I don't remember if I've already made a will. How can I find out?

I don't remember if I've already made a will. How can I find out?

With a will, you can arrange who your heirs are, how your inheritance should be settled, and much more. A will is only valid if it takes a special form: the most common form is a notarial deed, which is drawn up by a notary. The reason for this special form is that a will involves making important decisions that can have significant financial and social consequences. We not only record your wishes in the document but also advise you on your options and the potential consequences.

If you are unsure whether you have already made a will, we can provide clarity on this.

When a will is signed by a notary, the notary registers it in the Central Register of Wills (CTR). This ensures that a centralized record is kept of which notary drafted your will and when. This central registration makes your will easy for your heirs to find after your death.

If you're no longer sure whether you've made a will, you can consult the register of wills (or have one done). This article explains how to do this. It also explains how certain assets can be bequeathed to someone without a notary. This isn't called a will, but a "codicil," a handwritten document that functions as a kind of "mini-will."

Consult the Central Register of Wills during your lifetime

Every will drawn up under Dutch law is registered in the Central Register of Wills (CTR). The CTR therefore shows whether someone has made a will, when it was drawn up, and which civil-law notary holds it. Every civil-law notary and junior civil-law notary can consult this register. Previously, only the surviving relatives of a deceased person could request information about the deceased's will. Now, living persons can also inquire whether they have made a will. This can be done by submitting a request to a civil-law notary or junior civil-law notary, who will then consult the register for you. You can also request this information yourself free of charge from the CTR. To do so, you must first make an appointment by phone (0900 1144114), after which you can visit the CTR in The Hague in person during office hours. The CTR will then look up the information in the register.

Consult the Central Register of Wills in the event of a death

Are you a surviving relative and would you like to know if the deceased left a will? Any civil-law notary or candidate civil-law notary can check the CTR for you to see if the deceased left a will. You can also request this information yourself free of charge by submitting a written request to the CTR. In addition to the request form, you must also submit an extract from the death register.

Please note! The CTR only records whether someone has made a will. For the contents of the will, please contact the notary who has it in custody.

Bequeathing without making a will: the codicil

As explained above, the law imposes a special requirement on wills. As a general rule, the law requires the intervention of a notary for drawing up a will. To make a valid will, you must therefore go to a notary.

However, it is possible to bequeath certain goods to someone without the intervention of a notary. The law stipulates that this is possible for the deceased's clothing, personal effects, certain personal jewelry, certain household goods, and certain books. These can be bequeathed to someone—in legal terms, "bequeathed" to someone—via a handwritten document with a date and signature. Such a handwritten document is also called a "codicil." Therefore, for a bequest of such specifically named items, the requirement for a notarial deed does not apply to the validity of the document.

The disadvantage of a handwritten document not drawn up by a notary, however, is that this document (the codicil) cannot be found in the Central Register of Wills. It is also uncertain whether the heirs will find this codicil after your death. Therefore, if you create a codicil, it is crucial to keep it safe!

Summary and tip

If you want to determine your own heirs, rather than relying on Dutch law, you must make a will. The law imposes a specific requirement on wills. As a general rule, a will must be recorded in a notarial deed, drawn up by a civil-law notary.

If a will is signed by a notary, it is registered in the Central Will Register in The Hague after signing. This register records who made a will, when it was made, and which notary holds the will. Any notary or candidate notary can consult this register and can therefore tell you whether a will has been made.

There is an exception to the formal requirement that disposing of your estate is only possible through a will (in a notarial deed), namely for certain specific items such as clothing or jewelry. These items can also be bequeathed through a handwritten, dated, and signed document, also known as a codicil. The major disadvantage of this, however, is that a codicil is not registered in the Central Register of Wills. Moreover, a codicil can only contain bequests of certain items specified by law. Therefore, using such a codicil is generally not recommended if you want to record matters properly and comprehensively. In that case, it's wiser to consult your notary.

Are you unsure whether you've ever had a will drawn up by a notary or what it contains? Or do you not yet have a will and would you like more information about what you can arrange in a will? We're happy to help. Would you like more advice on this topic? Visit us or give us a call. The consultation is free. To schedule an appointment for an in-office meeting or a video call, please call +31 (0)10 44 53 777. We look forward to seeing you.











This article is taken from 'Met Recht Geregeld' (www.metrechtgeregeld.nl), a product of FBN Juristen.

FBN Juristen and MAES civil-law notaries take the utmost care with the content of the articles, but accept no liability for incompleteness or inaccuracy of an article, nor for the consequences thereof.