Practical guide · The Netherlands

Estate & Control Map

Align family, ownership, authority and business continuity before a decision becomes urgent.

A will, a Dutch private limited company, insurance arrangements and family agreements may all exist separately—and point to different outcomes. This guide helps you view them as one system.

Explore the 10 chapters Estate Control Test status

10: full chapters
5 × 3: zones and events
100+: minutes · chapter by chapter

Guide012026

wealth · family · control

Choose the situation you recognise

What has changed — or may happen — in your family and capital?

Open the full map

01 · Services 02–04Family, ownership and authority

If you could not make decisions for a period, who could protect the family and act?

See this route →02 · Services 05–06Capital transfer and family rules

How can you support the next generation without putting your own reserve or family relationships at risk?

See this route →03 · Service 07Founder, business and succession

If you were away from the company for thirty days, who would preserve management, voting power, cash flow and family stability?

See this route →04 · Services 08–09Property, countries and foreign structures

Which country, institution and procedure will determine the practical result for each asset?

See this route →

Unsure, or recognised more than one situation? Start with the Estate Control Check →

Core idea

An estate plan is not a folder of documents. It is a coordinated chain of decisions designed to survive an event.

01Intention

02Document

03Recognition

04Action

05Outcome

Diagnostic frame

Five zones. Three events. No overall score.

An arrangement may work during temporary unavailability and fail during incapacity or death. Each zone is therefore reviewed separately for each event.

Zone	Event 01Temporary unavailability	Event 02Incapacity	Event 03Death
01Family clarity and succession route	Who makes current decisions?	Who protects the individual's interests?	Whom does the succession route protect?
02Decision-making authority	Which personal and company roles remain effective?	What evidence supports the authority to act?	Who represents and administers the estate?
03Business continuity	Who maintains critical actions?	Who manages and exercises shareholder rights?	How do value, voting power and management pass?
04Liquidity and transfer readiness	Is an accessible reserve available?	How are ongoing obligations funded?	How are tax, liabilities and equalisation funded?
05Cross-border perimeter	Can someone act in the other country?	How is authority recognised there?	Which law and procedure apply?

Confirmed · no clear gap identifiedReview required · insufficient informationGap identified · confirmed gap

Three common entry points

Start with the tension in the system, not with an instrument.

01 / Family capitalHow can value be transferred without depriving the next generation of independence?Go to chapter 05 →02 / Founder and owner-directorWho preserves value, voting power and business operations when the founder's role changes?Go to chapter 07 →03 / Several countriesHow should people, assets, documents and procedures across jurisdictions be coordinated?Go to chapter 08 →

Contents

One system. Ten full chapters.

Read in sequence or begin with the issue that has already become urgent. Each chapter ends with a practical next step and a route back to the overall map.

0112 minutes

01. An estate plan is a system, not just a will

A will is only one part of the system.

This chapter changes the starting point: instead of looking for one document, it traces the route from the family's intention to the outcome that can actually be implemented.

Open chapter

0214 minutes

02. What do you own before succession begins?

Establish ownership first. Discuss succession second.

This chapter separates personal assets, jointly held property, assets of a Dutch private limited company, benefits passing outside the estate, liabilities and foreign title.

Open chapter

0315 minutes

03. What happens if you change nothing?

A default plan already exists.

This chapter compares the family's expectation with the outcome supported by the documents and rules that apply to each asset.

Open chapter

0414 minutes

04. Who can act—and when?

Authority only works within the event and role it covers.

The event-based matrix separates temporary unavailability, incapacity and death, as well as personal, banking and company authority.

Open chapter

0517 minutes

05. Protecting family intent: rules, shared capital and family funds

A family fund is not the starting point.

The central question is whether the family needs pooled capital at all. The answer may be a fund, shared rules without a pool, different routes for different assets, or no new structure for now.

Open chapter

0614 minutes

06. Can you transfer wealth during your lifetime?

A transfer should not make the transferor financially vulnerable.

This chapter sets out a disciplined sequence for gifts, family loans and other lifetime transfers without promising a single optimal structure.

Open chapter

0714 minutes

07. What should happen to the business?

Value, voting rights and management are three different decisions.

Begin by imagining that the founder cannot take part tomorrow. Who signs a contract, makes payroll and handles an urgent decision? Those ordinary questions reveal which authority, documents and funding the family needs before tax relief is discussed.

Open chapter

0813 minutes

08. What changes when more than one country is involved?

One family can be connected to several legal systems.

