Frankfurt Court upholds full seizure of statutory pension

The Higher Regional Court Frankfurt am Main has upheld the decision to allow the full seizure of a statutory pension. The ruling concerns Hanno Berger, a former lawyer and tax official convicted in connection with the Cum-Ex tax fraud scandal.

Berger was sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to forfeit approximately 13.6 million euros in criminal proceeds. To enforce this, prosecutors utilized specific provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure to set the protected subsistence amount to zero, allowing for the seizure of both current and future pension claims.

While statutory pensions are generally protected by subsistence limits, this legal precedent demonstrates that under strict conditions, such as the enforcement of criminal asset forfeitures, the entire pension can be subject to seizure.