Leaving a gift in your will

Before you draft your final will and testament, think carefully about who and what is important in your life, as well as the impact you want to make when you’re no longer around. Then decide who you want to include as heir in your will and/or who should receive a legacy or bequest.

Legacy vs inheritance

If you want to include Public Eye in your will, you can do so either by appointing the organization as an heir or by leaving a bequest (legacy). Not only people, but also organizations such as Public Eye can also be appointed as heirs in life or pension insurance policies.

• By leaving a legacy in your will, you entitle Public Eye to a specific amount of money or set of real assets (securities, property, life insurance policies, artworks or other valuables).
• Depending on your civil status, you can also appoint Public Eye as joint or sole heir, or remainderman. In the latter case, we will only receive our inheritance once the person designated as actual heir has passed away.
• You can find out more about this in the FAQ section under “Inheritance or legacy?”

Checking or amending an existing will

Anyone who drafted a will before 2023 would be well advised to check it or have it checked – especially if there are descendants or parents involved, because their compulsory portions will have changed. Or also if you want your life partner, other unrelated persons or not-for-profit institutions to benefit under the now higher disposable part.

• You can find out more about this in the FAQs section under “New law of succession: Amending an existing will?”.

Unlike an inheritance contract, a will can be amended independently or replaced by a new one at any time. The important thing is for you to date any changes and explicitly revoke all previous versions when drafting a new will.

Appointing an executor

You are recommended in any case to appoint an executor. They will manage the inheritance until it is divided, mediate between the heirs and ensure that your wishes are enforced. Their tasks will also include distributing property rights and implementing the division of the estate.

Due to the complex nature of the task, it is advisable to appoint trusted persons with a legal background (such as notaries, lawyers, trustees) or a legal entity (such as a notary’s office or a bank). For reasons of neutrality, it is recommended to choose a person from outside the group of beneficiaries.

1. In order for it to be legally valid, the will must be entirely written by hand and signed.
2. The place and date must also be written by hand. The same goes for any amendments, additions made at a later stage or sections or words crossed out in the document. The place and date must also be added and signed at the places where changes have been made. In the case of major amendments, you are advised to draft a new will in order to avoid any misunderstandings, in which case you should revoke the previous one (point 4).
3. Give your will a title (“will” or “last will and testament”) and fill out your personal details (first name, surname, date of birth and address).
4. If you had already drafted an earlier will, you must explicitly revoke this one if you no longer wish it to apply. You can avoid any misunderstandings by destroying the old will.
5. Write concisely and choose clear wording to avoid any misunderstandings. It must be clearly stated who the heir is and who will receive a bequest from you.
6. You are recommended to name an executor in your will. Lawyers, notaries, trustees, another trusted person or also a legal entity, such as a bank, are suitable for the role. This ensures that your last will and testament is fulfilled according to your wishes.
7. If your will is several pages long, number and sign each page.
8. Give your will to someone with legal training to review it. Lawyers, notaries, trustees, a legal entity, such as a bank, are suitable for the task. This ensures that your will is clear and complies with legal requirements.
9. Keep your will in a safe place, where it will be found at the relevant time – for example, at your municipality of residence or with one of the trusted persons mentioned above.
10. Review your will when significant changes take place in your life (a birth, death, divorce, significant inheritance, transfer of residence abroad) and check to make sure that it is up to date and amend it if necessary.

This form is recommended when you have complex family and financial relations, or if there are doubts about a person’s state of mind. A publicly certified will give you the peace of mind that the form and content of your last will and testament are legally valid. It will be signed in front of a legally trained person (such as a notary) in the presence of two witnesses, and deposited with the competent authority. The notary will help you to formulate your will correctly and unambiguously. The cost for doing this is usually far lower than the cost of a protracted inheritance dispute.

Note: Our lawyer of confidence in Zurich offers anyone who wants to include Public Eye in their will a free initial consultation. Please get in touch with our contact person Anita Weber if you wish to do this.

If you want your estate to be distributed according to your wishes, you should set out the details in a will. Otherwise, hereditary succession automatically applies, and this cannot be changed after your death – regardless of your wishes during your lifetime (even if verbally expressed).

For example, cohabiting partners do not inherit anything from each other unless they have expressly stated this in their will – even if they have children together.

Do you want your life partner (to whom you are not married or who is not registered as such), close friends or not-for-profit organizations to benefit after your death? Only a will or an inheritance contract revokes the legal order of succession and provides you with the freedom to make your own arrangements. People with direct descendants also have the option – under the disposable part – to include in their will organizations whose values they share.

With your last will and testament you ensure relationships are clearly established, thereby preventing misunderstandings or even disputes over inheritance.

