Overview

• The Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt ruled on April 29, 2025, that a torn will found in a safe-deposit box was legally revoked and invalid.
• Inheritance certificates naming the deceased’s wife and mother as heirs under statutory succession were upheld as final.
• The torn handwritten will, discovered two months after the certificates were issued, favored another individual who sought to challenge the inheritance.
• The court found that the act of tearing the will demonstrated clear intent to revoke it, as only the deceased had access to the safe-deposit box.
• This decision reinforces the legal principle that physical destruction of a will is decisive for revocation under German inheritance law.