Do stepchildren inherit too?

According to the law, heirs of the first order are descendants of the testator. Descendants are the legitimate and illegitimate children of one parent. They inherit alike.

As such, stepchildren inherit nothing

• If one parent remarries, the marriage to the child of the spouse alone does not establish a relationship.
• These stepchildren do not acquire a statutory right to an inheritance from the stepparent. In the event of inheritance, they inherit nothing. Only the biological children and the new spouse are heirs.
• If the parents want the respective stepchildren to share in their inheritance, they must take action and follow the path prescribed by law. If they do nothing, stepchildren will remain excluded from the inheritance.

Things to know about adoption and inheritance claims

• In order to acquire an inheritance claim, the step-parent must adopt the child. Then the child is legally equated with the joint children of the spouses (§ 1754 BGB).


Heirs without a will - this is how you check your entitlement

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• If the parents do not have children together, as a result of the adoption, the stepchild becomes the sole heir alongside the surviving spouse (including the original stepparent).
• The adoption assumes that it serves the best interests of the child and that a parent-child relationship is established between the step-parent and the child. The birth parent of the child must agree to the adoption.
• If the stepparent dies before the adoption has been pronounced, the adoption application is still successful if the application is submitted to Family court submitted or the application notarized and the notary charged with submitting the application to the court became.
• Adults of legal age can only be adopted as a child if the adoption is not morally objectionable. To do this, a parent-child relationship must already have arisen. The courts usually reject an adoption application if the overriding interests of the biological children of the adoptive conflict.
• Adopted stepchildren inherit in equal parts alongside the biological children of the deceased stepparent. In your will, however, you can definitely rely on the Compulsory portion and are thus disadvantaged in terms of inheritance law compared to other children.