Seven Testament Mistakes That Can Disrupt A Swiss Estate

A will may occupy three pages while the assets it is expected to govern extend across companies, properties, pension arrangements, bankable portfolios and several jurisdictions. The imbalance is easy to overlook. A document that appears clear in isolation may produce a result quite different from the one intended once matrimonial property law, compulsory heirship, tax rules and corporate agreements are applied.

Swiss succession law gives individuals meaningful room to structure their estate. It does not, however, allow assets to be distributed without regard to statutory heirs, formal requirements or agreements already concluded during the owner’s lifetime. Since the revised inheritance law entered into force in 2023, the disposable portion of many estates has increased, creating more planning flexibility. That freedom is valuable only when the testamentary documents have been coordinated with the rest of the family’s legal and financial architecture.

Seven recurring mistakes deserve particular attention.

Assuming Statutory Succession Will Produce A Sensible Result

Swiss statutory succession provides a workable default for uncomplicated estates. It was not designed around concentrated company ownership, several residences, illiquid collections or families living across multiple countries.

Where several people inherit, they generally form a community of heirs. Until the estate has been divided, the assets belong to them collectively. Decisions may therefore require agreement among individuals whose interests, financial circumstances and expectations differ.

That can become difficult when the estate contains a family company. One heir may wish to retain the shares, another may need liquidity and a third may have no interest in the business but remain entitled to an economic share of the estate. A forced sale, increased borrowing or an improvised redistribution of assets may follow.

The same tension appears with residential property. Leaving a house to several children in equal shares sounds fair, but it does not answer who may live there, who will finance maintenance or how an heir wishing to exit will be compensated.

Statutory equality is not always operationally neutral. Families with substantial cross-border assets need to distinguish between an equal inheritance and a structure that can actually be administered without destabilising the underlying assets.

Treating A Self-Written Will As A Completed Plan

Swiss law recognises a handwritten will, but its apparent simplicity is deceptive. The document must be written entirely by hand, dated and signed. A typed text signed at the bottom does not become a valid holographic will merely because it reflects the testator’s wishes.

Formal validity is only the first hurdle. Expressions that seem obvious in ordinary language may be ambiguous in succession law. “My children should receive the company” does not explain whether they inherit equal shareholdings, whether voting and economic rights should be separated or how descendants who do not enter the business should be compensated.

A will also needs to identify legacies, heirs and conditions correctly. These categories do not produce the same legal consequences. Leaving a specific painting to a beneficiary differs from appointing that person as an heir entitled to participate in the estate as a whole.

Storage matters as well. A technically valid will serves little purpose if it cannot be found promptly. It may be deposited with the competent cantonal authority, a notary or another recognised custodian, depending on the canton. Funeral wishes and immediate practical instructions should not appear only in the will, since the document may be opened too late for them to be useful.

The real test of a will is not whether it exists, but whether it can be located, interpreted and executed without forcing the heirs to reconstruct the deceased’s intention.

Using A Will Where A Binding Agreement Is Required

Couples sometimes assume that they can reproduce the effects of a German-style joint will by signing one shared document. Swiss estate planning follows a different structure.

Each spouse can make an individual will. Where the couple wants a binding arrangement that neither party may later change unilaterally, an inheritance contract may be more appropriate. Such a contract must be executed as a public deed, generally before a notary and witnesses, and ordinarily cannot be amended without the agreement of the parties concerned.

This distinction matters after the first death. A surviving spouse may need flexibility to respond to changes in tax residence, family circumstances, asset values or the needs of descendants. A rigid inheritance contract can prevent later adjustments; two independent wills may provide too little certainty.

The document must therefore reflect the intended degree of commitment. Some families need binding waivers of compulsory entitlements. Others require room for the survivor to reallocate assets among children or grandchildren. These are not drafting details. They determine who retains control when the original family plan encounters a situation its authors did not anticipate.

Forgetting What Marriage, Separation And Divorce Change

A testamentary plan should not remain untouched through marriage, separation, divorce or a new partnership.

The death of a married person is not governed by inheritance law alone. The matrimonial property regime is settled first, determining which assets enter the estate. Only then is the estate divided under succession law. A will based on gross family wealth rather than the assets that legally form part of the estate may therefore promise more than it can deliver.

The revised Swiss inheritance regime also changed the position of spouses during divorce proceedings. Under certain conditions, a spouse can lose compulsory-heirship protection before the divorce has become final. The outcome still depends on the procedural situation and the wording of the testamentary arrangements, making a review essential once formal separation or divorce proceedings begin.

Unmarried partners present the opposite problem. They do not automatically acquire the inheritance rights of spouses simply because the relationship has lasted for many years or the couple shares a home. A partner may need to be expressly included in a will, while compulsory portions due to protected heirs still have to be respected.

