Dying in Germany as a Foreigner [Body Repatriation?]

If I suddenly die and I don’t have any family members in Germany, what’s going to happen? Who’s gonna tell my employer? What’s gonna happen to my apartment and the stuff inside it? Who’s gonna cancel all my contracts and handle all the bills? What happens to my dog? What happens to my bank account?

We think these are very important questions and will answer them in this video.

Our Emergency Card Template:

Emergency card from TK in English:

✨ RELATED GUIDES:
Writing Your Will In Germany As A Foreigner [Why & How]

Funerals In Germany [Regulations, Costs & Traditions]

⏰ Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
01:07 - What happens when you die in Germany?
05:39 - 4 Steps to prepare better?
05:44 - 1. Define your wishes
11:47 - 2. Contact a German funeral home
15:13 - 3. Prepare an Emergency Card
18:15 - 4. Prepare a 'when I die' folder
25:45 - Summary of the intro questions

📺 Subscribe to our channel if you want more information on life in Germany as an expat:

Hey, we are Jen & Yvonne from Simple Germany! 👋🏻👋🏽 Our mission is to create English content to empower internationals to settle into life in Germany more smoothly.

Think of us as your onboarding buddies to Germany's bureaucracy and culture.

Subscribe to our channel and join a community of smooth settlers (smoothlers).

🍿 Visit our website for more in-depth information on life in Germany:

☕️ 💜 All of our content is sponsor-free; if you want to support this channel, feel free to buy us a digital coffee. Thank!

#expats #germany #expatsingermany #lifeingermany #expattips #death #deathingermany #deathasanexpat #livingwill #funeral #repatriation

[Edward-yoo]

Jen & Yvonne, thank you so much. Like you said, it is not an easy topic to discuss, but my girlfriend and I will definitely take some time and discuss this thoroughly. Definitely making our own red folders. Danke schon.

[akhjolnurtugan]

Thank you so much for talking about it. As a foreigner and living alone in Germany, I have been thinking this question, what happens when I die here! today I know the answer and thank you for suppling and researching information about this topic. Hats off!

[LigawingPinoy]

I went to visit my partner in Berlin just few days ago and never thought about this possibility prior to visiting him. Now I am well informed and will discuss this to my partner before moving to be with him for good in the future. Dankeschön 🙏❤

[beatrixpastoors]

Superinteressant und sehr lehrreich! Vielen Dank!
Und ich habe wieder einige neue Vokabeln gelernt: next of kin, funeral home. Für next of kin musste ich aber erst die automatisch erzeugten Untertitel aktivieren, um eine Idee zu bekommen, wie man das schreibt. Das Lesen der Untertitel war dann überaus erheiternd. 😂
Viele nicht erkannte englische Wörter wurden auf x verschiedene Weisen geschrieben, z.B. next of kin und auch urn. Dazu gewisse deutsche Namen und Wörter. Yvonne war keinmal richtig und Christian auch nur beim 1. Mal, als Jen kritschien gesagt hat (welch grauenhafte englische Aussprache eines eigentlich schönen Namens).
Düsseldorf hieß konsequent nur "dorf", nix mit Düssel. Und so komplizierte Wörter wie Patientenverfügung wurden einfach ausgelassen. Einfach köstlich! 😅

[airtonsilva]

Such an important, but often disregarded, topic, thanks for making this video.

[vnatik]

This is an incredibly useful video and indeed the topic that most people simply avoid. It is indeed the task of living (adult people) to prepare for their own death. Thank you, Jen and Yvonne for this condensed information

[alaahaider]

Yvonne and Jen, wow. That never even crossed my mind. Very valuable and important information. Thank you very much

[berlinorama]

This is such an important topic. You also need to make sure somebody can find your passwords, get access to your computer etc. A friend of mine died with unfinished work projects and luckily a friend of his had this info and was able to contact his clients and finish the projects for him.

[PaloukaMan]

This is really helpful 👍🏻
Thank you beautiful ladies ❤

[NyakweaGitonga]

Thank you so much for making this video.I agree that it is important to be well prepared especially with family abroad who speak no german and have no idea what steps to take to even get the death certificate.

[Africanminds]

You guys are super good. This is a very informative video.

[rojanrookhosh]

Thank you guys, I was thinking about this a lot of times, and have found some information but yours answered all of my questions. it is really necessary to talk about it. I appreciate your efforts 😘

[joannunemaker]

A very well-done video. Great information. 😊❤

[giovanni]

Very insightful video on a topic that nobody talks about. Thank you so much.

[nothingspecialQ]

Was für ein wertvolles Video! Meine Eltern haben sich nie um etwas gekümmert und nie drüber geredet. Als meine Mutter im Sterben lag, hätten wir beinahe noch einen amtlichen Vormund für sie bekommen, der dann Entscheidungen im Krankenhaus hätte treffen müssen, die komplett von dem abgewichen wären, was meine Mutter eigentlich gewollt (aber nie festgelegt) hat. "Zum Glück" ist sie vorher gestorben. Es ist wichtig, alles geregelt zu haben. Man muß auch mal darüber nachdenken, dass die Hinterbliebenen schon mit ihrer Trauer und dem Verlust arg zu kämpfen haben - wenn man sich dann auch noch komplett um alle Bürokratie kümmern muß, weil der/die Verstorbene nichts geregelt hat, das ist nochmal zusätzlich belastend und muß nicht sein. Ich weiß auch gar nicht, weshalb das so ein Tabu ist - wie ihr im Video schon sagtet: der Tod ist unausweichlich und steht jedem bevor. Da nützt es auch nichts, ihn totzuschweigen 😉. Danke ihr beiden für euren wertvollen Kontent! Ihr hättet so viel mehr Subscribers verdient!

[monakulasic]

Thank you for making this video. I am living in Germany alone. I am from America. I always wondered about this. Very important video. No matter how old you are. My son passed at 20.

[Yosh]

I'm deeply impressed that you touch this topic in your age. I needed to turn 50 some years ago to start setting up the "red folder". Thanks for the hint to the emergency card! I'll set one up for me 🙂

[Cz-De-Lifestyle]

I used to work at Zurich Insurance back home in North America, we handled this everyday. My advice is buy insurance, you can have them handle everything. Most ppl dont think about it much until after the fact, I had hard time breaking to them the bad news, how much it gonna cost them without coverage. Especially repatr ion of the body, oh boy, the cost of that...Back then in the late 90s it can cost around 20-30k usd, God only knows how much it cost now.

And the emergency carry card you had in mind there, is kina outdated and flimsy in this age now of digitization. Most folks back home who thought this out, usually put it in a n " American Medical ID" mini usb flash drive that they can can strap to their necklace or bracelet. It contains all your medical information, conditions you have and what treatments worked for you in the past, contacts, insurance info. It can b a big life saver too in some situations where you have a specific conditions that requires a certain drug or emergency procedures done right away, and theres not a lot of time.. It helps the medical staff to quickly plan their treatments right away, instead of taking hours of running lab test on you and probing you with questions.

[PierIsABaraReader]

One of the reasons why donating the body is not popular is the eagerness of bad hospitals (hopefully doesn't exist here in Germany) to not treat you if they know that you're in line for donation, especially organ donation. So a lot of people think thrice about this

[paulinetayag]

Very important video, not just for German foreigners, but for anyone living anywhere. I'm glad you asked this question, and I always appreciate the thorough research