Fighting the Incompetence and Ignorance of Experts

(DE) As I have done many times in the last year, I am sitting at the bedside of my friend Inge in the intensive care unit, waiting for her to wake up. We have been friends for decades, although she is much older than me. In a way, I was a bit of a surrogate daughter for her and her husband, Martin, who died in 2009. Their only son had died early, and the grandchildren live in America. I had met Inge’s five grandsons and liked them. They are all nice boys.

Best friends - Inge and I

In the last few months, I had kept them regularly informed about their grandmother’s health in Germany because Inge’s heart was getting weaker and weaker. More frequently, she had to be admitted to the hospital by the emergency doctor.

She usually spent a few critical days in the intensive care unit, where I visited her every day and hoped she would recover quickly.

Time to settle the last things

When Inge regained her strength, I asked her, “What’s on your mind now?” She promptly replied, “I’d like you to handle my estate. Will you do that for me? We’ll go to the notary together when I’m feeling better.”

“You know,” she said sensibly, “my grandchildren have no connection with Germany. They don’t know the language. So take what you like, sell the flat and close the bank account. The proceeds will be divided among the five grandchildren.”

Of course, I was to receive proportional compensation for this settlement and reimbursement of my costs.

And indeed, after this bedside talk, Inge felt a little better and could soon be discharged from the hospital.

My friend was a very pragmatic and realistic woman; therefore, she made an appointment as soon as possible with a notary known to her to legally secure her wish to settle the estate through me. She trusted this notary because she had already been involved in purchasing the couple’s apartment and knew their will.

And yet, in the end, everything went wrong from the beginning to the bitter end, which Inge, fortunately, did not have to experience.

Supposed security through notarised documents

Inge dragged herself to the appointment in the city centre. She now was now very frail and could breathe only with difficulty. Nevertheless, she was expected to leave the notary’s office without achieving anything and make another appointment because the secretary had not put the appointment in the notary’s calendar. As a result, the notary was in a meeting and not available.

I found this rather impertinent and insisted on waiting for the notary. When she finally appeared, she did not see any reason to apologise for the inconvenience but asked directly about the request.

My friend, as always clear-headed, explained her wishes and asked for the appropriate legal documents to be issued.

The notary then drew up two documents. One document named me as executor of the will. The other document was a general power of attorney, which Inge issued to me. Based on this power of attorney document, I could make decisions for her in all respects.

The fee for issuing the two documents was relatively high, calculated from the estate’s value.

Inge now thought she had settled her final affairs, and when she finally died, I set to work as we had agreed.

A veto from the probate court

But what Inge and I, with our common sense, had imagined to be a simple task, which the notary had also confirmed with her expensive professional service, turned out to be much more complicated and nerve-wracking.

With my two notarised documents in hand, I first went to the bank to initiate the process and introduced myself as executor, presenting the originals. It was essential to access the account because bills had to be paid, and regular payments stopped.

However, after six weeks, I received a letter from the probate court saying that I was not an executor.

Completely stunned, I called the probate court and spoke to the judge in charge. She confirmed briskly that I could not be an executor because the will in question was a Berlin will, which does not provide for executors. At most, I could act as a guardian of the estate. However, I would need a power of attorney from the heirs.

Martin and Inge had made a Berlin Will, which stated that the two spouses would be each others’ heirs. However, if the last of the two died, the five grandchildren would inherit the existing assets in equal shares.

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Background information for a better understanding of the legal situation: In a Berlin Will spouses appoint each other as heirs. At the same time, they either name a third party as the final heir or legal succession occurs. Upon the death of one spouse, the Berlin Will can no longer be changed. Therefore, it is generally advisable to include a so-called amendment clause. Source: https://www.fachanwalt.de/magazin/erbrecht/berliner-testament

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However, Inge’s and Martin’s wills did not contain such an amendment clause.

When I asked what the further course would look like, the judge explained my role:

I should inform the probate court of the addresses of the heirs. Then, the probate court would ask them whether they wanted to accept the inheritance. The heirs could issue me a certificate of authorisation, which would entitle me to settle the estate. If the heirs disagreed, the court would appoint an estate administrator. The costs for this would be paid out of the estate.

Well, that was not the initial plan, but if the legal situation is like that , I had to comply with the court’s instructions.

However, I wondered why the notary, knowing all these requirements and hopefully also knowing the legal situation, had issued the documents for Inge and me, which were obviously completely useless! Could it be that a professional legal expert disregarded basic legal knowledge? Unintentionally? Out of lack of knowledge? Or because of incompetence? Or out of ignorance? Or to make a profit?

Unprofessionalism and chaos at the bank

Now the first thing I had to do was return to the bank and admit that I was not the executor. Yet I had signed as such at the bank and everywhere else in good faith. Therefore, hopefully, I had not made myself liable for prosecution!

Although the bank had the general power of attorney, given these new findings by the probate court, the bank now insisted on waiting until I could present the certificate of the heirs. This was a big problem because there were bills to pay, and I no longer had access to the account.

