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=U3= Sec2229 -- Section 2229 Testamentary capacity of minors , lack of testamentary capacity
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=S=> BGB 2229. 1 A minor may make a will only once he has attained his sixteenth year of age .
=S=> BGB 2229. 2 The minor does not need the consent of his legal representative to make a will .
=S=> BGB 2229. 3 ( repealed )
=S=> BGB 2229. 4 A person who is incapable of realising the importance of a declaration of intent made by him and of acting in accordance with this realisation on account of pathological mental disturbance , mental deficiency or derangement of the senses may not make a will .
=U3= Sec2230 -- Section 2230 repealed
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=U3= Sec2231 -- Section 2231 Regular wills
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=S=> BGB 2231 A will may be made in a regular form by declaration to a notary , by a declaration made by the testator in accordance with section 2247.
=U3= Sec2232 -- Section 2232 Public will
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=S=> BGB 2232 A will made by declaration to a notary is made by the testator declaring his last will to the notary or handing the notary a document with the statement that the document contains his last will . The testator may hand over the document either unsealed or sealed ; it is not required to be written by him .
=U3= Sec2233 -- Section 2233 Special cases
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=S=> BGB 2233. 1 If the testator is a minor , he may make a will only by oral declaration to a notary or by handing over an unsealed document .
=S=> BGB 2233. 2 If the testator is , according to his own statement or in the firm opinion of the notary , incapable of reading text , he may make the will only by making a declaration to the notary .
=U0= -- --
=U3= Sec2247 -- Section 2247 Holographic will
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=S=> BGB 2247. 1 The testator may make a will by a declaration written and signed in his own hand .
=S=> BGB 2247. 2 The testator should state in the declaration the time when ( day , month and year ) and the place where he wrote it down .
=S=> BGB 2247. 3 The signature should contain the first name and the last name of the testator . If the testator signs in another manner and this signature suffices to establish the identity of the testator and the seriousness of his declaration , such a signature does not invalidate the will .
=S=> BGB 2247. 4 A person who is a minor or is incapable of reading text may not make a will in accordance with the provisions above .
=S=> BGB 2247. 5 Where a will made under subsection ( 1 ) does not contain any information about the time when it was made and where this causes doubts about its validity , the will is to be deemed to be valid only if the necessary ascertainments about the time when it was made can be established in some other manner . The same applies with the necessary modifications to a will that does not contain any information about the place where it was made .
=U3= Sec2248 -- Section 2248 Custody of a holographic will
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=S=> BGB 2248 A will made in accordance with section 2247 is to be taken into special official custody upon demand by the testator .
=U3= Sec2249 -- Section 2249 Emergency will made before the mayor
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=S=> BGB 2249. 1 If it is feared that the testator will die sooner than it is possible to make a will before a notary , he may make the will by means of a record drawn up by the mayor of the municipality where he resides . The mayor must call in two witnesses for the authentication . A person who is provided for or appointed as an executor in the will to be recorded may not be called as a witness ; the provisions of sections 7 and 27 of the Notarial Recording Act [ Beurkundungsgesetz ] apply with the necessary modifications . The making of the will is governed by the provisions of sections 2232 and 2233 as well as the provisions of sections 2 , 4 , 5 ( 1 ) , sections 6 to 10 , 11 ( 1 ) sentence 2 , ( 2 ) , section 13 ( 1 ) and ( 3 ) , sections 16 , 17 , 23 , 24 , 26 ( 1 ) no . 3 , 4 , ( 2 ) , and sections 27 , 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 and 35 of the Notarial Recording Act [ Beurkundungsgesetz ] ; the mayor takes the place of the notary . The record must also be signed by the witnesses . If the testator , according to his own statement or in the firm o pinion of the mayor , is incapable of signing his name , the signature of the testator is replaced by this statement or firm opinion being included in the record .
=S=> BGB 2249. 2 The fear that it will no longer be possible to make a will before a notary should be stated in the record . The validity of the will is not affected if the fear was unfounded .
=S=> BGB 2249. 3 The mayor should draw the attention of the testator to the fact that the will becomes invalid if the testator survives the expiry of the period provided by section 2252 ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) . He should state in the record that this notification has been given .
=S=> BGB 2249. r
=S=> BGB 2249. 4 ( repealed )
=S=> BGB 2249. 5 The will may also be made before a person who is appointed under the provisions of statute to represent the mayor . The representative should state in the record the basis of his power of agency .
=S=> BGB 2249. 6 If formal errors were made when drafting the record concerning the making of the will as provided for in the above subsections , but it can nevertheless be assumed with certainty that the will contains a reliable rendering of the testator's declaration , then the procedural error does not detract from the effectiveness of the recording .
=U3= Sec2250 -- Section 2250 Emergency will before three witnesses
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=S=> BGB 2250. 1 A person who is staying in a place which , as a result of extraordinary circumstances , is blocked off in such a way that making a will before a notary is not possible or extremely difficult , may make the will in the form specified by section 2249 or by oral declaration before three witnesses .
=S=> BGB 2250. 2 A person who is in such imminent mortal danger that it is probable that even making a will in accordance with section 2249 is no longer possible may make the will by oral declaration before three witnesses .
