Adult child as an inheritor

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1

Hi all,

I thought someone on this forum may have solved a similar concern. So, I’m asking …

My adult son is not a Swiss citizen. I want to make sure that he is also include in the division of my AHV/BVG etc, after my passing. The zivilstandesamt in my hiematort will not include him in my familienbuchline. They said they would issue the death certificate which includes only my (swiss) children listed in their records.

Rather than going the route of engaing a lawyer (and a Wil etc - i understand the value and benefits of a Wil), what other avenues do i have to inform swiss 'officials (who are they?) of my adult non-swiss son and that he should also be included as an inheritor (not just my swiss children)? Is there a process for this?

TIA!

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2

Have you presented the relevant documents proving that he is your son? certified birth certificates etc.

You could also give him money now, put assets in a trust etc.

3

AHV can not be passed on/inherited. It just stops when you die.
What is BGF?

I find it strange your son will not be included in your Familienbüchlein but I don’t know the details of that thing. I got one but just filed it with my documents :grinning_face:
Is your son officially yours or does just everybody know and agree on that? Why was he not registered at birth - or if he was born before you got a Familienbüchlein registered then?
When you die authorities here have to go and search for him - it would be a lot easier for them too if you have him registered as your son now. Tell them that, there may be an other way to note that if it’s not possible in the Familienbüchlein.

A will is the easiest thing really. You do it once, have it notarized and that’s that.
Or you write it by hand (not on computer/typewriter) put date and signature and it is valid. But with this it is better to rewrite it regularly as if you die in 30-50 years people will claim, you had changed your mind and just forgot to burn it.

5

The inheritance laws changed two years ago, you now have much more freedom in determining the heirs and their respective shares.

Is he Swiss resident? Otherwise the tax effect of an inheritance is probably determined by that 3rd country (Switzerland doesn’t levy inheritance taxes for direct bloodline relatives [including adopted children], nor do most cantons though there might be a few rare exceptions).

6

Corrected ‘BGF’ → BVG

For a number of reasons, over the years, mostly me not being familiar with swiss practices, regulations, etc, he was not included in the documents that generated my familienbuchline when I got married in CH …

He is not a Swiss resident at the moment and does not plan on being one, at least for now.

Yes, my name is on his birth certificate.

7

Both AHV and BVG have an element for “orphan children”, but it ends at age 18 or when university education ends (max 25 years old).

A will probably will not help you, as who receives AHV-BVG is fixed, you are not at freedom to change that with your will : If your child qualifies, he will get it, otherwise no.

The question is how to prove he is your child for inheritance purposes… I don’t think the family record is the only way. After all, foreigners with kids die in Switzerland, and they have no entry whatsoever in the zivilstandesamt.

Perhaps a lawyer appt, not for a will, but for advice or to clarify how to prove who your children are.

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8

In this situation, please make a will. You don’t necessarily need a lawyer*, you can write one yourself.

Now I have no idea how to go about getting your son on the Family register - I’ll leave that to others. But don’t forgo writing a will while you pursue that.

I stress this because without a will your estate falls under statutory inheritance. As such, your spouse gets 50% of the estate, your children split 50% amongst themselves. The danger here is if the Powers That Be decide your child who is not in the Swiss Family Register is not your child for inheritance purposes. I don’t know if they can do that - hopefully someone else does - but I would want to take all steps to ensure that your child couldn’t be left out in the cold. Why take that chance?

If you want your non-Swiss child to be guaranteed an inheritance, your choices are to either try to get your son properly acknowledge in the Family register or to make a will. Or do both.

Making a will takes minutes, and doesn’t have to cost you anything. I would strongly suggest that you take those few minutes and write your will to include your non-Swiss son. With a will you must leave 25% to your spouse, 25% to your children, and then may leave the remaining 50% as you choose. Then, if you are not able to get your non-registered son on the family register, you could leave him his share of the estate from the 50% Frei Quote. An equitable work-around.

