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People who decide for themselves how they want to distribute their wealth after death will have more freedom in the future. In addition to spouses and descendants, you can better consider other people. This makes a change in inheritance law possible.
According to current law, the current compulsory portion for children is at least three quarters of the statutory share of the inheritance. This will change from 2023. From then on, the new compulsory portion will only be half of the statutory share of the inheritance. The assets freed up as a result may therefore be distributed differently.
The intention is to give the deceased more flexibility in favoring non-statutory heirs.
The change in the law was set in motion, among other things, because today more unmarried couples live together than in the past. So far, it has been difficult for them to favor the heirs, as lawyer Christian Habegger, a specialist in inheritance law from Winterthur, explains: “They want to give the deceased more flexibility in favoring non-legal heirs.”
No more compulsory part for parents
In addition to the fact that wealth can be passed on more freely, there is also another important change. It affects those people who have no descendants. Previously, part of the inheritance automatically went to the parents of the deceased in this case.
Parents no longer have a compulsory portion of the inheritance. Experts welcome the decision, because if one spouse died, the remaining spouse had to share with the in-laws. According to Franz Stämpfli, President of the Swiss Association of Notaries, this often led to difficult situations.
Without writing, no change
However, the change in the law only applies to those who state in writing how their assets will be inherited. Nothing changes for people who have not written a will. In principle, the inheritance law specialists recommend everyone to record their own will in writing and thus to ensure that things are clear after death.