Registration of a GbR Despite Unknown Heirs (Court of Appeal Berlin, 22 W 20/25)

The registration of a civil-law partnership (GbR) in the partnership register (Gesellschaftsregister) may not be refused on the ground that a partner has died and the heirs are still unknown. The Court of Appeal (Kammergericht) in Berlin makes clear that the registration of persons acting through a statutory representative is permissible even if their identity has not yet been established (order of 2 June 2025 – case no. 22 W 20/25).

In the underlying case, a GbR was registered in the land register as the owner of a plot of land. After the death of a partner, it was unclear who her heirs were. An estate curator (Nachlasspfleger) represented the unknown heirs. The GbR applied for its registration in the new partnership register that has existed since the entry into force of the MoPeG (Act to Modernise the Law on Partnerships), in order to be able to make the necessary changes in the land register.

Where the name of a partner is not (yet) known, the court held, the fact that he or she is unknown is to be registered instead ("unknown heirs of the deceased partner, represented by the estate curator"). What matters is that, in the estate curator, a legal representative exists who can act for the unknown heirs.

The decision creates legal certainty in cases where a partner dies but the succession initially remains unclear.