Children are responsible for their parents! When the old people’s assets are exhausted, the young people can be asked to pay. A trick on how to protect your belongings.
To put it succinctly: There is a right to inheritance, but no right to inheritance. And that’s the crux of the matter: The German Civil Code (BGB) stipulates that not only parents are liable for their children, but also children for their parents. This happens when they become in need of care and their own income, pension and/or assets are not sufficient to cover the costs.
However, the children are only liable if their annual gross income is higher than 100,000 euros. Gross income includes not only the annual salary, but also rental income or other capital income such as interest. In short: all the income that is listed in the tax assessment. This is regulated in the so-called “relatives relief law”, which has been in force since 2020.
Werner Weiss, board member of the Munich Bar Association and family lawyer in Augsburg, explains: “Care costs are initially covered by state care allowance, and secondly by the parents in need of care’s own pension income. And only then are the biological descendants, i.e. children and adopted children, taken into account.” However, no sons-in-law or daughters-in-law. And the biological children are only asked to pay when the assets of those in need of care have been used up – except for a small so-called grace amount, which is currently 10,000 euros.
Assets and real estate given away
In concrete terms, this means, for example: The old lady in need of care must first use her savings and sell her house or apartment. But here too there is an exception, then the property does not have to be sold: If your partner still lives in the property, explains lawyer Werner Weiss. If you, as an older person, want to protect yourself from having to sell your home to pay for care costs, you can give or give this property to your children in good time.
But here too there is an exception: these given away properties can be reclaimed by the state for up to ten years. “The background is: not everything should come at the expense of the social security funds,” says Weiss. This is to prevent someone from cheating and saying: “My mother is going into a nursing home in three months, so I’ll quickly have the entire property transferred to me and say: Oh, now social welfare should step in.”
More articles on the topic of pensions:
The only thing that helps is to act with foresight: If you want to transfer your assets to your children anyway, you should do so in good time and reserve a right of usufruct, explains the lawyer: Then the parents would still have the right to live and/or the rental income.
Published in stern care booklet 01/2024
