2_1_DiscoverGermany_March15_Issue24:Scan Magazine 1
2/3/15
14:51
Page 72
Portrait: Thomas Willers
Thomas Willers – the recall expert Munich-based lawyer Thomas Willers has been successfully operating for over a decade. Beside core competence in company and employment law, Willers has gained fame beyond the Bavarian borders in the area of contract law, where numerous verdicts and out-of-court settlements have been reached in favour of his clients. TEXT: TINA AWTANI | PHOTO: PRESS IMAGE
Currently Willers emphasizes on the revocation of life and personal insurances, an area which becomes ever more important
72 | Issue 24 | March 2015
for consumers. Once an important financial cornerstone for personal wealth management, life insurance now struggles due to
diminishing interest rates and also life insurance reform law. “Many people relied on the life insurance as a component of their retirement plan. But sometimes life does not go as planned, all of a sudden liquid assets are required or there are simply no funds available any longer to pay the insurance premium. Usually early cancellation results in a disappointing surrender payment. A successful life insurance recall process on the other hand recovers almost all of the previously paid fees,”Willers explains his field of expertise, which is based on two recent rulings of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Bundesgerichtshofs (BGH). The new rules are yet to be firmly established in the market.“Unfortunately de facto many insurance companies still simply reject the recalls of their clients. Customers should not get discouraged by this as the legal framework is absolute explicit,” Wille reckons. The smart lawyer is not afraid to share his expertise in public and set up a specialised online portal containing plenty of information about the new rules on recalls. These do not only affect life and pension insurance. “The same principle applies to personal loan contracts. Those who have not been properly informed about their recall rights, can still be entitled to break out of their contracts even after years. A recall can be a suitable option to benefit from low interest rates without having to provide a surrender payment. Given the strong Swiss Franc compared to the Euro, a recall of a loan in Swiss Francs can be an interesting financial opportunity,” Willers explains. www.widerruf-lebensversicherung.de www.ra-willers.de