Feierabend

For a moment I thought that was an aged Del Boy ... deals still not quite working out!

Brilliant, Katherine Lambrish - about the first real laugh I've had over Brexshit despite all the clever memes. And why have I only just discovered Steve Pottinger's similarly inspired "Stabberjocky"?    " 'Twas Brexit and the slithy Gove did frottercrutch in dwarfish glee ..."   Frottercrutch!!!

It's all been done before! Mark Twain 's essay on "The Awful German Laguage," compulsory reading for any frustrated German language learner. http://kliebhan.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Mark-Twain-Awful-Germn-Language.pdf   Love it, and the language!

Hey, you lot - just be thankful you don't have to go to a Saudi embassy for your formalities ...  Happy marriages to all!

    What a nasty attitude. There is a lot of sympathy for this in most countries, if you would ask the normal hardworking people in London, Sydney, Dublin etc who can no longer afford to rent in their own cities. This couple has presumably smartly prepared for retirement based on what the norms and laws in their own country - here - are. Who knows how hard they've worked. How arrogant to think that the property-mayhem market model of Oz/UK et al is better just because it suits you. German law actually builds in an element of social responsibility to property ownership Why should an elderly, established couple happily move over for a foreign blow in and his entitled (officially criminal!) son? It seems like you are the one that didn't smartly prepare for property investment here.

  Happy End is my favourite brand of bog roll, John!    My children sadly drive with the bus when they want to meet themselves. Brought up in our totally English speaking household. Sigh.

  Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.   (With apologies to dogs.)

  We should be so lucky! General federal taxes are the same. We pay the Soli.  Of course local and business taxes may vary. And incomes are still on average lower in the new Bundesländer so lower tax revenues. Though the Soli was envisaged as a tax to support the rebuilding of the former East, I believe that only around 30% of it is used directly for this. It is not ring-fenced and its basically has become just another tax on everybody.

   However, from same report ... ... "From a continental perspective, 54.4% of UK exports by value were delivered to other European trade partners .. "

Looks like you can buy them directly from the site Robinson posted. What's the problem with that?   Hmm, the poor people in Grenfell Towers followed the strict instructions to stay put in their flats.  Hope German blocks are better built with properly functioning fire safety features.

Something to bear in mind - bereavement triggers all sorts of thoughts, feelings, longings for past times, the places of childhood. It can give you insight into what is important for you, but the acute grieving period is not the best time to make life-changing decisions. Yes, places are never the same as in fond memories from the past. My friends and family in the UK are deeply unhappy about the prevailing politics, local services that have been decimated by austerity cuts, nasty insular attitudes towards foreigners, the horrendous housing costs. Yet it is still a wonderful place in so many ways ... My tendency would be to wait and see, go for your new job and give it your best, make a wholehearted attempt to learn German well and join in with society. A couple of years on and we'll have a clearer idea of the Brexit ramifications. Join in with things you like doing, don't just rely on your bf for your social life. Now does not seem to me to be a good time to go back. But ultimateely you must trust your feelings and put your energy into making whatever decision you make work for you. Re. citizenship - if you can get Irish by descent, go for it. It's a straightforward process. You can still then go for dual nationality under EU rules without feeling pressurised by Brexit deadlines. All the best x

Thank you dear Panda! I always learn something from you! I had no idea about this extra allowance which I have just looked up.   We've decided in the end we'll probably do things through a Notar, both for peace of mind and to spare the kids the eventual cost of the Erbschein which comes out as a similar sum.

Berliner Testament inheritance tax question -   Say the jointly owned assets are €600,000. When spouse no.1 dies, does spouse no. 2 pay tax on the whole 100,000 over the tax free limit, or only on 50% of it? (After all, you are not inheriting your own share!)  

  There is an inaccuracy in this article: "Realtor fee (Maklerprovision): €14,600 (about 3.57% – that’s currently the max fee they can charge – the realtor decides the fee.  The buyer pays the fee, not the seller.)" The normal unholy Maklerprovision is more like 6.5/7% plus MwSt which the buyer pays unless they negotiate a split with the seller. It's one of the factors that makes moving extremely expensive, as there is little incentive for the seller to sell independently. 

  Let's not get muddled here!   Most people are anxious to have everything completed by March 2019, so that they can keep their British citizenship under the current EU dual nationality laws of reciprocality. The draft above clarifies that these rights would continue during a transition period and applications could be placed right up to the Dec 2020 deadline. After that  applications can continue to be processed and dual citizenship be confirmed after that date. Should there be a crash out on 19th March there would be no transition period. We can still apply for German citizenship like anyone else but wthout the right to be a dual national. (Unless some other reciprocal agreement were put into place I suppose.)  It seems to me that the German government is being quite fair and reasonable in its preparations. Unlike "our" crew of self-obsessed morons.