In Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, a special inheritance law applies to farms, the Höfeordnung. A farm that falls under this law is never inherited by a group of heirs. One heir takes over the whole farm.
The purpose is to prevent farms from being split up when the owner dies. The other heirs receive compensation based on a low value, since 2025 60 percent of the property tax value. Similar laws exist in Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Bremen and Brandenburg.