Anyone who wants to preserve wealth across generations must actively shape their estate.

In Germany, succession law is closely linked to tax law. Inheritance and gift taxes account for roughly 1.5% of the public budget. As a result, public debate is strongly shaped by political and fiscal questions.

The concrete design of individual estates receives little attention. In private contexts, too, it is only rarely examined in a systematic way. In many cases, estate distribution is therefore not actively designed but follows statutory fallback rules. Yet this is exactly where the core challenge lies - and where there is real leverage for optimisation and the avoidance of unnecessary costs that effectively reduce the estate.

Anyone who does not understand these structures cannot adapt them to their own life context. And anyone who does not adapt them leaves implementation largely to a system that can only account for individual cases to a limited extent. The consequences are not limited to additional costs, losses, or untapped potential - they often also appear where outcomes deviate from expectations or where responsibility remains unclear.