Also, concerning the sale of the flat, the bank indicated that I would probably have to obtain a certificate of inheritance from the grandchildren. They didn’t know exactly.

It seemed that the bank was unfamiliar with such an estate settlement.

At each appointment, they requested a new document from me. Unfortunately, they had no list of documents needed in such cases. For me, this meant many meetings and a lot of legwork.

Lawyer’s advice – but the devil is in the detail!

Finally, I had enough of being harassed and decided to consult a lawyer who was an expert in overseas inheritance.

Where to find information about how to settle inheritance

Again I trusted that there must be an expert who could clarify this matter.

I showed him my two legally notarised documents.

It seemed that I had made a lucky choice of lawyer.

He was amazed that I had a document in my hands naming me as executor of the will because this was utterly redundant in the presence of a general power of attorney. This power of attorney showed how great Inge’s trust in me had been, and legally this power of attorney overwrote everything.

So why on earth had the notary issued this pointless “executor document”? She was the expert. It couldn’t be that she didn’t know the meaning of a general power of attorney! So it was profiteering, after all?

I was thrilled to have consulted such a competent lawyer and went to the bank again with new self-confidence. Equipped with legal knowledge about the importance of the general power of attorney, I finally got the bank to cooperate. However, under this new perspective, the document had to be copied again. Why? I did not ask that. I preferred not to know.

It was vital for me to be able to pay the invoice of the tiler who had renovated Inge’s bathroom to make it suitable for the disabled for € 20,000 only shortly before her death.

However, new problems arose during the sale of the flat. The bank was now almost sure I might need the grandchildren’s certificate of inheritance. But they couldn’t tell me anything more precise.

What now? Who could tell me what I was allowed to do and what I was not allowed to do? Who knew the legal situation? Obviously, the lawyer had also overlooked an essential detail in his advice, which had not been free of charge.

I wrote to the notary who had started the whole misery. She was supposed to answer my questions.

Perhaps my complaint to the Bavarian Chamber of Notaries accelerated her response time somewhat. In any case, she answered immediately.

She explained that the flat had been initially registered in the land registry in the name of Inge and her husband, Martin. If Inge had not transferred the apartment to herself after her husband’s death, I would need a certificate of inheritance from the heirs for Martin’s share. The Berlin Will again!

Now I was struggling with the experts again. The lawyer could have told me this crucial detail straight away. And the notary, who had known about the couple’s Berlin Will, could also have pointed out this legal problem in good time, i.e. before Inge’s death. What kind of professionals are they, though?! How can they call themselves advisors if they give their clients such imprecise and sloppy advice?

But I began to pray: “Dear God, let me find this document, and hopefully, she has the flat changed to her name!” It is easy to forget such “little things” in pain and grief. Fortunately, at the land registry, I received confirmation that she had indeed had the flat signed over to her name. So at least I didn’t need a certificate of inheritance. Thank you, my well-organised friend! I could rely on her. But of course, I had to find the document. So again I searched the whole flat until I finally found it.

Slowly things are starting to roll!

But there was already a new piece of bad news waiting for me. Inge’s tax advisor contacted me to tell me that her tax return was due. The tax office insisted. I had no idea about Inge’s tax affairs. Fortunately, the tax advisor was kind enough to send me the old tax assessment as a sample and a list with the relevant information. So I sat down and finished the tax return for my girlfriend.

At the same time, I had to take care of the sale of the flat, appoint an estate agent and get offers for flat clearance. I sifted through Inge’s personal possessions. She had expensive noble things and was always well dressed, but dress size 48, shoe size 36. I organised a clothing market. But nobody wanted second-hand clothes. Even Caritas got tired of the bags of clothes after a while.

In between, I had to keep the grandchildren informed, document everything and disclose the costs. And all that in English!!! So I was severely challenged, especially with all the technical terms.

The family arrives for the funeral.

My friend died in early February, but the cremation was not until mid-March. So I contacted the grandchildren and asked if they would be interested in coming to the funeral. I thought they would want to take something or another from Inge’s home as a memory.

Eventually, the daughter-in-law and three of the five grandchildren came to the funeral. They slept in the flat. After the funeral, we organised a meeting for the following day to discuss how to proceed.

I asked my daughter to accompany me because her English is better than mine. The first thing the daughter-in-law complained about was that Inge’s golden earrings were missing. I had no idea where these earrings had gone or who she might have given them to. I am not interested in that kind of jewellery. Inge sometimes gave me some costume jewellery for my birthday, which I liked. I found the daughter-in-law’s question a little disturbing because I somehow sensed an underlying assumption. I vaguely remembered that Inge had given her jewellery as a gift during a visit. Yes, she admitted, but it was only the wedding rings. – Yet Inge told me that the family in America didn’t want any of her stuff anyway, only the money.