(There might be tax consequences to the ‘non-child’ child, but that needs to be discussed with a tax pro.)

You can find examples of a Swiss will online to use as a template. Red Cross, Pro Senectute, most banks have published these. Your will needs to be (with a few exceptions) handwritten. Also, make sure that your family know where your will is kept. FYI, some Gemeinden might offer a service where they hold the will, perhaps for a small fee.

You can also find inheritance calculators online to help you understand what happens with and without a will.

You can, and should, also continue pursuing getting your son in the family register.

But I’d still write a will, just in case something were to happen while you are tilting at the windmills of Swiss bureaucracy.

  • If you anticipate even the slightest whisper of conflict in the distribution of your estate, please see a lawyer. A lawyer isn’t all that expensive, and could save endless heartache. The peace of mind that your wishes will be followed is well worth the cost, IMO.
9

Another thought: Are you a Swiss citizen?

If so you have to follow Swiss inheritance law, assuming you shuffle off this mortal coil while living here. But if you are not a Swiss citizen, you can claim Heimatrecht to have your estate handled under your home country law, even if you are resident here when said shuffling occurs.

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10

:folded_hands: Meloncollie. New info for me. :folded_hands:

yes, i’m also Swiss’ified. I assumed my earlier reference to my heimatort and my familienbuch would have implied so …

11

Is this the right question to ask?

Shouldn’t you instead ask how you get your son registered as your child, the right to inheritance equal to your other children follows automatically. His citizenship is immaterial in this regard.

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12

the answer i got from my heimatort zivistandesamt is ‘it is no longer possible’. i would agree with you that there should be a solution.

i thought i would ask this forum first, and consider additional suggestions from this forum, first.

it may be that i may be forced to escalate with a registered letter to the Direktion of my heimatort zivilstandesamt … hoping to avoid this type of negotiation …

13

A registred letter is not escalating. It simply forces them to give you a serious answer. I would definitely do that.

“No longer possible” … very funny. Actually they should have asked you about any existing children (they definitely asked you about a divorce or two … or three … before your marriage here and you had to prove you’re divorced) when they issued the Familienbüchlein.
A Familienbüchlein that is incomplete might as well be binned.

So don’t waste any time and energy, send them a registered letter, tell them your Familienbüchlein is incomplete. Don’t even bother mentioning inheritance, death or what ever.
Add details, doc. about your son, so they can make the entry. They may surprise you and send you a corrected Familienbüchlein. And charge you for it no doubt :laughing:

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14

There are ways to correct your civil status registry entry. (Note that Familienbuchelein are no longer given to new families, everything is electronic nowadays).
But it is necessary for you to find out why he is not already appearing as your son, in the first place, as this is very strange.

  • If you married in Switzerland, or a Swiss, and therefore had to create a civil registry entry for the first time, you would have been asked to give the details of children that you are already a father, swiss or not, in Switzerland or abroad..
  • If you were naturalized, in the naturalization paperwork there are again forms to list all existing chilren, swiss or not.
  • If you already had an entry at the civil status registry, at the moment of your son’s birth, it was your obligation to register him (eg via the Swiss embassy if abroad).

Obviously, the authorities are refusing for some reason, and even give an explanation (“no longer possible”), but we don’t know the whole story, what this means.. is it because your son is an adult? Was there a time limit? On what basis are they refusing? On what basis are you asking for your entry to be amended? Did your son ever live in Switzerland? Did you simply forgot to register him in your previous interactions with the zivilstandesamt ? Was there another father listed / paternity issue?

There are ways of correcting civil status registry data (including using foreign certificates as proof) but it depends on the way the incorrectness was crated, and often needs a longer procedure (applying to a court). This is why I think a register letter won’t be enough.. unless it was a case of miscommunication, if it was simple they would have done it already.

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15

Probably your existing birth certficate will not be accepted, you will need a new one that is less tha six months old.

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