Tax treatment may be less favourable too. Spouses are generally exempt from cantonal inheritance tax, while an unmarried partner may face a significant charge depending on the canton. A bequest that appears sufficient before tax may leave the surviving partner unable to retain the property it was intended to secure.

Applying The Will To Assets It Does Not Fully Control

Not every economic benefit arising on death passes under the will.

Occupational pension benefits and pillar 3a assets follow their own statutory and contractual beneficiary rules. Life-insurance proceeds, jointly held assets, foundations, trusts and company interests may also be governed partly or entirely outside the ordinary estate.

A testament can therefore appear balanced while the overall transfer is not. One child may receive substantial pension or insurance benefits outside the estate, while the remaining estate is divided equally among all children. Unless these flows have been mapped together, the result may depart materially from the family’s concept of fairness.

The same applies to company shares. A will cannot safely be drafted without reviewing the shareholders’ agreement, articles of association, partnership agreement and any existing buy-sell provisions. These documents may restrict transfers, grant purchase rights to other shareholders or prevent an heir from becoming a voting shareholder.

An estate plan should begin with an asset map showing legal ownership, beneficiary designations, contractual restrictions, liquidity and tax residence. The will is then drafted around reality rather than an incomplete balance sheet.

Treating Tax As A Calculation To Be Made After Death

Switzerland does not levy a general federal inheritance tax. Cantonal rules determine whether tax is due, which relationships qualify for exemptions and what rates apply. Spouses are normally exempt, and descendants are exempt in many cantons, but the treatment of siblings, unmarried partners and unrelated beneficiaries can differ substantially.

The relevant canton cannot always be chosen simply by looking at the location of a bank account. Taxation may depend on the deceased’s final domicile, the location of real estate and the nature of the transferred asset.

International estates introduce further exposure. Foreign property may be taxed where it is situated, while another jurisdiction may assert taxing rights based on residence, domicile, nationality or the beneficiary’s location. Relief from double taxation is not uniform across every country combination.

Liquidity is often more important than the nominal tax rate. An estate concentrated in a private company, property portfolio or art collection may carry substantial obligations without holding enough cash to meet them. Heirs may then have to sell assets at an unfavourable moment or borrow against them.

Tax advisers should be involved before the testamentary structure is fixed. Their role is not limited to estimating inheritance tax. Lifetime gifts, reorganisations, matrimonial arrangements, corporate succession and the location of beneficiaries can all alter the result.

Assuming Swiss Law Will Govern Every International Estate

Mobility has made governing-law questions part of ordinary private-wealth planning. A Swiss citizen may retire in France, hold property in Italy, have children in the United Kingdom and retain investment structures administered from Switzerland. The fact that the will was signed in Zurich does not by itself resolve which country’s law, courts and authorities will govern every element.

Swiss private international law contains rules for estates involving foreign residence, foreign nationality or assets abroad. The provisions were revised with effect from 2025 to improve coordination with foreign legal systems and reduce conflicting proceedings. The interaction with the EU Succession Regulation remains particularly important for families connected with EU member states, although Switzerland itself is not bound by that regulation.

A choice-of-law clause may be useful, but it cannot be inserted mechanically. Its availability and effect depend on nationality, residence and the countries involved. Foreign mandatory rules, real-estate law and tax legislation may still apply despite the selected succession law.

Executors and heirs also face practical questions: where probate or the equivalent procedure takes place, whether a Swiss certificate of inheritance will be recognised abroad and which authority can deal with assets in another jurisdiction.

International succession planning needs one coordinated position on applicable law, jurisdiction, tax and administration. Several locally valid documents can still contradict one another when read together.

A Will Should Be Tested, Not Merely Signed

The most reliable estate plans are reviewed as scenarios rather than admired as documents.

What happens if the intended company successor dies first? Can the surviving spouse continue to use the family home without owning it outright? Is enough liquidity available to satisfy compulsory claims? Do pension nominations and insurance beneficiaries support the same allocation as the will? Which law applies if the owner moves abroad after retirement? Who can act if the named executor is unavailable?

These questions often reveal weaknesses that remain invisible in a straightforward reading of the testament.

A review is particularly important after marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, a change of residence, a business transaction, a major gift or the acquisition of property abroad. Even without a significant event, families managing complex wealth structures should revisit the plan periodically with their legal and tax advisers.

The purpose is not to predict every possible event. It is to prevent a short legal document from becoming the weakest point in an otherwise carefully managed structure.

This article provides general editorial information and does not replace advice based on the relevant canton, family structure, assets and jurisdictions involved.