{"id":963,"date":"2021-06-30T06:45:13","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T04:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/deutsches-erbrecht\/deutsches-erbrecht-im-ueberblick\/wann-ist-ein-testament-wirksam\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T11:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T10:16:08","slug":"when-is-a-will-valid","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/en\/deutsches-erbrecht\/deutsches-erbrecht-im-ueberblick\/wann-ist-ein-testament-wirksam\/","title":{"rendered":"When is a will valid?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The testator must be capable of making a will, Section 2229 BGB. A minor can only draw up a will in their own hand once they have reached the age of majority. If they are 16 years old, they can draw up a notarised will. The will can only be made in person, \u00a7 2064 f. BGB (formal and material maximum personality). This means that only the testator may write the will. An exception to this is a will that is recorded by a notary. The testator himself must determine who is to receive benefits and cannot leave this to others.<\/p>\n<p>The other requirements depend on the respective form of will. In Germany, the handwritten will, the notarised will, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/en\/german-inheritance-law\/individual-questions\/berlin-will\/\">the joint will<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/en\/german-inheritance-law\/individual-questions\/erbvertrag\/\">the inheritance contract<\/a> permissible.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A handwritten will (Section 2247 BGB) must be handwritten and signed by the testator. It should also be dated and labelled with the place where it was made. However, if these details are missing, this does not automatically invalidate the will if the time and place of its creation can be determined differently.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A notarised will is drawn up by the testator declaring their last wishes to the notary, Section 2232 BGB.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Der Testator muss testierf\u00e4hig sein, \u00a7 2229 BGB.\u00a0Ein Minderj\u00e4hriger kann ein eigenh\u00e4ndiges Testament erst errichten, wenn er vollj\u00e4hrig ist. Wenn er 16 Jahre alt ist, kann er ein notarielles Testament errichten. Das Testament kann nur pers\u00f6nlich errichtet werden, \u00a7 2064 f. BGB (formelle und materielle H\u00f6chstpers\u00f6nlichkeit). Das hei\u00dft, nur der Erblasser darf das Testament niederschreiben. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":386,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-963","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1376,"href":"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/963\/revisions\/1376"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rechtsanwalt-erbrecht.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}