The Reform Of The Foundation Civil Law – A Consideration

Author: Marcel Werner

Government draft for the reform of the foundation civil law

Progress is being made regarding the implementation of the reform of the civil law on foundations. After a long wait, the government draft for the reform of the civil law on foundations has been available since February 2021, three months after the draft bill of the Federal Ministry of Justice. The government draft is thus the provisional culmination of a project that has been ongoing for more than six years. The German government would like to pass a corresponding law before the end of this legislative period. In the following, this article would like to provide a brief overview of the status of the reform effort and outline some of the changes.

The new version of §§ 80 ff. BGB, this area of law, which has so far been regulated only in rudimentary form, is to be codified conclusively and more comprehensively in the Civil Code in the future. The scope of regulation is quadrupled from nine to 36 paragraphs. In addition to the provisions of the BGB, the federal states have their own additional provisions in their respective state foundation laws. These are not uniform and are often interpreted differently, because each federal state has developed its own foundation practice based on the respective state law. This coexistence of federal and state law regularly leads to legal uncertainties both for foundations and for legal counsel.