=S=> BGB 2250. 3 If the will is made by oral declaration before three witnesses , a record to this effect must be made . The witnesses are governed by the provisions of section 6 ( 1 ) nos . 1 to 3 , sections 7 and 26 ( 2 ) nos . 2 to 5 and section 27 of the Notarial Recording Act [ Beurkundungsgesetz ] with the necessary modifications , and the record is governed by the provisions of sections 8 to 10 , 11 ( 1 ) sentence 2 , ( 2 ) , section 13 ( 1 ) , ( 3 ) sentence 1 , sections 23 and 28 of the Notarial Recording Act [ Beurkundungsgesetz ] as well as the provisions of section 2249 ( 1 ) sentences 5 and 6 , ( 2 ) and ( 6 ) with the necessary modifications . The record may be made in another language apart from German . The testator and the witnesses must be sufficiently familiar with the language of the record . This should be stated in the record if it is written in a language other than German .
=U3= Sec2251 -- Section 2251 Emergency will made at sea
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=S=> BGB 2251 A person who during a sea voyage is on board a German ship beyond a domestic port may make a will by oral declaration before three witnesses in accordance with section 2250 ( 3 ) .
=U3= Sec2252 -- Section 2252 Period of validity of emergency wills
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=S=> BGB 2252. 1 A will made in accordance with section 2249 , section 2250 or section 2251 is deemed not to have been made if three months have passed since it was made and the testator is still alive .
=S=> BGB 2252. 2 The beginning and the running of the period are suspended for as long as the testator is incapable of making a will before a notary .
=S=> BGB 2252. 3 If , in the case provided for by section 2251 , the testator sets off on a new sea voyage before the expiry of the period , the period is interrupted with the effect that at the end of the new voyage the entire period starts to run from the beginning .
=S=> BGB 2252. 4 Where after the expiry of the period the testator is declared dead , or where the time of his death is established in accordance with the provisions of the Missing Persons Act [ Verschollenheitsgesetz ] , the will remains effective if the period had not yet ended at the time when , according to available information , the testator was still alive .
=U3= Sec2253 -- Section 2253 Revocation of the will
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=S=> BGB 2253 The testator may revoke a will and also an individual disposition contained in a will at any time .
=U3= Sec2254 -- Section 2254 Revocation by will
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=S=> BGB 2254 The revocation is made by will .
=U3= Sec2255 -- Section 2255 Revocation by destruction or changes
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=S=> BGB 2255 A will may also be revoked by the testator , with the intention of revocation , destroying the testamentary instrument or making changes to it that customarily express the intention to revoke a written declaration of intent . If the testator has destroyed the testamentary instrument or changed it in the manner described , it is presumed that he intended the revocation of the will .
=U3= Sec2256 -- Section 2256 Revocation by the withdrawal of the will from official custody
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=S=> BGB 2256. 1 A will made before a notary , or in accordance with section 2249 , is deemed to have been revoked if the document taken into special official custody is returned to the testator . The office returning the document should inform the testator of the consequence of the return stated in sentence 1 , note this on the document and place on record that both these things have been done .
=S=> BGB 2256. 2 The testator may demand the return of the will at any time . The will may only be returned to the testator personally .
=S=> BGB 2256. 3 The provisions of subsection ( 2 ) also govern a will deposited in accordance with section 2248 ; the return does not affect the effectiveness of the will .
=U3= Sec2257 -- Section 2257 Revocation of the revocation
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=S=> BGB 2257 If the revocation by will of a testamentary disposition is revoked , the disposition is , in case of doubt , effective as if it had not been revoked .
=U3= Sec2258 -- Section 2258 Revocation by a later will
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=S=> BGB 2258. 1 The making of a will revokes an earlier will to the extent that the later will is at variance with the former .
=S=> BGB 2258. 2 If the later will is revoked , the earlier will is , in case of doubt , effective in the same way as if it had not been revoked .
=U3= Sec2258a -- Section 2258a repealed
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=U3= Sec2258b -- Section 2258b repealed
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=U3= Sec2259 -- Section 2259 Obligation to deliver
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=S=> BGB 2259. 1 A person who is in possession of a will which has not been placed in special official custody is obliged to deliver it to the probate court without undue delay after he has obtained knowledge of the death of the testator .
=S=> BGB 2259. 2 If a will is in the official custody of a public authority other than a court , it must be delivered to the probate court after the death of the testator . The probate court must arrange for its delivery once it has obtained knowledge of the will .
=U3= Sec2260 -- Section 2260 repealed
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=U3= Sec2261 -- Section 2261 repealed
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=U3= Sec2262 -- Section 2262 repealed
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=U3= Sec2263 -- Section 2263 Voidness of a prohibition on opening the will
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=S=> BGB 2263 A direction given by the testator prohibiting his will against being opened immediately after his death is void .
=U3= Sec2263a -- Section 2263a Opening period for wills
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=S=> BGB 2263a If a will has been in official custody for more than thirty years , the depository must , as far as practicable , make inquiries of its own motion as to whether the testator is still alive . If the inquiries do not lead to the finding that the testator is still alive , the will is to be opened . The provisions of sections 2260 to 2262 apply with the necessary modifications .
=U3= Sec2264 -- Section 2264 repealed
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