In 2011 the Norwegian government appointed a Committee to prepare a proposal for a new inheritance act to replace the inheritance act of 1972. A German-Norwegian seminar on inheritance law took place in Bergen 2012 with a special attention to the ongoing reform of Norwegian inheritance law. The topics of the seminar were the protection of children and the surviving partner - both spouse and cohabitant. The seminar included presentations from scholars from both countries, each presented from a Norwegian and a German perspective. Several lectures also include a European perspective.