On the other hand, the notarial Testament saves the heirs often higher spending for a certificate of inheritance. Because the notarial Testament is sufficient as proof to register for example, inherited land in the land register.
Heirs letter as an explanation
“The Testament should be a cool formulated legal document,” says Anton Steiner, President of the German forum for inheritance law. There is hardly room for the motives of the deceased. Who would like to explain his offspring, why the daughter and the son will receive the apartment in the Alps or why the grandson to the detriment of children be considered so generous, who wants to avoid any dispute between the heirs in this way, can this in a Do Inheritors letter, which shall be annexed to the Testament.
“The heirs letter has no legal relevance, but serves to explain the motives of the deceased,” Steiner says. Therefore writing in any case should contain the hint that it is not a will, for example, with the phrase ‘this heir letter is not a testament and contains also no testamentary dispositions of juridical way. He should be used also for the interpretation or even challenge my testament”.