But I remained professional despite this disagreement, and we decided on the next steps. Roughly speaking, it was a matter of wrapping everything up, closing the bank accounts and transferring the money to the heirs.

We agreed that instead of transferring to all five heirs, I would only transfer to one son from the first marriage and one from the second marriage. The distribution would then take place among the grandchildren without my involvement. This would save considerable bank charges.

My daughter recorded everything in English. The family members were pleasantly surprised by so much professionalism and flew back to the United States the following day, satisfied. I was exhausted after the trials and tribulations of probate, funeral and wake, and hours of discussion and formulation.

Yet my work was far from being done.

The final stages

I was left with the task of wrapping everything up and bringing it to an end. Finally, I was able to sell the shares at a reasonable price and the flat too. In the end, there was only the problem of transferring the money to the USA.

What is an IBAN number and where to find it?

I had always thought Germany was a progressive country. But when it came to transferring the money, I was proved wrong.

For the foreign transfers, the bank gave me A4 forms to fill out, including the account number, IBAN and the exact addresses of the recipients.

Although the USA has introduced the IBAN system, it seems unknown in the USA, or the grandchildren didn’t know what it was and had to ask their bank first.

Filling out a bank transferal form by hand is an antiquated method.

So I filled out this transfer form at home and made another appointment with the bank. The bank clerk typed all the details from the transfer form into her computer.

For what had I filled it all out neatly on my own?

When transferring, one can mistype again, and it has to be proofread again. How tedious!

There was still the question of which currency the money should be transferred in. It had to be clarified what would be cheaper and the amount of the bank charges.

The bank clerk did not know. She also didn’t know the current exchange rate because it changes a few times daily. So she had to call the head office in Nuremberg first. But she couldn’t get through on the phone. She kept calling, but it was always busy.

So I was sitting in the bank of a big German city in the 21st century and had to watch bank employees not being able to carry out their business because of organisational deficiencies. If this was how the German financial sector worked, I was amazed that Germany should be one of the economic powers.

I spent two hours in the bank to set up these two transfers. Then finally, the line was free, and the headquarter sent through the rate via email, then I had to sign again. Eventually, that also went through, and the money was on its way to the heirs.

The tax office is on its toes!

After that, I was exhausted, but my task was not yet finished. I got a letter from the tax office. The tax office wanted to ensure that no unregistered assets were left, for example, accounts in Liechtenstein, other properties, etc. According to the tax office, this check can take up to a year.

But I was determined to bring this matter to a close finally. With all my love for my girlfriend, I didn’t want to spend another year in a convoluted bureaucratic labyrinth!

When I asked if this could be speeded up, I got a hint to call a particular tax official. I did so, and this time I was pleasantly surprised by the helpfulness and competence of an official.

I confirmed to him that I only knew about the bank balance, the flat and the shares and that there were no assets beyond that. He said he fully understood my situation and dictated the sentence I should write to the tax office so the case could be closed. That worked. I thanked him quite profusely for his support. After all the experiences I gained with the experts during these nine months, I was very impressed. It was so refreshing to meet someone who had a clue and knew what he was talking about.

My thoughts on the experience

Many questions went through my mind when I had time to reflect on the experience.

Why do I seek advice from professionals when I only ever get partial answers but not all the information I need to complete a task or solve a problem? These are experts. They want to earn money with their expertise as service providers. You are asked to pay everywhere but only get minimal or wrong information. You have to find the know-how to find customised solutions yourself. We both, Inge and I, never thought that would happen.

Where can I complain, and will it be successful?

Take the notary, for example. She was the catalyst for all the chaos. In addition to the general power of attorney, she issued me with the pointless document as executor of the will, knowing full well that this was a Berlin Will without an amendment clause. Yet, she pocketed the money for a completely useless paper.

I complained about her wrong advice to the Chamber of Notaries. But nothing came of it apart from wasting a lot of work and nerves. So I filed it away under experiences.

Then the lawyer, an expert in foreign inheritances. It was good that he pointed out to me that the general power of attorney would open all doors and gates for me. But the moment I told him about the property, it should have rung a bell. He did not tell me that the flat would have to be registered in the wife’s name in the land register so that I would not need a certificate of inheritance for the deceased husband’s share. This should be part of the basic knowledge of a lawyer specialising in heritage.

Not to mention the bank, from which I also expected more professionalism, especially in a country that sees itself as a progressive economic power.

I would do it again for my friend

Of course, I would do it again for my friend, but now with a different knowledge. I would no longer naively assume that you go to an expert, a lawyer, a notary, a health insurance company or a bank, and they will tell you everything you need to do.

You have to inform yourself as much as possible in advance, read up on the internet on what the task entails and then go into the meeting with the experts prepared with targeted questions. Then you can ask questions and be taken seriously as an interlocutor. You have to do your own research so that you have a certain chance of getting good and accurate advice.

That means you must become an expert with minimal but legally necessary involvement from professional experts.

You can’t rely solely on the experts’ competence and willingness to give professional advice. (MS)