Just when I thought we had this Swiss Testament (will) thing figured out... I hadn't reckoned with Pflichtteil (obligatory apportionment of the estate among certain relatives.)

We are US citizens, resident in Switzerland.

We wish that the entire estate should go to the surviving spouse; our US wills reflect that. From what I understand, Swiss law does not allow this - half must go to the children, or if there are no children, a quarter to one's parents.

I have heard, though, that as non-Swiss, we can avoid this by claiming Heimatrecht (rights according to one's home country laws), which would recognize our US wills as valid... Has anyone done this? How do we go about it - can we add a clause to a regular Swiss will (handwritten, or course ), or do I need to get an attorney involved?

And, how do I italicize a word in the subject line?