Inheritance / Question 6
How will my heirs find everything?
With a will that can be found, a list of what there is and where it is held, and the papers the authority asks for. The law sets short deadlines: three months to disclaim an inheritance, one month to ask for a public inventory. Heirs who know what the estate holds can use them; heirs who must search for it lose them.
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01 / The will
Found, then handed in.
The cantons must make sure a handwritten will can be deposited with an authority, open or sealed. (ZGB Art. 505(2)) After a death, a will must be submitted to the authority without delay, even if it appears to be invalid; whoever kept it or found it is responsible for that. (ZGB Art. 556)
One month after the interested parties are notified, the authority issues the heirs named in a will, at their request, a certificate confirming them as heirs, unless their entitlement has been expressly challenged. (ZGB Art. 559)
Open your private view02 / The deadlines
Three months, and one.
Heirs can disclaim an inheritance, and the time limit is three months. (ZGB Arts. 566 and 567) An heir who may disclaim can ask for a public inventory within one month. (ZGB Art. 580)
Both decisions turn on what the estate holds and owes. A list kept up to date answers that in days rather than months.
Open your private view03 / The list
What there is, and where.
Accounts and custodians, property, private holdings and the company, insurance and pension policies, trademarks and their renewal dates, and where each original document is kept. A notary or a lawyer confirms what the will and any contracts must say; the list makes sure nothing is missed.
Open your private view04 / In Antevo
One private place for the list and the papers.
Keep the list of what there is, and copies of the papers behind it, in one private vault beside your portfolios, property and private holdings, with a note of where each original is kept. A sealed document opens with your key only: keep what heirs or an executor will need where they can reach it.
Open your private viewSources
Where this comes from.
The published estimate behind the figure and the primary sources for every legal point: the Civil Code and the Code of Obligations on fedlex.admin.ch, the Federal Office of Justice, the Federal Tax Administration, the Federal Chancellery, the Swiss Parliament and the IPI. Intelligence, not advice: nothing here is legal or tax advice. A notary or a lawyer confirms what a will, a contract or an estate requires.