He passed his Abitur (school leaving examination) in Marienwerder and studied law and Cameralism at the universities of Berlin and Bonn.
[1] In 1848 Dechend took charge of the newly founded public loan office in Berlin and in 1851 became a member of the governing body of the Bank of Prussia.
He occupied several government positions in Berlin before becoming the vice-president of the Bank of Prussia in 1863 and its President in 1864.
His daughter Susanne (1859–1929) married the Prussian army officer Hugo von Kathen (1855–1932), while his granddaughter Adelgunde Margaret Beatrice von Dechend (1911–1983) was the wife of the Welsh character actor Hugh Emrys Griffith (1912–1980).
His son Richard Von Dechend married Catherine Sinclair Sandwith, daughter of Humphrey Sandwith on the 2nd of April 1887 in Holy Trinity Church, Paddington, London, England.