Advance Inheritance in Switzerland (Erbvorbezug): the Duty to Bring Gifts Into Account

A parent who helps one child buy a home, or pays for a wedding, while other children receive nothing comparable, has usually created a question that only gets asked once the parent has died. Swiss law answers it through Art. 626 ZGB, a duty called Ausgleichung, which decides whether that earlier help has to be brought into account when the estate is finally divided.

This page works through what Art. 626 actually requires, why the law treats a gift to a descendant differently from a gift to anyone else, and how this duty relates to, but is not the same as, the protection of the compulsory share, the Pflichtteil. It also looks at the abatement procedure that protects the Pflichtteil directly, since that is a genuinely separate legal tool from Ausgleichung and the two are easy to conflate.

Information last verified on 21 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Swiss law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

Art. 626 ZGB: the duty to bring lifetime advances into account

Swiss statutory heirs are mutually obligated to bring into account anything the deceased gave them during life that was meant to count against their future share of the estate. That is the general rule in Art. 626 Abs. 1 ZGB, and it applies to any statutory heir, not only children.

The key word in that rule is intent. A lifetime gift only has to be brought into account if it was given specifically on account of the recipient's future inheritance. Where that intent cannot be shown, the general rule for most heirs is that the gift stays outside the estate calculation entirely, kept in addition to whatever that heir later inherits.

Why descendants are treated differently

Art. 626 Abs. 2 ZGB flips that presumption for one specific group, descendants. A dowry, an equipping gift, a property transfer, a debt forgiveness or a similar benefit given to a child, grandchild or other descendant is presumed to count against that descendant's future share automatically.

The parent can still opt out of this presumption, but has to do so expressly. Left unaddressed, the default outcome for a gift of this kind to a descendant is that it counts against their share later. For every other heir, the default runs the other way, and equalization has to be shown rather than assumed.

This means the same kind of transfer is treated on opposite defaults depending on who receives it. A cash gift to a child is presumed to be an advance on inheritance unless the parent says otherwise. The identical gift to a sibling or a friend is presumed not to be, unless the giver said the opposite.

Erbvorbezug versus an ordinary gift: the practical line

The term Erbvorbezug describes a lifetime transfer that both sides understand as an advance on a future inheritance, rather than a gift given and forgotten. That understanding is exactly what triggers Art. 626, whether it comes from an explicit statement or, for a descendant, from the statutory presumption itself.

An ordinary gift with no such link works differently. The recipient keeps it outright, and later still receives a full, undiminished share of the estate alongside every other heir, provided the gift was not so large that it infringes someone else's compulsory share.

The distinction matters most at the moment the estate is actually divided. An Erbvorbezug reduces what its recipient gets from the remaining estate, since its value has already been received in advance. An ordinary gift changes nothing about the later division at all, so the recipient effectively ends up better off overall than co-heirs who received nothing beforehand.

How this interacts with the Pflichtteil

Ausgleichung and the protection of the compulsory share are two different legal questions, and Swiss law keeps them in separate parts of the ZGB. Ausgleichung, under Art. 626, is about fairness among co-heirs. It reallocates who gets what from the remaining estate, without changing how much the estate itself is worth overall.

Protecting the Pflichtteil is a different question entirely: whether a gift has left an heir with less than the law guarantees them. That question is addressed through a Herabsetzungsklage, an abatement action, and Art. 522 ZGB sets its basic condition directly. An heir who receives less by value than their compulsory share can demand the reduction of intestate acquisitions, testamentary dispositions and lifetime gifts, in that order, until the compulsory share is restored.

Art. 527 ZGB draws the connection back to Ausgleichung explicitly. A lifetime gift given on account of a descendant's share, as a dowry, equipping gift or property transfer, is subject to abatement precisely where it is not already subject to Ausgleichung. In other words, a gift the parent has excluded from equalization does not simply escape scrutiny. It can still be reduced through an abatement action if it turns out to have eaten into another heir's compulsory share.

Art. 532 ZGB sets out the order in which reduction actually happens. Intestate acquisitions are reduced first, then testamentary dispositions, and only then lifetime gifts, continuing until the compulsory share is restored. This page does not re-derive the compulsory share fractions themselves. Our separate page on the 2023 inheritance law reform covers exactly how the Pflichtteil is calculated today.

