Will FAQs

Inheritance
The person or organization you appoint as your heir is your legal successor after your death. This means that they inherit your rights and obligations, your assets, but also your liabilities such as debts. At least one heir should be clearly named in your will.

Legacy
You do not have to name every person you remember in your will as an heir. For example, you can only leave a portion to a good friend or a charitable organization. Your children can inherit your entire estate, but you can also leave a sum of money, a property or other individual assets to a charitable organization or a foundation. Your heirs are obliged to fulfill your bequest.

If you include a charitable organization such as the German Animal Welfare Federation in your will, no inheritance or gift tax is payable. Your estate will therefore benefit the animals without any deductions.

If you wish to remember the German Animal Welfare Federation in your will, the full address should be given in addition to the value or the share you wish to leave:

Deutscher Tierschutzbund e.V. (German Animal Welfare Federation)
In der Raste 10
53129 Bonn

Optional: Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Bonn
Association register number: VR 3836

If you are thinking about earmarking your donation and would like to support a specific project or institution of the German Animal Welfare Federation, please feel free to contact us. We can discuss your wishes and clarify any questions in a personal meeting.

We recommend that you formulate the earmarking as openly as possible.
Without earmarking, the money will be used where it is most urgently needed. We will be happy to advise you on this.

To ensure that your will is found and opened, we recommend depositing it with the relevant probate court for a small fee. However, it is also possible to store your will at home. Anyone who finds the will after your death is obliged to hand it in to the probate court.

If you have opted for a notarized will, the will will automatically be handed over to the probate court for safekeeping and entered in the Central Register of Wills.

We often only find out about an inheritance or legacy when we receive notification from the probate court. If you are considering making a bequest to the German Animal Welfare Federation in your will, we would be pleased if you could inform us in advance, e.g. by sending us a copy of your will. This is particularly important if you want the German Animal Welfare Federation to adopt a pet before you make your will.

In principle, any will can be amended or rewritten. An inheritance contract cannot be changed if one of the contracting parties has died. A joint will is binding unless the surviving person is allowed to draw up a new will by means of an opening clause during their lifetime.

A lot of data remains online after your death. The digital estate comprises all of your accounts and data on the internet, including online banking and data in clouds and social networks. This all falls into the estate of the heirs with all their rights and obligations, and they can in principle dispose of it freely.

If you do not want all personal data to be freely available, you should make legally secure arrangements for this in your will or issue a binding handwritten power of attorney for a trusted person during your lifetime that will remain valid after your death. We will be happy to assist you with the drafting and formulation of an appropriate power of attorney.