not automatically receive half of everything.

When we die, we leave behind both material and digital goods. But what precisely is a digital legacy? And what should you consider when arranging it? We can show you how best to make arrangements for the settlement of your digital legacy. 

The compulsory share of the spouse or registered partner is left at half of the statutory inheritance claim. Testators are free to dispose of the rest of their estate by will or contract of inheritance.

Despite the revision of the inheritance law, the compulsory share of the spouse or registered partner is still half of the statutory inheritance claim. The compulsory shares of heirs are reduced from three quarters to one half and those of parents are abolished altogether.

The new law came into effect on 1 January 2023 and applies to deaths after this date. The date on which the testamentary disposition upon death (last will or testament) was drafted does not matter.

Whether legal heirs who are entitled to a compulsory share receive 1/2 or 3/4 of their legal inheritance depends on the exact formulation of an already existing disposition upon death. The same applies to parents, who lose their entitlement to a compulsory share after the revision takes effect.

The current revision gives you a chance to reconsider your situation and to adapt your succession solution. It is worth taking another look, even if previous wills and inheritance contracts remain valid.

Make an appointment with our inheritance specialists to get comprehensive advice.

Even if cohabiting partners are named as beneficiaries in a will, legal heirs are still entitled to the compulsory share. Incidentally, the compulsory share can only be authoritatively withdrawn if future heirs sign a contract renouncing their share in which they explicitly waive their possible inheritance.

Unlike married or registered partners, unmarried cohabiting partners have to pay inheritance tax in almost all cantons. In “expensive” cantons, this tax can be 30% or more.