The German law of succession provides mandatory family protection by means of a compulsory portion, which is awarded to descendants, parents, and the surviving spouse of the deceased if they have been excluded from the latter's will, and consists of one half of their intestate portion. That entails a considerable restriction of testamentary freedom. This study presents an alternative model of family protection in an attempt to revive the reform discussion. Based on the idea that the closest members of the deceased's family deserve to be protected only in cases where the deceased was under an obligation to maintain them, the reform model thus focuses on the transmissibility of these maintenance obligations.
