You have been given a house as a gift and want to sell it. At the same time, the person who gave the gift may no longer be able to sufficiently provide for their livelihood. Now the question of a reclaiming claim arises. For preparing advice in Germany the thought "The house has long belonged to me" is not a complete answer. This article helps to organise the facts for legal advice; it does not decide any concrete claim and does not calculate any social benefit.
Compile the gift and its conditions
Our editorial recommendation: Collect the deed of transfer, supplements and any existing agreements on consideration or rights. Note what was actually performed and executed. A transfer described in everyday language as a gift must be professionally classified according to its true content.
Also set out the planned sale: object, known status and any declarations already made. The need for advice therefore concerns not only a historic family transaction but a possible connection with the current plan.
Know the legal starting point
§ 528 BGB names, under its conditions, a claim for repayment due to impoverishment of the donor and an option to avert restitution by payment of the required maintenance amount. § 529 contains exclusion and limitation facts, including a reference to the lapse of ten years upon the onset of neediness. [BGB-528] [BGB-529]
This article does not determine neediness nor the commencement of the period or the scope of a claim. The possible involvement of a social benefits provider, the significance of reserved rights and further bases of claim are also not examined conclusively. These limits belong in the concrete instruction for examination.
An invented case with a premature calendar argument
A daughter received a house some time ago. When planning the sale she hears that ten years are "approximately over". At the same time she lacks the exact date of the decisive performance and a clear status regarding the father's alleged neediness.
She does not accept the approximate family calendar as legal confirmation of exclusion. She provides the full deed and available concrete letters for the advice. Her own relevant obligations are also assembled truthfully for the requested examination. The example does not establish any calculation of the period.
Distinguish claim, presumption and conversation
Note whether a concrete claim has been made, an authority has requested documents or so far there has only been speculation within the family. Keep the content, date and attachments of actual letters together. A presumption is not recorded as an already established debt; a genuine claim is not filed away as mere family opinion.
Do not react by drafting your own waiver or by a premature shifting of assets. Which steps are permissible and sensible on the existing status must be advised on by a qualified person. The article does not recommend a sale to frustrate possible rights.
Coordinate the sale with the checked position
Ask what significance the claim status has for the intended transaction and your revenue planning. Required documents and further feedback are assigned concretely. An amount that may be required is not simultaneously budgeted as freely disposable money.
This way the advice can examine the actual connection between the gift, support needs and planned sale. You need neither, out of concern, to acknowledge an unknown claim without examination nor, based on mere sense of time, assume that every question is resolved.