Probate in Austria: How the Verlassenschaftsverfahren Works

When someone dies owning property in Austria, the estate does not simply pass to the heirs on its own. It goes through a mandatory court proceeding called the Verlassenschaftsverfahren, and the estate cannot lawfully be taken into possession before that proceeding concludes.

This page explains how that proceeding works, who actually runs it day to day, what heirs are asked to do, and what inherited real estate costs even though Austria no longer levies a general inheritance tax.

Information last verified on 22 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Austrian law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

Who runs Austrian probate: the notary as Gerichtskommissär

Austria's probate model is easy to misunderstand if the only frame of reference is Germany. In Germany, an heir who wants formal proof of their inheritance typically applies to a court for an Erbschein, a certificate of inheritance, and the estate can often be administered informally in the meantime.

Austria does not work that way. Under § 797 ABGB, nobody may simply take possession of an estate on their own authority. Acquiring an inheritance normally happens only after the Verlassenschaftsverfahren has run its course, through the court's formal Einantwortung, meaning the legal handover of the estate to the heirs.

The proceeding itself is opened by the district court (Bezirksgericht) of its own motion, as soon as a death becomes known through an official record or in some other unmistakable way, under § 143 Abs 1 AußStrG. Nobody has to apply to start it.

Doing the actual legwork, however, falls to a notary rather than to a judge. Austrian law designates the notary assigned under the district's distribution rules as the Gerichtskommissär, meaning the court's commissioner for estate matters, under §§ 1 and 2 GKoärG. In carrying out that role the notary acts as an officer of the court, while judicial decisions remain with the Bezirksgericht itself.

In practical terms, this means the notary meets with the heirs, gathers the estate's records, prepares the required filings, and reports back to the court, while the district judge signs off on the decisions that formally conclude the case.

The three stages: Todesfallaufnahme, Verfahren, Einantwortung

Austrian probate runs through a consistent sequence of three stages, each with its own function.

The first stage is the Todesfallaufnahme, an inventory the Gerichtskommissär is required to draw up under § 145 Abs 1 AußStrG. It records the identity of the deceased, the assets, rights and debts that make up the estate, funeral costs, any wills or succession agreements and the witnesses to them, and the people who stand to inherit by law or under a will.

The second stage is the Verlassenschaftsverfahren proper, sometimes called the Abhandlung. During this stage the notary works through the estate with the heirs: confirming who is entitled to inherit, resolving any wills, and sorting out how the estate's assets and debts will be divided.

The third and final stage is the Einantwortung, the court's formal decision that closes the proceeding and transfers the estate to the heirs. Under § 819 ABGB, once the relevant Erbantrittserklärungen have been given, the heirs and their shares are settled, and the other requirements are met, the estate is handed over to the heirs and the proceeding ends. For real estate specifically, the same provision requires the heirs to have their newly acquired ownership entered in the land register once the Einantwortung has been issued.

Only after the Einantwortung does an heir hold clear, registrable title. Before that point, the estate is administered through the proceeding, not owned outright by any individual heir.

What heirs must do: the Erbantrittserklärung

Heirs are not passive during the Verlassenschaftsverfahren. At some point before the Einantwortung can be issued, each relevant heir gives the Gerichtskommissär an Erbantrittserklärung, a formal declaration accepting the inheritance.

§ 819 ABGB ties the Einantwortung directly to this step: the court can only hand over the estate once the Erbantrittserklärungen have been given and the heirs and their respective shares are settled. Until then, the proceeding remains open.

Beyond simply accepting, an heir's declaration also affects how far their own personal assets could be exposed to the deceased's debts, so it is worth discussing the form of the declaration with the notary handling the file before signing anything. The notary is required to explain the available options as part of administering the estate.

Because the Gerichtskommissär is the same notary managing the Todesfallaufnahme and the rest of the proceeding, heirs typically deal with one point of contact throughout, rather than filing separate applications with the court themselves.

Real estate in the estate: what still costs money

Austria abolished its general inheritance and gift tax, and the change is more complete than many older articles suggest. The Erbschafts- und Schenkungssteuergesetz 1955 was struck down by the Verfassungsgerichtshof, the Constitutional Court, and the tax has not been re-enacted since. No inheritance or gift tax is levied on a tax liability arising after 31 July 2008.

That does not mean inherited real estate passes for free. Two separate charges still apply whenever the estate includes land or a building.

The first is the Grunderwerbsteuer, Austria's real estate transfer tax. An inheritance counts as an unentgeltlicher, meaning gratuitous, acquisition under § 7 Abs 1 GrEStG 1987, and gratuitous transfers of real estate are taxed on a graduated scale applied to the Grundstückswert, a statutory property value rather than the market price: 0,5% on the first 250.000 euros, 2% on the next 150.000 euros, and 3,5% on anything above that.

The second is a court fee to update the land register, the Grundbuch-Eintragungsgebühr, set at 1,1% of the value of the right being registered.

A worked example makes the combined cost concrete. Say an heir inherits an apartment with a Grundstückswert of 300.000 euros. The Grunderwerbsteuer is 0,5% of the first 250.000 euros, which is 1.250 euros, plus 2% of the remaining 50.000 euros, which is 1.000 euros, for a total of 2.250 euros.

The land register fee adds a further 1,1% of 300.000 euros, or 3.300 euros. Together, registering the inherited apartment costs 5.550 euros, even though no inheritance tax as such applies.

These figures reflect the tariff bands in force since a 2015 reform, and they should be rechecked against the current RIS text if planning around a specific transfer, since Austrian tax bands can change.

How long does Austrian probate take

There is no fixed statutory deadline for completing a Verlassenschaftsverfahren, and the timeline depends heavily on the estate's complexity. A modest estate with a small number of cooperating heirs, no real estate disputes, and straightforward debts can often reach Einantwortung within a few months to about a year.

Estates that include real property, especially where the Grundstückswert needs to be established, tend to take longer simply because of the extra valuation and registration steps involved. A contested will, disagreement among heirs about their shares, or debts that need to be tracked down and resolved will extend the process further still.

Because the notary acting as Gerichtskommissär manages the file throughout, heirs are generally best served by responding promptly to requests for documents and decisions, since delays on the heirs' side are one of the more common causes of a proceeding running longer than necessary.

Related pages

For what happens if the deceased left no will, or a will that does not cover the whole estate, Austrian law falls back on statutory succession rules that are separate from the proceeding described here. For the formal requirements a will itself must meet, see writing a will, which covers the handwritten and witnessed forms recognized under the ABGB. Certain close relatives are also entitled to a share regardless of what a will says, covered in compulsory share. For the abolished inheritance tax and what has replaced it in practice, see inheritance tax.