I have recently been doing some reading on the differences between Swiss Law and UK Law, and it seems I do need a Swiss Will as a non resident, because of property ownership. Do any of the Forum members have any experience of preparing a Will in Switzerland? I've had conflicting information from legal professionals so far, which is a bit disturbing.

I have turned up nothing with a Forum Search on this, which surprised me, as it's an important topic

yep in Vaud, it has to be hand written not typed, your children are entitled to 3 32nds of your estate, you wife is entitled to a min of a third, things vary canton to canton,..... check with the lawyer that did the conveyancing of your property purchase.

I know it is different in valias

Hi Bandit - o.k. I'm no legal expert, but when my husband and I wanted to prepare our will (Testatment in German) we were advised by a friend of ours (lawyer):
- that it must be handwritten
- that it must contain our full name, date of birth, current address
- tht it must be signed with your full name and clearly dated
- that it is advisable to add a kind of "P.S." every 2 - 3 years confirming that "the above written is still valid"; this addendum also to be signed and dated.

Aside from that, you can distribute your worldly goods to whomever you want to. If you have children (which we don't), there's a so-called "Pflichtanteil", i.e. mandatory portion of your inheritance which must go to them. The rest can be distributed as and how you want.
We keep a photocopy at home and the original is with our legal friend.

We went to an attorney and talked about what we wanted to be included in the will...2 meetings, 2nd meeting to correct any disputes after the 1st draft.

it was as simple as that for us...

The law firm keeps a copy and sends a copy to our local gemeinde office...

If you need an address (he is in Argau), please PM...

I prepared a will in Winterthur with the local 'Notar' It was quite cheap to do and I got some very good advice. There were actually 2 documents, an 'Ehevertrag' to cover all assets accumulated in the marriage and a will to cover my personal assets. There were a lot of things to consider that I would never have thought about. For example if you own a house you cannot just leave to house to your wife without paying your children off. This seemed crazy to me as a Brit but that's how it is here.

Interesting. I'm planning on going back to the states next month for a short vacation. While there, I was thinking about drawing up some official documents, such as power of attorney for both money & health and a living will. However, since I am living in Switzerland, does that mean they might not be valid?

By the way, sorry about the post-hijacking!

Thanks for the info everyone We are in Valais, so now I'm going to contact the Notary's office which handled our purchase. It's surprising that they failed to mention Wills when we purchased, but then again, they were not too forthcoming with help and advice!

As an Auslander, or more correctly, as a non-Swiss citizen, one can claim 'Heimatrecht' to declare a will made in one's country of citizenship valid.. and thus avoid the Swiss obligatory inheritance laws.

My husband and I have written our US wills; we then wrote a notice (handwritten, of course) declaring 'Heimatrecht', and gave that to the Gemeinde Notary.

This was very important to me, as everything goes to the mutts - which would not be allowed under Swiss law.

(Our executor is based in the US, so for practicality's sake we have also appointed an attorney here in Switzerland to handle whatever needs to be done on this side, should we shuffle off this mortal coil whilst resident here.)

I’m from the UK but my wife is Swiss. My wife had one child from a previous marriage and I had 2.

I could make a UK will, which has to clearly state that it is to be dealt with under UK law but my wife, being Swiss could not do this. If, therefore she died first part of her estate would have to go to her child by her first marriage.

What we wanted to do was leave our estates to each other and then to our 3 children.

We found that we could do this under an arrangement called a Pacte successoral providing our children were adults (which they were) and would agree with this arrangement.

We held a meeting with a Notary and the children signed documents waiving their rights and accepting our wills.

This is a subject I'm very interested in. I hope you don't mind me doing a bit of highjacking too...

We're in Geneva and were advised that a trip to a notary to get this sorted would cost us about 500 chf. Is that about right?

I get the impression from some people on this thread that in the German-speaking part of CH there is an official 'Notary' for each region or something. Is that the case? Same in Geneva?

Thanks!

In the case I mentioned above it was, of course, a lot more than just a will as the documents had to be prepared for each of the children and a meeting arranged so that the Notary was satisfied that they understood what they were signing.

The will itself was about CHF 800.- and the Pacte successoral was about CHF 850.-

I can't answer your question about an official notary but I think that any notary could do it.

This is a question that's been vexing me for ages. We have no children but it's still not clear to me whether we can just leave everything to one another in a Swiss will? Does the Pflichtanteil get shifted up and down hereditary lines? i.e. do you have to leave something to parents or siblings if they're alive?

If you come from the UK you can make a will under UK law but it has to have a note on it that you wish UK law to apply.

Have a search on the forum as this has been discussed before.

Yes, this I know but I was asking about the Swiss side. A UK will requires 2 witnesses, a Swiss one you can just sit and hand-write, much easier. But no point if it's invalid because you try to do organise your affairs in a way that turns out to be illegal

If you have non-Swiss nationality, Switzerland allows you to opt for a will of your own country - even if you have Swiss nationality as well (as in my case).

You simply need to write in your own hand-writing something like. "I want my last will and testament to be carried out in accordance with the attached English one dated xxxxxx" Sign it, Date it and add where you signed it. (You will need an English will to attach.)

Cost: nothing...

Here's some threads where this has been discussed before. If you search you may find more.

English Speaking Legal Help - Zurich. Wills, Living Wills, etc...


Wills in Switzerland: avoiding Pflichtteil (Obligatory apportionment)

How to get a Will drawn up in Switzerland?

That's good to know - do you know if doing that brings you into the remit of IHT? I rather thought it didn't but I can't remember where I saw that.

I would still like to know about Swiss law/inheritance and whether parents and siblings also have a mandatory entitlement to part of your estate

IHT has also been discussed before. For that I don't think it makes any difference where you make your will.

What's IHT?

No. The will laws of your country would apply if you so specify. Not Swiss laws.

Inheritance Tax.