Revision of inheritance law: the right to a compulsory portion

As the new year approaches, changes in the law are also upon us. In addition to the revision of company law, which has already been explained in detail, inheritance law will also be substantially revised on 1 January 2023. As with the revision of company law, inheritance law will proceed in several steps. The changes coming into force with the new year thus represent the first step. In the coming weeks, the Stach Attorneys at Law newsletter will explain the most critical changes in the inheritance law revision in the form of a series.

The Federal Council’s decision to enact the first part of the revised inheritance law on 1 January 2023 was in recognition of society’s need for greater freedom in the structuring of the estate. In the future, it will be possible to decide freely on a more significant part of one’s estate. 

The most important innovation of the upcoming inheritance law revision is the amendment of the right to a compulsory portion. A compulsory portion is a minimum participation of a descendant in the estate prescribed by law. This will be reduced in the new inheritance law, giving the testator more freedom to dispose of the estate. Under the previous law, descendants were entitled to ¾ of the statutory inheritance. In the future, this share will be reduced to ½. The parent’s right to a compulsory portion, which previously accounted for ½ of the statutory inheritance entitlement, will be eliminated with the revision. The result of these changes is that a testator who leaves a spouse and descendants can now freely dispose of half of their estate. If a testator leaves only his parents, he will be able to dispose freely of his entire estate in the future. The new law creates more room for maneuver to additionally favor, for example, cohabiting partners, stepchildren, or individual heirs. 

The statutory inheritance rights remain unchanged. Thus, the deceased’s parents are still entitled to a statutory inheritance in the absence of descendants. This means that a testator without children who wishes to appoint their spouse as sole heir can only do so using a disposition of decease. Without such a disposition, the legal claim to inheritance remains.

It should be noted that greater freedom in estate planning does not mean greater freedom concerning inheritance tax. The cantons remain responsible for this. This means that if the testator decides to bequeath part of their estate to non-relatives, the inherited property is subject to inheritance tax. The same applies in most cantons to cohabiting partners.

If you have any questions regarding estate planning under the new inheritance law, please do not hesitate to contact us.