Inheritance law (gifts of deed, inheritance contracts, wills)
The deed of gift is a civil law contract whereby an individual allocates their assets or parts thereof to another individual without receiving a corresponding consideration. Should the gift in question be real estate then the gift of deed must be publically certified by a notary and entered into the land registry. When someone passes away there often obligations to compensate others; sums to be set off against the estate and legal portions which must be taken into consideration during diverse discussions. Detailed information relating to the taxes incurred in Obwalden on gifts of deed and inheritances can be found in the “Obwalden Taxes” section.An advance against inheritance is an allocation not subject to a charge (deed of gift, dowry, living expenses, writing off of debts and other similar benefits) which one individual makes to the benefit of one or more legal heirs. This allocation is offset against the recipient’s inheritance. Should the advance against inheritance relate to real estate then a publically notarised contract is required by law.
The inheritance contract is an agreement between the testator and one or more contracting parties in the presence of two independent witnesses. The inheritance contract must, by law, be publically certified. An inheritance contract concluded with the agreement of all the individuals concerned allows a legal estate to be regulated according to the individual requirements of the contracting parties, in other words independently of any claims to a legal portion.
The will or last testament documents in writing an individual’s so-called “last will”, for example regulating cases in which a distribution of the legal estate deviating from the solution specified by law but taking into consideration legal limitations (including legal portions of the legal heirs) is specified. Wills may be drawn up in two forms: either as a public document by a notary or as a document written by the individual in their own handwriting (in such cases it is imperative that the entire text of the will including the date and the testator’s signature is written in their own hand).