Late Applicants Fund

Please note:  This program is now closed to applications. 

The Claims Conference established a Late Applicants Fund (“LAF”) of €50 million to accept applications from certain natural persons, as described below, who are heirs of former owners of Jewish property/assets located in the former East Germany for which the Claims Conference received proceeds as Successor Organization under the German Property Law 1990.

This fund was established taking into consideration the following factors:

  • That the Claims Conference has full legal title to the unclaimed property/assets it received as a result of its filings under the Property Law; that the final deadline of the Goodwill Fund was March 31, 2004 – more than a decade after the Goodwill Fund was established to make ex gratia payments to certain heirs; and that the Claims Conference Board of Directors has repeatedly decided not to reopen the Goodwill Fund;
  • That the Claims Conference requires certainty in the amount of available funds in order to make the necessary allocations for desperately needed welfare services to Nazi victims such as homecare, pursuant to the principles set forth at the establishment of the Goodwill Fund;
  • That certain heirs of former owners of Jewish property in the former East Germany have missed both the statutory deadline under the German Law and the deadline of the Goodwill Fund but have nevertheless requested part of the proceeds obtained by the Claims Conference for the property/assets formerly owned by their ancestors.

Applications to the LAF were accepted from the following heirs of the former owner:

  1. The immediate testamentary heir of the former owner;
  2. Children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren of the former owner;
  3. Siblings of the former owner;
  4. Children of the siblings listed under (c), above:
  5. Spouses of the persons listed under (b), (c) and (d);

The LAF was open for a period of two years commencing on January 1, 2013 (“Filing Period”). It is no longer possible to submit an application to the Late Applicants Fund. In respect of a claim made within the Filing Period and subject to the provisions below, applicants may be awarded a payment from the LAF if they demonstrate that they are a rightful heir in a manner satisfactory to the Claims Conference.

Upon the expiration of the Filing Period, the Claims Conference shall determine the percentage of the net proceeds of the asset that the eligible heir will receive.
Full details of the Board decision in July 2015 and June 2022 regarding payments are set forth in the LAF Rules and Procedures.

The amount received by each individual heir will additionally depend upon the following factors:

a) whether any payment has already been made by the Goodwill Fund or the Late Applicants Fund for the portion of the property/asset for which the heir is applying;  and

b) whether there exists any heir with a better entitlement to the property or the portion of the property for which the heir is applying; and

c) the portion of the property to which the heir is entitled.

In no case will the amount received by an individual heir (or a group of heirs, if there are a number of heirs to one asset/property) exceed 80 percent of the net proceeds received by the Claims Conference for the asset. “Net proceeds” is the amount after taxes, mortgages, the cost of appraisals, legal fees, insurance and other charges, in any way related or connected with the property or asset, are deducted from the initial proceeds from the sale, compensation payment or settlement regarding the property or assets.

In addition, in no event will any heir receive more than he or she would have received if he or she had made a timely claim under the German Property Law 1990.

Please review the LAF Rules and Procedures.

Payments made from the LAF will be contingent upon:

a) the German Restitution Courts making a final and non-appealable decision verifying the entitlement of the Claims Conference to a particular property or asset (this is something over which  the Claims Conference has no control) and if relevant, the sale by the Claims Conference of the property; and

b) applicant(s) demonstrating their entitlement as an heir by presenting proof of inheritance acceptable to the Claims Conference  within the later of one year from the date the application is submitted to the Claims Conference or one year from the date the Claims Conference informs the applicant that it has received a positive final decision from the German Restitution Authorities.

All communications regarding the Late Applicants Fund should be submitted to:

Claims Conference Successor Organization
Postfach 90 05 43
60445 Frankfurt am Main
Deutschland
Fax: 49-69-97-07-08-11
Email: claims-conference-laf@claimscon.org