What to Do When Someone Dies in Germany as a Foreigner

The phone rings, and everything changes. A family member, partner, or friend has died in Germany — and you're standing in a country where every official form, every deadline, and every phone call happens in German. The bureaucratic machinery doesn't pause for grief, and mistakes made in the first few days can cost you thousands of euros or trap you in legal obligations you never agreed to.

Here's what actually needs to happen, in order.

The First 24 Hours: Medical Certification and Police

A licensed doctor must perform a post-mortem examination (Leichenschau) to officially confirm the death and determine the cause. If the death happens at home, call 112 (emergency) or the local Hausarzt. In a hospital, staff handle this automatically.

The doctor issues a Todesbescheinigung — the medical death certificate. This is different from the civil death certificate you'll need later. The medical certificate has a confidential section about cause of death. If the doctor marks it as "non-natural" or "undetermined," police and the public prosecutor immediately take jurisdiction. The body gets transferred to a forensic institute, and all funeral planning freezes until they release it.

The examination fee runs between €66 and €166 under Germany's standard medical fee schedule (GOÄ), with surcharges for nights, weekends, and holidays.

Days 2–7: Civil Registration and Insurance Deadlines

You must register the death at the local civil registry office (Standesamt) within three working days. The funeral director can do this on your behalf if you authorise them — and given the language barrier, this is usually worth the service fee.

Critical: request the International Death Certificate (Internationale Sterbeurkunde). This multilingual version is valid across all CIEC member states without translation or apostille. Ordering the standard German-only certificate by mistake means paying for sworn translations later. Cost: €10–20 per copy.

If the deceased was born or married outside Germany, the Standesamt will demand certified German translations of those original documents before issuing the death certificate. This creates a bottleneck. Start locating birth and marriage certificates immediately.

Insurance notifications have brutal deadlines:

• Accident insurance: 48 hours. Miss this and the payout can be denied entirely.
• Life insurance: 7 days. Late notification can reduce the benefit.

The First Month: Rent, Pensions, and Health Cover

Three things catch foreign families off guard during the first month:

The lease doesn't end when the tenant dies. Under §564 BGB, the rental contract transfers to the heirs. If nobody sends a written termination notice within one month of learning about the death, the heirs keep paying rent — plus three months' notice period. Every heir must sign the termination letter by hand.

Pension transition has a 30-day window. If the deceased received a German state pension, the surviving spouse can claim 100% of the pension for three months (the Sterbevierteljahr). But the application must be filed within 30 days.

Health insurance coverage ends on the date of death. Family members who were covered under the deceased's policy must apply for their own coverage within two months or face a gap.

The Biggest Mistake: Ignoring the Debt Question

Under German law, heirs inherit everything — assets and debts — automatically at the moment of death. There is no estate administrator to buffer the liabilities. If the deceased had €50,000 in the bank and €80,000 in debts, the heirs are personally liable for the shortfall.

The only escape is a formal disclaimer (Erbausschlagung) filed at the probate court or through a notary. The deadline is six weeks if you're in Germany, six months if you're abroad. Miss it, and the debts are yours permanently.

Getting Organised When Everything Is in German

The cascade of deadlines — 48 hours for accident insurance, 3 days for death registration, 30 days for pension claims, 6 weeks for inheritance disclaimer — doesn't slow down because you don't speak the language. Having a structured checklist that maps German bureaucratic terms to their English equivalents and tells you exactly which office to contact, in what order, keeps you from making expensive mistakes under pressure.

The Someone Died in Germany: English Speaker's Emergency Guide walks through every step from the first phone call to the final estate settlement, with German-to-English terminology, current fee schedules, and fillable tracking worksheets.

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