The practical side of something that is not practical. Here you will only find what you will need at some point, not what you have to do today.
There is no rush. The inheritance tax return has a deadline of eight months; the home has none. But there is one thing you need to sort out first: the way you accept the inheritance. If you do not, selling the home could make you personally liable for debts you did not know about.
We are probably the only estate agent who will ask you not to do anything just yet. There is a reason for that.
As an heir you have three choices: accept unconditionally (zuiver aanvaarden), accept under benefit of inventory (beneficiair aanvaarden) or reject the inheritance. Partial acceptance is not possible. If you accept unconditionally you get everything: the assets and the debts. If the debts exceed the assets, you pay the difference out of your own pocket.
The thing is, you can accept unconditionally without realising it. If you behave as an heir, the law assumes you have accepted unconditionally. And selling the deceased's home is exactly that kind of act.
Someone calls an estate agent, puts mother's house on the market, and has thereby accepted unconditionally. Two months later a tax debt turns up that nobody knew about. That is now his personal problem. The estate agent did nothing wrong. There was simply nobody who said: wait a moment.
There is one exception: paying for the funeral from the estate does not count as unconditional acceptance. You are free to do that.
Accepting under benefit of inventory means you accept the inheritance subject to an inventory of the estate (onder voorrecht van boedelbeschrijving). Your private assets are then protected. It does take time and money: you make a declaration at the court registry, pay court fees, and a settlement procedure (vereffeningsprocedure) follows. If you do not comply with those formalities, you will still be personally liable.
If one of the heirs accepts under benefit of inventory, the entire estate must be settled under that procedure. For the others too.
Since 1 September 2016 heirs have been better protected against unexpected debts. If, after unconditional acceptance, you discover a debt you did not know about and could not have known about, you can ask the subdistrict court (kantonrechter) within three months of that discovery for permission to accept under benefit of inventory after all.
That protection only applies to debts you genuinely could not have known about. It is an exception, not a safety net. Accepting under benefit of inventory beforehand is a step taken at the court. Repairing it afterwards is a procedure that can fail.
You have three months to consider, during which creditors cannot demand payment. There is no legal deadline for the choice itself. Minors cannot accept unconditionally: if they make no choice within three months, they automatically accept under benefit of inventory.
You can find the current court fees and forms on the website of the Rechtspraak (Dutch judiciary).
Plenty of costs keep running: mortgage payments, insurance, municipal taxes. Report the death to the mortgage lender and the buildings insurer. An unoccupied home may fall under different insurance terms, and you want that sorted before anything happens.
Ask straight away whether there is a life insurance policy linked to the mortgage (overlijdensrisicoverzekering). If it pays out, the mortgage can be paid off in full or in part. Many people do not know it exists and spend months budgeting for a debt that is no longer there.
The home does not need to be empty before we come to look. We can value it perfectly well with the belongings still in place. For many people, that is the hurdle that holds things up for months: the idea that something has to be cleared before anyone may come. That is not necessary.
Also: you may deduct funeral costs from the value of the inheritance. If the funeral insurance pays out more than the costs, you must actually declare the surplus.
If the will names an executor, the executor handles the settlement of the estate. The notary will explain what that means for your situation.
No. The inheritance tax return has a deadline of eight months. There is no deadline for selling the home.
You can, but be careful. Selling the home can be regarded as unconditional acceptance. You are then personally liable for any debts. Sort out how you accept first.
With unconditional acceptance you receive the assets and the debts, even if the debts exceed the assets. With acceptance under benefit of inventory your own assets stay protected. It takes more time and money, but it protects you.
Be careful with that. Taking belongings can legally be interpreted as unconditional acceptance. Only do so after you have made a deliberate choice about how to accept.
Yes. That is an exception and does not count as unconditional acceptance.
Possibly. If it concerns a debt you did not know about and could not have known about, you can ask the subdistrict court within three months of that discovery for permission to accept under benefit of inventory after all. That procedure does not always succeed.
No. We can value the home with the belongings still in it.
Your mortgage lender will know. Ask them. If it pays out, the mortgage can be paid off in full or in part, and the whole calculation changes.
We are the estate agent of Helmond and we do things just a little differently. We take a look with you, run the numbers and tell you honestly what we would do. Even if that means you should hold off for now.
Your language. We speak English, German and French. Write to us in Polish by WhatsApp and we reply in Polish.
No surprises in the contract. The purchase agreement is in Dutch and comes with an English translation, so you understand every clause.
Selling from abroad. We guide the whole sale remotely and arrange the paperwork with the notary.
