Pure acceptance, beneficial acceptance or rejection: what are the consequences?

Pure acceptance, beneficial acceptance or rejection: what are the consequences?

That depends: The way you, as an heir, accept an inheritance (also called "accepting") determines whether you also have to pay the deceased's bills with your own money. You can reject an inheritance (also called an "estate"), accept it outright, or accept it with benefit of inventory.

Pure acceptance

If you choose to accept an inheritance unconditionally, this means that you (along with any other heirs) take over everything from the deceased: all their assets, but also all their debts!

Many heirs consciously choose to accept the inheritance unconditionally, out of respect for the deceased. Unconditional acceptance of the inheritance can be achieved by making a declaration of unconditional acceptance. Sometimes, an heir unknowingly accepts the inheritance unconditionally. In some cases, the law assumes that an heir accepts the inheritance unconditionally through their conduct. This occurs when that person, in the words of the law, acts "unambiguously and without reservation" as an heir. This can happen, for example, by selling certain items from the estate or by making payments from the estate. This also occurs when the deceased's possessions are "hidden," which could disadvantage creditors. For example, by transferring money to your own account or taking items to your own home. If these items have only sentimental value, but no economic value (monetary value), then this is permitted. Consider a photo album, for example. Creditors are not disadvantaged by this. The result of unconditional acceptance is that you become the owner of all the deceased's assets, but you are also obligated to pay all their debts! This also applies if the estate proves insufficient to cover all debts. In that case, the heirs who accepted unconditionally must make up the shortfall from their own assets.

So, as an heir, be mindful of what you do immediately after the death of a loved one! A payment from the estate, the sale of belongings, or the removal of items of economic value from the deceased's home can all lead to unconditional acceptance.

And what if you need to quickly vacate the deceased's room in a nursing home? Then you might also run the risk of having to pay for the deceased's debts that cannot be paid from the estate. The solution is to have the belongings stored or describe them and state where and with whom they are currently located. Paying the funeral expenses does not, however, mean you accept the estate unconditionally.

Beneficial acceptance

If you suspect there are more debts than can be paid from the estate, you can accept the inheritance "beneficially." This is also called "acceptance under benefit of inventory." This means that you only have to pay the debts to the extent that they can be paid from the deceased's assets. You don't have to contribute your own money. Such acceptance under benefit of inventory requires several formalities. For example, you must make a declaration to the court, and all kinds of legal rules apply to prevent further disadvantage to creditors—who might not receive their claims in full anyway. If you fail to comply with the formalities, the "penalty" is that it is assumed that you accepted the inheritance unconditionally. This means you are liable with your own assets. For some groups of heirs, such as minors, persons under guardianship, and people whose assets have been placed under trust, it is mandatory to accept the inheritance under benefit of inventory.

Reject

You can also refuse the inheritance. This is also called "rejection." As with beneficiary acceptance, you must submit a declaration to the court to reject the inheritance. In the case of rejection, you are not an heir of the deceased and have never been. You are then not obligated to pay the deceased's debts from their assets, as with beneficiary acceptance, or possibly from your own assets, as with outright acceptance.

Unexpected debts

What should you do if you have accepted the agreement unconditionally and then it turns out that there are unexpected debts?

Then you have a problem! The law does state that you can still accept the debt under benefit of inventory, thus avoiding liability with your own assets, but this is only possible if those debts are completely unexpected. If letters or other facts could already indicate that those debts existed, then they are not "completely unexpected." Moreover, you must do your own research and be aware of any debts.

Judicial rulings show that completely unexpected debts are actually very rare. Often, with a little research, the heir could have already known that, for example, a tax assessment or something similar was coming. If there's even the slightest suspicion that the debts exceed the assets, or if you want to avoid any risk, the advice is to accept the inheritance under benefit of inventory. This may entail some additional costs and work, but it can prevent a lot of misery.

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

This article should not be considered legal advice. FBN Lawyers and MAES Civil-Law Notaries take the utmost care in the content of these articles, but accept no liability for any incompleteness or inaccuracy of an article, nor for any consequences thereof.