Sole inheritance and compensation
Buschmann wants to regulate the inheritance of farms
March 21, 2024, 3:42 p.m
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The Federal Minister of Justice promises to clearly regulate the inheritance of farms. With this, Buschmann wants to prevent many companies from going out of business. In the future, a sole heir should be established and everyone else should be compensated.
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann wants to revise the legal regulations for handing over farms to the next generation in several federal states. The so-called farm regulations apply in Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein and regulate the inheritance of agricultural and forestry businesses. According to the ministry, the core concern is to prevent the companies from being broken up. Since a revision is necessary following a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court in 2018, Buschmann presented a reform proposal.
The farm regulations stipulate that only one family member inherits a farm, the others should receive a minimum compensation. This should be reregulated with the amendment and, according to Buschmann, placed on a secure legal basis. “The proposed new version contains a minimum value that can be determined easily and free of charge,” explained the minister.
In the future, the farm regulations should only apply to agricultural and forestry operations of a certain size, namely with a property tax value of at least 54,000 euros. The property tax assessment should be the deciding factor for affected owners. Alternatively, the farm status can also be declared; the threshold for this should rise from at least 5,000 euros to 27,000 euros in the future.
The determination of the value of the farm from which the severance payment is derived will also be reregulated, which, according to the ministry, should lead to a significantly higher average rating. Under certain circumstances, surcharges or reductions in the severance payment should remain possible. In addition, debts that burden a company should have a greater impact on value in determining the severance payment amount in the future. Countries and associations can now comment on this. The cabinet would then have to approve the proposal and then the Bundestag would have to discuss it.