With a bequest you are making a mark beyond your own life. Your commitment will have a lasting effect if you include Public Eye in your will.

In addition to membership fees, donations and grants from foundations and church congregations, we are also dependent on bequests to finance our work. They make a vital contribution to our independence and sometimes enable us to carry out more complex projects that could not be financed from the initial budget:

• For example, the Commodities Book, which was published in 2012 and put the subject of commodity trading in Switzerland on the political agenda for the first time. This exclusive investigation was only possible thanks to a generous donation from a bequest.
• One of our most successful campaigns, “Dirty Diesel”, which ultimately helped 175 million people in West Africa get better air, was also co-financed by a donation from a bequest.

As a not-for-profit organization, Public Eye does not pay inheritance tax. Therefore, we can use your entire legacy or bequest for our work.

Without a will, your estate will be distributed according to Swiss law. Along with your surviving spouse, your descendants (children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc.) are your primary legal heirs. Secondly, it is your parents and their descendants (siblings/half-siblings, nieces/nephews, etc.), then the grandparents and their descendants (aunts/uncles, cousins, etc.). If no such relatives can be found, the estate is inherited by the commune and/or canton.

• A breakdown of the legal succession by family situation can be found at the bottom of the page.

Spouses and direct descendants have a legal right to a share of your estate. This share known as “compulsory portion” amounts to between 25% and 50% of the estate, depending on marital status and family situation. 

In any case, the disposable part is at least half of the estate. If you are unmarried and have no children, you can freely dispose of all your assets.

• A breakdown of the statutory entitlements and disposable part by family situation can be found at the bottom of the page.
• The Will generator from DeinAdieu enables you to easily calculate the compulsory portions and disposable part according to your family situation – free of charge and online.

Individuals or organizations can be beneficiaries of a legacy or appointed as heirs.

A legacy (also known as a “bequest”) describes a certain amount of money or a specific material asset (property, securities, valuables, etc.). Legacies are therefore treated separately in the division of the estate; however, they must be included in the calculation of the estate assets and the compulsory portions.

A legacy left to a not-for-profit organization such as Public Eye must therefore not exceed the value of the disposable part. If the total estate is too small to be able to pay out all the legacies, they will be reduced accordingly. 

Legatees do not belong to the community of heirs and do not inherit any debts.

One or more persons or organizations can be appointed as heirs, who together form the community of heirs. They inherit not only the assets but also any debts of the deceased person. Until the division of the estate has been completed, the community of heirs assumes joint responsibility for the assets, is jointly liable for any obligations and must make decisions unanimously (e.g. regarding the sale of a property). 

When substantial amounts are due to be inherited, it can make sense to appoint organizations such as Public Eye as (co-)heirs (e.g. in the case of a share in a property). If the assets are limited or clearly defined, a legacy is usually the easiest and most expedient way.

In principle, you can specify in your will what you want your bequest to be used for. However, if you determine this, please bear the following points in mind: Given the nature of wills and the procedures involved, when the money left to us will arrive is just as unpredictable as it is certain that a specific project will still be going on over the next 30 years. 

We therefore recommend that you word your will in such a way that we can use your bequest for whatever issue is most urgent – just in case the specific project you would ideally like it to be spent on no longer exists. The easiest way for you to do this is to list Public Eye as a beneficiary organization without mentioning a specific purpose.

The new Swiss inheritance law has been in force since January 1^st, 2023. The key amendments are:

• A higher disposable part (definitely at least 50%)
• No longer any compulsory portion for parents
• The compulsory portion for descendants was reduced to 25% (previously: 37.5%)

Anyone who drafted a will before 2023 would be well-advised to check it or have it checked – especially if there are descendants or parents involved. On the one hand, the division of the estate according to the newly applicable compulsory portions or disposable part can be reconsidered and, on the other hand, any unclear wording should be amended.

If, for example, your will says, “my daughter shall receive the compulsory portion of 3/8”, it will be unclear to your heirs what your wishes now are: should your daughter receive the compulsory portion of 1/4 that applies now, or the share of 3/8 mentioned in the will?

We recommend the following for more in-depth reading (in German):

• Benno Studer, David Fuhrer: «Testament, Erbschaft – Wie Sie klare und faire Verhältnisse schaffen». 19th updated edition 2023. Publisher: Der Schweizerische Beobachter, Zurich, together with Pro Senectute. ISBN 978-3-03875-438-1
• “Erbrecht – klare Testamente, faire Erbteilung”, online advice provided by Beobachter
• Muriel Bonnardin (Hrsg.): «Geld & Herzblut – 16 Menschen und ihr Testament». Kontrast Verlag, 2008. ISBN 978-3-906729-62-6.