Ursula Schröder-Heim 

Fachanwältin für Erbrecht  

Fachanwältin für Familienrecht

 

Julia Eidel

Fachanwältin für Familienrecht

 

Hanna Martje Schröder

Fachanwältin für Erbrecht

Fachanwältin für Familienrecht

   

  



 

 

Expertise through specialization

 

Our law firm consists of three lawyers and two legal assistants who all specialize in the field of German family and inheritance law. We are located in Kehl, Germany, right by the French border (Strasbourg). 

Based on our longtime professional experience (in some cases more than 30 years), we can offer our clients well-founded advice and competent assistance in their legal problems.

In the very personal and emotional matters of family and inheritance affairs, we see it as our duty to develop personal solutions, working very closely with our clients. We consider it imperative to explain the legal provision to our clients in order to enable them to choose between all the legal options available and to develop a strategy for further proceedings.

Due to our proximity to the European capital Strasbourg we also have substantial experience with cross-border cases, such as binational marriages and divorces, child abductions, inheritance cases and many more. We are able to advice our clients not only on German regulations, but also on European and international legislation. And, of course, if a case does not lie within our field of activity we will refer our clients to another competent law firm.

Since not all of our employees are fluent in English we encourage you to contact us via e-mail. Your request will be handled by the competent staff member with the relevant language skills.

Costs of a lawyer in Germany

Fees for lawyers are regulated by German law. If no other agreement has been made, the lawyer is obliged to charge according to the “Law on the Remuneration of Attorneys“ (“Rechtsanwaltsvergütungsgesetz”;short: RVG).

The RVG stipulates that an initial consultation must never cost more than 190 € plus taxes (§ 34 RVG). If the consultation includes a written opinion or a summary, it can amount to 250 € plus taxes.

If a client does not have the financial means to pay a lawyer it is possible to apply for “Beratungshilfe” (legal aid) at the local district court.

For activities beyond the first consultation the RVG regulates the lawyer fees, depending on the value of the dispute. The RVG contains a fee scale, which regulates the fees in great detail. The fee in this scale must then be multiplied by a factor that depends on the tasks and activities of the lawyer.(E.g. the factor for arranging a settlement is 1.5).

Apart from the legal provisions about lawyer fees, it is possible to agree on an hourly fee, a success fee or an all-inclusive fee for the further activities of the lawyer.

We always inform our clients about the costs that are to be expected for our services and we will explain the RVG-billing system during the initial consultation.

General Information about German law:

  • The German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch – short: BGB) regulates the family (Section 1297-1921) as well as the inheritance law (Section 1922 to 2385). An English translation of the German Civil Code by the German government can be found here: http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_bgb/index.html