According to a decision by the OLG Oldenburg, the testamentary appointment of a life partner as an heir can remain valid even if the partner has a new partner (Ref.: 3 W 55/22).
In the statutory order of succession, an unmarried life partner is not considered according to inheritance law. Creating a will can change this, allowing the life partner to be appointed as an heir by the testator. If the relationship dissolves, this can lead to the invalidity of the will, explains the commercial law firm MTR Legal , which also advises its clients on inheritance law.
However, there can also be exceptions, as demonstrated by the decision of the OLG Oldenburg on September 26, 2022. In the case at hand, the testator appointed his daughter and his then-life partner as heirs in 2005 by will. Several years later, due to advancing dementia, the testator moved to a nursing home and died there. In the meantime, his life partner married another partner. The testator did not change the will.
The testator’s daughter contested the will. She justified this by stating that her father would not have designated his former life partner as an heir and would have changed the will if he had known that the partner would enter into a new partnership and marry before his death.
The OLG Oldenburg examined whether the will was contestable due to a motive error by the testator. It concluded that there was no ground for contestation. It could be assumed that the testator believed, when creating the will, that the relationship with his life partner would continue. If the life partnership ends, the will can fundamentally become invalid, the OLG stated. However, there are also exceptions.
Such an exception exists here, because the relationship did not end due to the partners growing apart or turning to other partners. The reason was rather that the advancing and severe dementia of the testator made the continuation of the partnership practically impossible. According to the so-called hypothetical will of the testator, it is to be assumed that he did not want to change the will under these circumstances, decided the OLG.
Experienced lawyers at MTR Legal advise on inheritance law.
