Family Continuity Guide
Who can act when you cannot?
A practical system for family and business authority, access, documents and liquidity before incapacity, during the first 72 hours and after death.
A password creates technical access. Only authority creates the right to act.
An account list, a will or a cloud folder cannot solve the problem on its own. For each event, connect the person, legal basis, institution-specific evidence, fallback route and money needed while the route is being activated.
Three states
One trusted person. Three different authority systems.
While you act personally
The owner remains the decision-maker. Support uses limited bank authority, the personal Dutch government login DigiD, the business login eHerkenning and internal roles — without sharing credentials.
Incapacity or absence
A levenstestament, another valid power, corporate arrangement or court measure applies. Each bank and Dutch private limited company checks its own evidence.
After death
A lifetime mandate is no longer the operational proof. The route uses the will or law, acceptance by the executor and, where required, a certificate of succession or executorship.
Authority hand-off
Test the specific action, not the document in the abstract.
| Action | While capable | During incapacity | After death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pay family expenses | Owner / joint account | Effective bank mandate | Authorised heir or executor through the bank route |
| Sell the home | Owner + required consents | Precise power; a separate consent may remain necessary | Heirs / executor within their authority and notarial process |
| Run the company | Board and general meeting under the articles | Belet/ontstentenis, power and corporate resolutions | Temporary management, voting and share succession under the documents |
| File tax returns | Personal DigiD login, business eHerkenning login or representative | Representative's own role | Survivor authorisation; never the deceased's DigiD login |
| Obtain asset information | Owner or authorised representative | Mandate + provider procedure | Evidence of heir or executor status |
Digital continuity
An access register must not become a vault of secrets.
The Continuity File shows where an asset exists and how the lawful representative starts the procedure. It does not store secret values.
Never record
- DigiD login or password
- personal access codes or multi-factor authentication codes
- recovery phrases for digital assets
- private keys
- security-question answers
Record this instead
- institution and asset category
- relationship owner
- lawful role and alternate
- recovery procedure
- document custodian
- last test date
Deliverable
Family Continuity File: seven connected working registers.
Family Control Map
Family, dependants, trusted persons and potential conflict points.
Authority Matrix
For each event and asset: decision, actor, basis and evidence.
Emergency Access Register
A non-secret locator and lawful route to each institution.
Document & Custodian Register
Original, current version, notary, adviser owner and review date.
Event Action Plan
Owners and dependencies for 72 hours, 30 days and 12 months.
Business Continuity Protocol
Management, voting, payments, payroll, clients and communication.
Liquidity Map
What is lawfully available at each horizon and which obligations fall due first.
Dutch procedure
After death, access follows evidence of authority — not knowledge of a password.
- 01
Confirm the event
Obtain official evidence and identify the family's safe point of contact.
- 02
Establish the route
Review family status, the wills register, the will, ownership and corporate documents.
- 03
Accept the role
The executor or representative accepts the appointment and understands its limits.
- 04
Obtain evidence
Request the certificate of succession/executorship or other evidence required by the institution.
- 05
Complete institutional onboarding
The bank, tax authority, insurer, Dutch private limited company and foreign custodian each run their own checks.
- 06
Act and retain evidence
Each action is taken under the correct role, recorded and supported by an audit trail.
Two reference cases
Asset value does not determine access speed.
The figures show only a timing gap based on rounded inputs. They do not calculate inheritance tax, Dutch substantial-shareholding income tax (Box 2), the Dutch gift-and-inheritance-tax business succession relief (bedrijfsopvolgingsregeling), business value or lawful access to funds.
Simple · spouses and two adult children
A home, accounts and an investment portfolio. One spouse handles all administration. Documents exist, but the bank and post-death routes have never been tested.
Model: +€7k at 72 hours · +€15k at 30 daysPriority: lawful access, levenstestament, executor, custodian register and an annual tabletop test.
Complex · owner-director, second marriage and foreign assets
Payroll and key payments depend on the owner-director; there are children from an earlier relationship, shares, foreign accounts and personal multi-factor authentication. The will is not aligned with the articles and shareholder arrangements.
Model: −€5k at 72 hours · −€210k at 30 daysPriority: reserve, temporary management, voting route, funded continuity facility and a coordinated estate route.
Owner-director continuity
For a business, four documents must tell the same story.
Articles
Who acts during belet/ontstentenis and who can appoint a replacement?
Shareholder & management agreements
What happens to voting, work, shares, price and exit funding?
Levenstestament
Which shareholder and board capacities are covered before death?
Will and estate powers
Who manages after death, who receives the shares and how is deadlock prevented?
Events and time horizons
The family plan must work tonight, next month and next year.
72 hours
Confirm event and contact; locate current documents; stop unauthorised acts; fund housing, family and payroll.
30 days
Obtain authority evidence; activate bank, insurer, company and tax routes; document temporary controls.
12 months
Implement succession, valuation, tax, transfer and equalisation; update roles and registers; complete an Operating Review.
Working tools
Start with the map, then test the action and the liquidity.
Public sources: current publicly available guidance from the Government of the Netherlands, the Dutch Tax Administration, DigiD, Notaris.nl and the Royal Dutch Association of Civil-law Notaries. Institutional and legal conclusions are rechecked at implementation date.