Hi.

I am thinking of making a Will and to register it. I have two questions:
(1) Do I need to go through a Notaire? What is the advantage of doing it through a Notaire vs doing it myself? (2) Does the Notaire get a percentage of the total amount bequeathed? Or, do they just charge a few hundred francs at the beginning?




Many thanks,

No.

Being sure that it's legal.

No.

A few thousand, actually.

Tom

This is a useful site https://www.deinadieu.ch/testament/

Guess it depends what you are trying to do. If its all pretty straightforward then a notary is not really needed. If something may turn controversial then yes.

No notary = must be hand written by the person writing the will.

Tom

https://www.ch.ch/en/how-do-i-make-a-will/

Thank you, Tom, Landers, Kri, newtoswitz, for your kind and helpful replies.

My Will is not that complicated. So I guess I can deposit on my own.

Have a great day, everyone!!

PS.

Just out of curiosity. What happens if someone deposits a Will through a Notary and after a few years wants to change his Will. Does he have to go through the Notary again? Or can he deposit it on his own, thus replacing the previous one?

Thank you!

There is no need to deposit your will anywhere. You can keep it on your desk, in your papers, in a bank safe, with a person you trust, etc.

However, pursuant to Art. 505 Swiss Civil Code each Canton must envisage a public authority to accept self-written wills (https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2...233/en#art_505).

The advantage of depositing your will with such an authority is that it is kept safe, and will be opened if and when you should die. Less chance of the will going lost or destroyed (by accident...). However, in theory you can deposit a will with a notary, and then supersede it with a new will that has not been deposited. The newer will will take precedence.

In Zurich you can deposit your will with the public notary yourself and it costs CHF 150. If you want to exchange it with a new will, this will only cost you CHF 75. (Full price list including if you want to have advice on drafting the will is here: https://www.notariate.zh.ch/deu/nota...cht/gebuehren/).

In Geneva it appears that the competent authority would be the justice of peace (https://www.ge.ch/legislation/rsg/f/s/rsg_e1_05.html, not sure what the costs are there).

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"deposit" to me is the act of storing it somewhere so you can ask where you deposited it last time to dispose or return it. In any case in the new will you write that it supercedes any previous will. You have to make sure that people know where your will is and it might make sense to "deposit" it with the same notary if they provide such a service to avoid confusion and if your family and relevant people know that's where it's kept.

Thank you, Mica and Landers. OK, so even if one does it through a Notary in the beginning, one can always supersede the Will by depositing the new Will himself after a few years (if I understand, going through the same Notary may be a good idea although that is not strictly necessary). I was wondering if there will be a kind of lock-in that once one goes through a Notary, one will always be bound to that Notary. When the person dies and the estate will be distributed to the heirs, does the Notary get a percentage? Or the initial fees is all that a Notary gets? I hope they don't get certain percentage of the deceased person's possessions or estate.