On 1 January 2023, the revision of the law of succession and in particular about the testamentary rules will come into force in Switzerland.
The main changes concern the new rules about the so-called reserved shares when there is a will , meaning as such the shares of the estate that the law reserves for specific subjects (e.g. children, spouse, parents).
The new rules will enter into force on 1 of January 2023 and they do not change the legal succession (i.e. the one without a will), but provide for a reduction of the legitimate shares in the presence of a will, thus leaving the testator greater freedom in disposing of its assets.
In particular, with a will, the testator can freely dispose of 50% of his assets; the remaining 50% will be reserved by law to the legitimates in the following proportion: to the spouse in the measure of ½ of the share reserved by law for the legitimates (i.e. ¼ of the total assets of the deceased), to the children ½ of the share reserved by law to the legitimates will be reserved (i.e. ¼ of the total assets of the deceased);
no share will be reserved for the parents (unlike the current system).
Therefore, in the presence of a will, the testator is free to dispose of half of his estate as he prefers.
This is certainly an epochal turning point in estate planning.
Milan, 27 of July 2022
