The main point of reference for the statutory right of inheritance is mainly the (blood) relationship, whereby there is no difference between marital and non-marital relationship. Statutory succession is based on the so-called “parentel system”, which determines the order in which relatives are appointed to inherit. The respective “parentels” consist of the progenitors and their descendants – i.e. their children, grandchildren, etc.
The parentel system can certainly lead to complex constellations, which is why only a brief overview of the most important regulations will be given here. Within this system, there are the following parentels:
1st parentel: The first parentel is formed by the descendants of the deceased – i.e. his children, grandchildren, etc. If all the children are alive at the time of inheritance, the inheritance is divided equally among them and the children’s descendants are excluded from the succession. If a child of the deceased falls away, it may come to representation by that child’s descendants – the share then falls to his descendants in equal shares.
2nd parentel: The second parentel includes the parents of the deceased and their descendants. It is therefore applied in particular if the deceased has no children. The parents are appointed to inherit in equal shares, whereby living parents again exclude their descendants and inherit in equal shares. If a parent falls away, the principle of representation applies again and that parent’s descendants take his place. If a parent falls away without descendants, the share goes to the surviving parent.
3rd parentel: The third parentel consists of the grandparents and their descendants. One half of the estate goes to the paternal grandparents and the other half to the maternal grandparents. The share is then again to be divided between the respective grandparents, so that each gets one fourth of the estate. In the event of the death of a grandparent, his or her share shall first go to his or her descendants, then to the surviving grandparent on the same parental side and, if there are none, to the pair of grandparents on the other side. However, relatives of the third parental have no inheritance rights vis-à-vis a spouse or registered partner entitled to inherit. Therefore, if such a spouse or registered partner exists, he or she receives the entire share.
4th parentel: If there are no relatives in the first, second or third parentel, the inheritance falls to the great-grandparents of the deceased at one eighth each. However, the descendants are excluded from inheritance – so there is a so-called inheritance right limit from the progenitors of the fourth parentel onwards. The fourth parentel also receives nothing if there is a spouse or registered partner.
However, it is to be noted that not automatically every parentel inherits. This is because the parentels are applied successively and never come to be applied at the same time, meaning that the closer parentel applies to the exclusion of more distant ones. Only if no relatives of the first parentel are present, persons of the second parentel can inherit and so on.
In addition to this system of parentels, the spouse also has a statutory right of inheritance. If there is one, the inheritance shares of the relatives are reduced in favor of the spouse. Cohabitants are in principle not entitled to inherit. They only inherit if there are no statutory heirs.
