Dowry hunter - Aunt's partner tries to cheat the grandmother

Yes sorry, as I said, I didn’t want to be tactless. But it’s always about the money. There’s always a huge drama in the East. Everyone thinks they have been shortchanged. The nasty partner is a Wessi? I know that from my wife. There’s constant arguing about money. He has this, he has that. Have you ever tried talking to your aunt?

The nasty partner is of completely unknown origin. We don’t know anything about him, even though they have been living together for over 20 years. All questions remain unanswered. As long as my aunt is happy, they should do as they please. But not at the expense of others.

I hope my grandma will be 120.

In Germany, there has been no incapacitation since 1992. The only thing in this regard would be a consent reservation within the framework of legal guardianship. And the necessity for this must be confirmed by an expert opinion and ordered by a judge. For the sale of a house, a representative needs a notarized power of attorney or must have been appointed as a legal guardian by the court. In the case of legal guardianship, the sale of the house must also be approved by the court.

If it is a [Berliner Testament], it must also be clarified whether grandma is the sole heir or a preliminary heir. In the case of a preliminary inheritance, she must be a freed preliminary heir in order to dispose of the property without the consent of the subsequent heirs. If she is the sole heir or a freed preliminary heir, your grandma can sell her house, and if the notary has no doubts about her legal capacity during the notarization, she can do so without you being able to prevent it.

A Berliner Testament it is not, as far as I know. They wrote everything themselves with a notary, as far as I know. Just so that no false impression arises again. Of course, my grandmother should be allowed to sell her house if she wants to. But she should not end up on the street or in a nursing home because the fraudster talks her into it.

Now my grandma is 97 years old. She is mentally fully fit, walks around, and lives peacefully in her house.

Ninety-seven. At this age, she will only be able to give gifts twice at most without it later conflicting with the tax exemption for inheritance. Personally, I wouldn’t want to give the tax authorities any more than to Uncle Stepfather.
Mentally fully fit. Well then, nothing like drawing up a power of attorney. That is best for grandma if she still herself decides who may speak for her if it ever becomes necessary. Every detail can be regulated individually, e.g., asset management is done by X, health care is done by Y with A each authorized to act individually (preferably with priority rules in case of deadlocks). Regarding asset management, it can also be stipulated that house sales are done by Z only together with B; and when the house is sold during grandma’s lifetime, the buyer must continue to grant her the right to live there.

If grandma gifts the house to the evil couple (or whatever), they would have to cover any potential care costs for grandma within 10 years. However, this only applies if grandma has no other income. This is apparently called induced impoverishment.

How it would be with a will in which others are entered as heirs, I don’t know. Probably you would have to pay a balancing amount, from the one who was gifted to those who are to be the heirs.

This can be a huge mistake for the recipient. For example, if you assume that 5 years of care costs have to be covered and then an inheritance balancing payment has to be made, probably nothing is left of the value of the house or you even have to pay on top.

Selling is no longer that easy to do for 1€. The state has mostly closed the loopholes. The market value (I believe) is taken into account and monthly payments have to be factored in with the average life expectancy of the respective year group.
At least that’s how it was.

I also don’t know why everyone always gets so worked up when it comes to inheritance and the like. The sooner you solve it together, the better it is for everyone involved.

All in all, I’m not an expert, so it’s probably not as easy for the evil couple as one might think.
Even if grandma gifts the house to the couple and dies x years later, the heirs have a right to the registered value. I strongly doubt that this simply dissolves with the gift.
Especially if the inheritance comes from grandpa who is already deceased...

Only a notary or lawyer can answer such things. The situation quickly becomes very complex and hardly understandable for laypeople.