Detailed description
If you want to ensure that your testamentary disposition (for example your will) is found and opened in the event of an inheritance, you can place it in special official custody. This also protects your testamentary disposition from forgery or loss.
If your testamentary disposition is certified by a notary (notarial deed), this person will arrange for special official custody.
In the case of privately written (handwritten) wills, you can hand them in personally to the local court for special official custody or send them by post to the local court for safekeeping.
Notaries and custodian courts register testamentary dispositions electronically in the Central Will Register. The Central Will Register contains custody information on wills, inheritance contracts and other documents relevant to succession. In the event of death, the responsible probate court and the custodian are automatically informed of the death and the entry. Probate courts can also check the will register to see whether a testamentary disposition is in official custody. (Only if the death is known here)
The contents of testamentary dispositions are not recorded in the will register, but are kept locked at the local court.
You do not need to do anything special to register in the wills register. The depositories are legally obliged to register. However, this does not apply to privately written wills that are not kept in official custody. These cannot be recorded in the Central Wills Register.