VOELKER & Partner
Lawyers Auditors Tax Consultants mbB

In our video series, attorney Niklas Decker explains the basics of inheritance law—in a clear, concise, and practical way. We start with the question: Do you even need a will?

In Baden-Württemberg alone, some 30,000 companies are facing a succession issue. The founding generation has reached retirement age, and the next generation is set to take over. What sounds simple often turns out to be highly complex in practice. Not because the legal arrangements are difficult or the ideas unfeasible, but simply because there is a lack of suitable successors. If no one within the family is willing (and able!) to continue the business, the search for external successors begins. In economically challenging times, however, entrepreneurial independence holds little appeal for many, so suitable candidates are usually just as hard to find outside the family as they are within it. If there are indeed family members interested in taking over, another problem often arises. True to the old adage “too many cooks spoil the broth,” handing over the business to multiple family members willing to take over risks paralyzing or splitting the company if disputes arise in future generations.

With the Act on the Further Development of Pharmacy Services (ApoVWG), lawmakers are planning one of the most comprehensive reforms of the pharmacy sector in recent years. The goal is to ensure the supply of medicines, particularly in structurally weak regions, and to integrate pharmacies more closely into outpatient healthcare. To this end, pharmacists are to be granted additional competencies in the future that were previously reserved primarily for the medical profession. The planned changes are therefore being discussed not only as an opportunity for improved care but also as a potential encroachment on existing jurisdictional boundaries.