Volker Thieler

"Sneaking up, then sealing off and finally ripping off"

Professor Thieler, what exactly is inheritance sneaking? If I help an elderly person and he mentions me for it in his will, that's not a bad thing at first, is it?

Of course, not every person who cares for another person is a legacy stalker. Truly not. There are sure to be a lot of great people who are entitled to receive a share of the money. You have to draw a line there. For me, inheritance stealth begins when there is a clear intention and deceit behind it, for example when the old person is consciously isolated from his family. When he's being manipulated, when trying to make him dependent. I always speak of the three A's when it comes to legacy sneaking. There is nothing that is not there. Suddenly relatives come on the scene who have not moved for decades, black widows who study the obituaries in the daily newspaper and who approach the widower in the cemetery. You can find inheritance sneaks in all professional groups, nurses, but also lawyers, tax consultants and doctors are among them. And it's both men and women. Some legacy sneaks place advertisements in which they are more or less bluntly looking for victims. For example, it says: “Attractive 40-year-old is looking for older, solvent gentlemen for joint ventures”.

You can find the entire interview with Volker Thieler in our book: