Antoine F. GoetschelJ.D., Dr. h.c.Attorney at Law
Tree on property

Inheritance Law and Estate Planning

Personal guidance in all matters of inheritance law — from the first conversation through wills and inheritance contracts to estate settlement.

I support you in estate planning and inheritance matters with my many years of experience, to organise your assets and record your wishes. This includes:

In detail

Estate planning and provisions

Thoughtful estate planning is far more than drafting a will. It combines your personal wishes with the legal possibilities and takes your overall family and financial situation into account. Together we clarify who should receive what, how spouses and registered partnerships are protected, and how inheritance and gift taxes apply in each canton. Lifetime gifts, "advance on inheritance", and coordination with pension solutions such as Pillar 3a also form part of serious planning. In this way, disputes among heirs can be avoided before they even arise.

When your estate is settled, and their execution

Whether a holographic will, a publicly authenticated testamentary disposition, or an inheritance contract — the right form depends on your goals and life situation. While you can adapt or revoke a will unilaterally at any time, the inheritance contract creates binding solutions between several parties, for example a mutual waiver or the benefit of a cohabiting partner. I make sure that your disposition is formally valid, unambiguous, and enforceable, so that your will does not fail when your estate is settled due to questions of interpretation or formal errors.

Estate planning and execution of estate divisions

If no disposition upon death exists, distribution follows the statutory succession under the Swiss Civil Code. However, this often does not reflect the actual wishes of the deceased — cohabiting partners in particular receive nothing without an appropriate arrangement. In estate divisions, I support communities of heirs through an often emotional process: from recording and valuing the estate, through the allocation of individual assets, to a consensual or, where necessary, enforceable solution. My goal is a fair division that preserves family peace.

Execution of wills and estate settlement

As your executor, I ensure that your last will is carried out — within the legal framework — as you intended. This includes securing and managing the estate, settling debts and legacies, communicating with authorities, banks, and offices, as well as the orderly distribution to the heirs. Neutral, expert execution of wills relieves your relatives during an already burdensome time and prevents disputes — especially when the estate is complex or tensions exist among the heirs.

Your personal consultation in inheritance law

Every estate situation is individual. In a personal conversation we clarify your goals and develop a tailored solution — clear, careful, and focused on what matters. Schedule an appointment for a confidential initial consultation.

 

Frequently asked questions

Inheritance Law and Estate Planning

A will is advisable as soon as you have concrete ideas about how your estate should be distributed — or when statutory succession does not match your wishes. Unmarried partners and patchwork families should also arrange matters early. I advise you on the different forms (holographic or publicly authenticated) and their legal consequences.

The holographic will must be written entirely by hand, dated, and signed — free of formal requirements, but easily challenged if unclearly worded. The public will is drawn up before a notary, is more legally secure, and can include more complex arrangements (e.g. execution of wills, conditions, subsequent heir appointments). I help you choose the form suited to your situation.

Estate planning includes wills, lifetime gifts, marital and inheritance contracts, mixed gifts, as well as advance directives and living wills. At the centre is the question of how assets, responsibility, and the need for protection are shaped in interplay — tuned to your family and your values.

As your executor, I ensure that your last will is carried out — within the legal framework — as you intended.The executor manages the estate, settles obligations, distributes among the heirs, and mediates when conflicts arise. I take on this mandate upon request as part of estate planning, or at short notice following a death.

Disputes among heirs usually arise from unclear arrangements, unequal treatment of descendants, or a lack of prior conversations. Careful estate planning with transparent communication to the heirs — preferably during one's lifetime — prevents this. If a dispute has already arisen, I also mediate in estate division proceedings.

Videos on the topic

In conversation

What happens when there is no will?

Show transcript

Marie Anouk: What happens when there is no will?

Antoine F. Goetschel: The heirs must follow the statutory rules, which provide for compulsory portions and disposable shares. If no will has been drawn up to exhaust those shares, everything passes by law. The difficulty is the equal treatment of all heirs — an advantage for some, a disadvantage for others, because every bank instruction and every disposition has to be agreed jointly. If relations between siblings and the surviving spouse are good, someone takes the lead; if they are strained, tensions arise immediately over every cost, every banking decision. That is why I recommend — as do lawyers generally — that people of all ages draw up a will. It can be very simple, but it must be clear.

When does a will create more conflict than solutions?

Show transcript

Marie Anouk: When does a will create more conflict than solutions?

Antoine F. Goetschel: When it has not been discussed with a notary or a lawyer; when it contains only wishful thinking or clauses the testator knows cannot be enforced; when heirs who are not mentioned at all — say, two of four children — will inevitably challenge it, arguing they have a higher entitlement than those who are named. When wishes go beyond what is ethically and legally possible, and have been discussed with neither an experienced lawyer nor the heirs themselves, the result can easily be years of cumbersome estate-division proceedings.

How do you recognise that an inheritance matter is really about relationships?

Show transcript

Marie Anouk: How do you recognise that an inheritance matter is really about relationships?

Antoine F. Goetschel: When the conversation or the written tone conveys — somewhat bluntly put — «it's only about the money, you fool.» When people argue over trivialities, over a cinnamon jar or six wine glasses, while a property worth 22 million sits next door unmentioned. When someone offers a handshake but will not be held to it. I quickly sense that what is actually being celebrated is the dispute itself — and that is rarely what the testator wanted. They would be well advised to approach their children and grandchildren while still alive, and to arrange things so that these worries can be sidestepped. Let me add: inheritance typically comes a generation too late. A person under 30 has a greater need for liquidity — for education, for travel, for equipping themselves. When the parents die at 90 and you are 60, any sum is welcome, but the real need was earlier. That is why it is worth thinking generously about giving with warm hands during one's lifetime — properly documented with a lawyer and notary.

All conversations & interviews →

Personal conversation

Let's talk about your case.

Write to me — I'll get back to you within two working days.

Get in touch

Notice

New office address from 1 August 2026

From 1 August 2026 you will find me at Theaterstrasse 2, 8400 Winterthur — in a Jugendstil villa a few minutes' walk from the main station.