The time limit: Art. 533 ZGB

An abatement action is not available indefinitely. Under Art. 533 ZGB, it generally has to be brought within one year of the heir learning of the violation of their rights, and in every case within ten years at the outside. That outer limit runs from the disclosure of the will for testamentary dispositions, or from the death of the testator for other transfers.

There is one exception worth knowing. Art. 533 Abs. 3 allows the underlying abatement claim to be raised as a defense at any time, even after those deadlines have passed, if it comes up in response to someone else's claim rather than as the heir's own initiating action.

A worked example

Take a parent with three children who gives one child, Child A, CHF 300,000 during life as help buying a home, explicitly on account of that child's future inheritance. The parent dies, and the remaining estate is worth CHF 900,000, to be split equally among the three children under the ordinary rules of succession.

Because the advance is subject to Ausgleichung, the calculation adds it back notionally before dividing. CHF 900,000 plus the CHF 300,000 advance comes to CHF 1,200,000, divided three ways is CHF 400,000 per child. Child A has already received CHF 300,000, so Child A takes a further CHF 100,000 from the actual estate, while the other two children each take CHF 400,000 from that same CHF 900,000.

If the parent had instead expressly excluded that gift from Ausgleichung, Child A would keep the full CHF 300,000 and still take an equal one third share of the remaining CHF 900,000 alongside the other two children. Whether that arrangement is allowed to stand depends on whether it leaves the other two children with less than their own compulsory share, which is exactly the separate question a Herabsetzungsklage exists to test.

What this page does not cover

A real dispute over an advance almost always turns on facts that a general page cannot settle: what the parent actually said or intended at the time, what documentation exists, and how a specific canton's courts have approached similar disputes. This page describes the legal mechanism, not how a particular family's facts would come out.

For the same reason, this page does not walk through every procedural step of an actual abatement lawsuit, since that depends on the court seized with the matter and the specific claims being raised. An heir facing a live dispute over an advance or a gift should raise it with a lawyer rather than rely on the general mechanism described here.

This page is part of our wider guide to Swiss inheritance law, alongside our pages on writing a will in Switzerland, appointing an executor and inheritance tax by canton. For the wider legal picture, see our guide to Swiss law.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an Erbvorbezug under Swiss law?

It is a lifetime transfer from a future testator to an heir, usually a child, that is understood as an advance on that heir's eventual inheritance, so its value is later brought into account when the estate is divided.

Do all lifetime gifts have to be brought into account when someone dies?

No. Under Art. 626 Abs. 1 ZGB, a gift only has to be brought into account if the giver meant it to count against the recipient's future share. For most heirs that has to be shown, not assumed.

Why are gifts to children treated differently?

Art. 626 Abs. 2 ZGB presumes that a dowry, an equipping gift, or a property transfer to a descendant counts against that child's future share automatically, unless the parent expressly said the opposite at the time.

How is an Erbvorbezug different from an ordinary gift?

An Erbvorbezug is understood as an advance on a future inheritance, so its value is later deducted from that heir's share. An ordinary gift with no such link is simply kept in addition to whatever the recipient later inherits.

Does bringing a gift into account protect the compulsory share?

Not directly. Ausgleichung under Art. 626 ZGB reallocates shares fairly among co-heirs. Whether a gift actually infringes someone's Pflichtteil is a separate question, addressed through a Herabsetzungsklage under Art. 522 ff ZGB.

Can a parent exclude a gift from Ausgleichung?

Yes, a parent can expressly state that a gift to a descendant is not to be brought into account. That gift can still be challenged separately if it ends up infringing another heir's compulsory share.

How long do I have to challenge a gift that infringes my compulsory share?

Under Art. 533 ZGB, a Herabsetzungsklage generally has to be brought within one year of learning of the violation, and within ten years at the outside from the will's disclosure or the death, whichever applies.

Where can I find how the compulsory share itself is calculated?

See our page on the 2023 inheritance law reform, which covers how the Pflichtteil fractions changed and how they are currently calculated.