The Swiss Federal Council will make changes to the country’s inheritance regime, effective from 1 January 2023.
There are three main amendment areas affected by the move: statutory entitlement, status of surviving spouse/registered partner, and calculation of the estate, according to law firm Charles Russell Speechlys (CRS).
Under the changes, the statutory entitlement of the deceased’s descendants is set to be lowered from 75% to 50%.
Parents’ statutory entitlement will be abolished.
This means that the testator will not be strictly bound by forced heirship, have greater freedom to choose who to leave their estate to and have more flexibility in the transfer of family businesses.
If a death happens before divorce or partnership dissolution proceedings are completed, the surviving partner will, in principle, lose their status as “heir” and will not be entitled to a compulsory share of the estate.
Other changes
In terms of spouse or registered partner status, the testator will be able to pass down half of their estate to them in full ownership, and then grant ‘usufruct’ – the right to enjoy another person’s property – on the other half.
If the person wishes to give an additional share to their surviving spouse or partner, this must be qualified as an inter vivos gift – a gift made during one’s lifetime – and not as a disposition in their Will, and must be included in the overall calculation of the statutory entitlement.
Private pensions will not be part of a person’s estate, but they may be reduced and tapped into in the event of one or more heirs not receiving the share there are entitled to.
The statutory entitlement of a spouse or partner will not change and will remain at 50%, becoming equal to the one of the descendants.
This means that, in the absence of a Will, the division of the estate will be the same as under the current rules for them.
Minimising conflicts of jurisdiction
There are other changes Switzerland intends to make to inheritance law, especially on the international front.
Grégoire Uldry, partner, and Christophe Levet, lawyer, at CRS’s Geneva private client division, said: “The Federal Council has undertaken to revise the chapter of the Private International Law Act on succession with the aim of minimising the risk of conflicts of jurisdiction and conflicting decisions in relations with the majority of EU states and providing citizens with greater legal certainty and predictability in the fate of their assets after their death.”
