Typed will signed before three witnesses (Austria)
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This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
A will for Austria that need not be handwritten (§ 579 ABGB, the Austrian Civil Code): heirs and shares, substitute heirs, legacies, revocation of earlier wills and other directions. You sign it in the presence of three witnesses present at the same time and add in your own hand that the document contains your last will; each witness signs on the same document with a handwritten note of being a witness. With the witness bars of §§ 587, 588 ABGB. A will cannot be made electronically (§ 4 Abs 2 SVG): print it on one sheet and sign by hand. In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Testator
- Testator's academic degree
- Testator's date of birth
- Testator's address
- Revoking earlier wills
- Heirs, with date of birth and share of the estate
- Substitute heirs (in place of whom, name, date of birth)
- Specific gifts, and who receives each
- Other directions (e.g. an executor, the funeral)
- Number of sheets in the will
- City
- Date
- First witness
- First witness's date of birth
- First witness's address
- Second witness
- Second witness's date of birth
- Second witness's address
- Third witness
- Third witness's date of birth
- Third witness's address
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- How is a typed will validly signed in Austria?
- You sign the printed will by hand while three witnesses are present at the same time, and write beneath it in your own hand that the document contains your last will, for example “Das ist mein letzter Wille” (this is my last will). Then each witness signs on the same document, with a handwritten note such as “als ersuchter Testamentszeuge” (as requested witness to the will). Who the witnesses are must appear from the document — there are boxes for name, date of birth and address. The witnesses need not know the content (§ 579 ABGB).
- Who may not witness a will in Austria?
- Excluded are minors — from 14 they may witness only an emergency will — people unable to perceive the will being made, and anyone who does not understand your language (§ 587 ABGB). Barred for the gift in question are an heir or legatee, their spouse, registered partner or cohabitant, the parents, children and siblings of either, and the legal representatives, officers, partners, agents and employees of a beneficiary (§ 588 ABGB). Choose three adults who receive nothing under the will and are not close to anyone who does.
- May a will in Austria consist of several loose sheets?
- Not as loose sheets. Austria's Supreme Court held a will invalid because the witnesses had signed on a loose, otherwise blank sheet attached to the text only by a paper clip (2 Ob 192/17z), and another whose loose second sheet carried only the place, date, the handwritten note and the signatures (2 Ob 143/19x). So print the will on both sides of a single sheet. If more sheets are needed, join them before anyone signs so firmly that they cannot be separated without damage, for example by binding or gluing; under the case law a single staple is not enough. It can never be done electronically (§ 4 Abs 2 SVG).
- How is a handwritten will without witnesses made in Austria?
- A handwritten will is written entirely in your own hand and signed (§ 578 ABGB); place and date are not required but advisable. A model to copy out, in German: “Testament. Ich widerrufe alle früheren letztwilligen Verfügungen. Mein gesamtes Vermögen soll (name, date of birth) erben.” Beneath it, place, date and signature. A filled-in form or a printout is not enough for this kind of will — that takes three witnesses. A notary or lawyer can keep any will safe and register it.
- Who is entitled to a compulsory share of an estate in Austria?
- Since the inheritance reform that applies to deaths from 2017, only descendants and the spouse or registered partner are entitled to a compulsory share (Pflichtteil); parents and other ancestors lost theirs. The compulsory share is a claim to money against the heirs. Anyone who leaves those entitled nothing or too little in a will must expect them to claim it. Disinheriting someone or reducing the share is possible only on the grounds the Austrian Civil Code (ABGB) sets out.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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