en-US
Attorney at Law, Tax Advisor, Partner
German, English, French, Spanish
Dr. Maren Gräfe, LL.M., Attorney-at-Law and Tax Advisor, Founding Partner, studied law in Osnabrück and completed a comparative doctoral thesis in corporate and capital market law under Prof. Dr. Dres. h.c. Theodor Baums. After professional positions at Flick Gocke Schaumburg and PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft in Hamburg, Zurich, and Munich, she led the "Entrepreneurial Families & Family Offices" division at BDO AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft on a national level as a Partner. In 2021, Dr. Gräfe founded gkn Gräfe Klümpen-Neusel PartG mbB and, in 2025, transferred the Munich team into GRÄFE Tax & Legal GmbH, which she had established.
Dr. Gräfe's advisory focus lies in the tax, legal, and strategic structuring of wealth, matters of family and corporate governance, and the setup of professional wealth and family office structures under legal, tax, and economic considerations, as well as (cross-border) investment taxation. In addition, Ms. Gräfe dedicates herself to tax and legal planning for corporate succession. Ms. Gräfe is an author in various tax commentaries, co-edited a work on the professionalization of family wealth together with Dr. Karin Ebel at ESV Verlag, and regularly gives lectures and training sessions.
Since the beginning of 2024, she has also served on the supervisory board of Carl Hanser Verlag and is the founder and managing director of Tax Tec Lab GmbH.
Dr. Maren Gräfe has a strategic perspective, thinking beyond the confines of law and taxation to address the economic and familial consequences of her clients’ decisions. Through her extensive and interdisciplinary network, she has learned to look beyond immediate questions and to integrate secular developments and future-oriented topics into her advisory approach. There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution—what matters are the client’s personal, financial, and family objectives. Any proposed solutions must also fit the client’s DNA and values. For someone who still wants to invest in a highly entrepreneurial and dynamic way, simply opting for a premature transfer of assets to save taxes (and thereby losing certain financial freedoms) is not necessarily the best option. At the very least, alternative strategies are available.
In situations of familial conflict, Ms. Gräfe is particularly keen on finding empathetic and sustainable solutions that help bridge family divides. She collaborates with mediators and, if necessary, psychologists to achieve these aims.
(For confidentiality, client types or cases are generalized, e.g., “private client, executive of Fortune 500 company.”)
Advising Founders on an Exit/Company Sale and Setting Up Family Office Structures
Establishment of family foundations to prepare a tax-efficient and strategically aligned sale structure. Supported the setup of three foundations (including drafting individual articles of association), coordinating with the foundation supervisory authority, and transferring company shares. Developed articles that accounted for a potential sale scenario, crafted the relevant transfer agreements, and created governance frameworks for using the foundations as family offices post-sale. Ongoing legal counsel for the foundations (organizing meetings, preparing minutes, maintaining a family register) and collaboration with external tax advisors on specific compliance issues. After the sale, devised a tax-efficient investment strategy and set up Family Office structures.
Advising a Branch of a Larger Family Enterprise
Establishing and managing an ongoing inheritance tax screening for a large family enterprise (evaluation of relief options and administration quota). Revised the wills of a shareholder branch to avoid latent risks of triggering hidden reserves. Additionally, identified opportunities for tax-efficient early inheritance (already significant private assets) among various children and implemented measures (family partnerships). The senior family member plans to contribute his remaining shares to a charitable foundation. GRÄFE Tax & Legal provides both tax and legal support for this process, including guidance on charitable law implications and making necessary amendments to the foundation’s charter in coordination with the foundation supervisory authority.
Senior Member of a Large Family Business Group
Comprehensive succession planning for a large family enterprise: analysis of inheritance tax relief under Sections 13a/b ErbStG across the entire group (over 100 companies). Considered restructuring the balance sheet to optimize inheritance tax and explored opportunities to place the group into a new family structure to avoid exit taxation. Drafted new succession and enduring power of attorney documents. Structured both private and investment assets, leveraging tax advantages for spouses (including marital property arrangements such as “Güterstandsschaukel” and housing concepts). Restructured international assets to avoid double taxation. Facilitated fair distribution within the family, including moderation and compensatory measures. Resolved unrecognized gift tax issues within the family.
High Net Worth Individual/Entrepreneur with a Single Family Office and Holding Company (including retained shares in an operating business), Approx. EUR 500 Million in Assets
Prepared emergency documents (entrepreneur’s will, powers of attorney,living wills) to balance personal and strategic considerations and inheritance tax opportunities, paying special attention to patchwork family situations. Planned potential structural changes to simplify the holding and corporate structure and to utilize inheritance tax relief on business assets. Designed measures for tax-efficient early inheritance, including the option of establishing one or more family foundations (to secure a functioning Family Office and asset management after the principal’s passing and to avoid exit taxation in the event of death). Implemented marital property arrangements to facilitate tax-free asset transfers between spouses. Provided ongoing support for various projects (structuring a classic car collection, acquiring assets abroad to avoid double taxation, cross-border entrepreneurial activities). Partly restructured Family Office cost-sharing to avert tax pitfalls. Took over ongoing tax advisory (tax returns, annual financial statements, VAT returns, payroll tax) for about ten entities (GmbHs, GmbH & Co. KGs, and partnerships) and six family members, setting up a cash management system and a tax compliance management system in close collaboration with the Single Family Office staff.
Entrepreneurial Family with Operating Company and Single Family Office (Enterprise Value Over EUR 4 Billion; Private Wealth Over EUR 70 Million in Real Estate, Securities, and Significant VC/PE Investments with High Growth Potential)
Prepared emergency documents (entrepreneur’s will, powers of attorney, living wills). Assisted the family (in collaboration with their Family Officer and current tax advisor) in avoiding a substantial inheritance tax event upon death. Implemented preventive will arrangements, as well as planning and executing the shielding of private assets and PE/VC shareholdings. Established a German family foundation as a new holding company and Single Family Office platform. Created suitable family governance guidelines and reviewed marital property issues. Evaluated the gradual, tax-optimized transfer of shares in the operating company, if necessary with usufruct structures. Performed inheritance tax analysis under Sections 13a/b ErbStG and assessed possible structural accounting measures to improve the initial position. Supported the next generation’s involvement in the operating business alongside Dr. Karin Ebel (ebel&team GmbH).
Publications, Lectures, and Activities by Dr. Maren Gräfe
I. Articles / Contributions
II. Commentaries & Books
III. External Lectures and Specialist Events
IV. (Web)Seminars with INTES (Recurring Since 2012) and ESV
V. Podcasts
Speaking Engagements
