Estates spanning China and Germany
Germany applies the law of the deceased's last habitual residence under the EU Succession Regulation, which may not be German law.
A person with German and Chinese connections died; the question is which succession law applies to the German assets.
Establish the deceased's last habitual residence first, since that determines the applicable succession law.
The position in one paragraph
Germany applies the law of the deceased's last habitual residence under the EU Succession Regulation, which may not be German law.
Because the EU Succession Regulation applies the law of the last habitual residence as a single connecting factor, the applicable law to the German assets may be neither German nor Chinese, depending on where the person habitually resided. That has to be established before any distribution is proposed.
A typical situation
A person with German and Chinese connections died; the question is which succession law applies to the German assets.
Assuming German law applies because the assets are in Germany. The Regulation's connecting factor is the deceased's habitual residence, not the location of the assets.
What distinguishes this from a purely domestic case
Under the accrued-gains system, each spouse keeps their own property and the equalisation is calculated at the end of the marriage — a fundamentally different starting point from the Chinese position.
On the China side, the connecting factor has to be established on the documents: A Chinese court deals with China-situated estate assets. Assets abroad are governed by the law of the place where they sit, with China's conflict rules determining which law applies to succession.
The practical sequence in a Germany-connected matter
- Separate the question of who inherits from the question of how the assets are actually transferred
- Establish the applicable law for succession, which can differ between movables and immovables
- Authenticate the death certificate, the will and the relationship documents
- Address the practical release of each asset with the institution holding it
Certification is handled by the competent Land authority, so the state of issue matters as it does in the US.
How Germany documents are handled
Apostille from the competent Land authority or the Federal Office of Justice for federal documents.
Germany applies the Zugewinngemeinschaft (community of accrued gains) system, which functions very differently from Chinese community property.
Each spouse keeps their own property under the German default, and equalisation is calculated only at the end — the opposite logic to Chinese community property.
What has to be decided before filing
Establish the deceased's last habitual residence first, since that determines the applicable succession law.
The boundary to plan around is this: Agreeing the shares and realising the assets are two separate problems; both need to be planned, and the second is usually harder. Where value sits in Germany — typically property, company shares, bank accounts, Bauspar contracts — it is handled by agreement or by a separate route there, not by an order the Chinese court could enforce directly.
If your situation has a Germany element
Inheritance cases stall when the evidence of the family relationship is incomplete. Send us the family tree and where each asset is held, and we will set out the route.
Frequently asked questions
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