Apply for guardianship of the estate

If someone owes you money and this person dies, you can apply for a guardianship of the estate if there is a need for security or the identity of the heir is unknown.

If someone owes you money or a service, this is your debtor. If the person dies, the debt is inherited. The heir or heirs are now your debtor. This may be the case, for example, if you rent out an apartment and the rent payments are not made after the tenant's death, even though the apartment has not been vacated.

If you want to assert your claims against the estate and the heirs are unknown, you can apply for a guardianship of the estate. This ensures that the inheritance is secured. This means that you can terminate the tenancy agreement with the estate administrator and take further steps to have the apartment vacated.

The inheritance is administered until the inheritance has been accepted. This also applies if there are no heirs or if the inheritance is waived. In these cases, the inheritance is transferred to the state. The state then settles the debts from the inheritance up to the value of the inheritance.

• Informal application for guardianship of the estate

• You can prove your interest in securing an estate, for example by means of contracts, promissory bills or bank statements.
• At least one of the following points applies:
  • The preservation of the estate is at risk.
  • Heirs are unknown.
  • It is uncertain whether the heirs will accept the estate.

• You can either submit the application for guardianship of the estate in writing to the locally competent probate court or declare it for the record at the registry of a local court.
• The probate court will check whether the estate needs to be secured.
• The probate court sets up a guardianship of the estate.
• The guardianship of the estate ends when the inheritance no longer needs to be secured, for example because an heir has been found.

You should submit your application as soon as possible after the death of your debtor.

The processing time of the application depends on the individual case.

The application to set up a guardianship of the estate is free of charge for you, the creditor. The costs of the proceedings are borne by the heir.

Probate administration ends upon acceptance of the inheritance and thus differs from estate administration.