Which contracts continue
after a death?
Most contracts do not end by themselves. What to look out for and how to keep track.
Contracts usually do not end automatically
Under German law, rights and obligations from contracts generally pass to the heirs. Electricity, phone or a magazine subscription keep running and keep being charged until someone cancels or transfers them. On average a person leaves behind 15 to 40 running contracts.
Typical contracts to think of
- Housing: rent, electricity, gas, water, TV licence
- Communication: landline, mobile, internet
- Insurance: liability, home contents, car, private health and care insurance
- Mobility: vehicle tax, leasing, automobile club
- Subscriptions and memberships: streaming, newspapers, clubs, gyms, donations
- Finance: loans, credit cards, savings plans
Easily missed: annual payments
Club fees, donations or some insurance policies are only debited once a year. They are easy to miss when looking at recent statements, so check the transactions of the last twelve months if you can.
Cancel, transfer or keep
Not every contract has to be cancelled. Some relatives take over the phone or electricity contract, for example. Tenancies come with a statutory special right of termination. Many other providers accept a cancellation with a copy of the death certificate.
How we can help
The cancellation service finds running contracts automatically in the account transactions, including annual ones. For each contract you decide whether to cancel, transfer or keep it. We send the letters.
This guide gives a general overview of the situation in Germany and is not legal advice.