The cross-border map does not force one answer across all countries. It connects each asset with the relevant jurisdiction, document, procedure and specialist.

Open chapter

0915 minutes

09. Will the documents work in practice?

A document is useful only if the lawful route can be activated.

Executability is a method within the Estate Control Check: it follows the route from locating a document to recognised action, liquidity and continuity.

Open chapter

1012 minutes

10. Your first Estate Control Plan

Confirm the facts before changing the structure.

The final chapter converts the guide into a practical route: what is known, what is still client-stated, which decisions belong to the family and who should own each implementation step.

Open chapter

Chapter 05 · Family fund and family governance

A family fund is not automatically a Dutch contractual pooled investment arrangement

Shared family capital begins with purpose, perimeter, participants, decision rules, liquidity and exit—not with a legal form. Sometimes the right conclusion is that no fund is needed yet.

Open the family-capital frame

01Direct ownership

02Shared rules without a pool

03Family fund (familiefonds)

04Dutch foundation / share-administration foundation / company route

Scenario model · Chapter 06

Protect the personal reserve before transferring capital.

Compare a base scenario, additional stress and delayed access to part of the liquidity. The model provides a discussion range without calculating tax, uploading documents or storing data.

Open the calculator

01Accessible liquidity

Amounts available now and expected later are recorded separately

02Personal reserve

The transferor's life and ordinary expenditure

03Obligations

Known expenses, liabilities and implementation costs

04Stress buffer

Reduced income or delayed access

05Range

Three scenarios for further review

Working library

Read, mark and compare before sharing documents.

The guide connects to open working maps, questionnaires, checklists, calculators, practical articles and all nine service routes.

22 tools + Test preview

Working maps, checklists and calculators

5 × 3, ownership, owner/BV loans, Box 3/BV, family financing, dividends, liquidity and more.

Open the library →29 articles

Insights · practical explanations

A real-life situation, a clear explanation, a worked example and one next tool.

Read the insights →9 routes

VB Structuren services

Family deliverables, the implementation layer and specialist boundaries.

Explore the routes →

Direct routes

Every landing-page resource, without searching the menu.

Use these links in Tilda buttons, cards and contents blocks. Each opens the relevant chapter, article or calculation directly.

Guide · 10 chapters

A structured route from the overall system to a first Estate Control plan.

Articles · 29 insights

Concise analyses with one principle, warning signals and three next actions.

All articles →

Calculators

Six sequenced models: from personal reserve to capital structure and company decisions.

01Wealth transfer capacity

Base assumptions, a stress buffer and delayed access to liquidity.

02Liquidity gap by timing

The first 72 hours, 30 days and later obligations.

03Children’s claims and survivor liquidity

First death, interest, early repayment and possible gift tax.

04Box 3 or BV

Box 3, capital retained inside the BV and an assumed distribution to the owner.

05Loan or gift

Remaining debt, payments and value transferred permanently.

06Dividend headroom

Company liquidity before and after a dividend, including a stress case.

All tools →

Overall client journey

From the first open resource to annual continuity support.

Free orientation helps frame the question. Paid work starts only after the master agreement, a separate product order and the required client due diligence.

Cases and independent reviews

Not promises, but a visible process and a testable result.

The three examples below are composite educational scenarios. They combine recurring questions to show how the work is structured; they are not individual client stories or testimonials.

01Composite scenario · not a client testimonial
A family, a Dutch private company and assets across jurisdictions
Situation
The family lives in the Netherlands while heirs, assets and documents are spread across more than one jurisdiction.
Review
We align the succession route, property regime, governance of the Dutch private company, incapacity authority and available liquidity.
Deliverable
One decision map: who acts, which documents need review, where local confirmation is required and what happens next.
02Composite scenario · not a client testimonial
Control continuity before succession
Situation
A founder wants family and company decisions to continue during temporary unavailability or incapacity.
Review
We test the alignment of powers of attorney, articles, shareholder agreements, banking mandates and personal instructions.
Deliverable
A control-continuity protocol and gap list linking each role and action to its evidence and update owner.
03Composite scenario · not a client testimonial
Transferring value without losing control too early
Situation
A family is considering lifetime transfers while retaining income, governance and clear conditions for the next generation.
Review
We compare transfer routes, voting and economic rights, liquidity, tax decision points and family implementation conditions.
Deliverable
An options comparison with the decisions to make, questions for the relevant advisers and a staged documentation sequence.

About this work

A complex family and complex capital cannot be reduced to one document.

VB Structuren helps a family see the whole system, make its own decisions and then coordinate notarial, tax, company and cross-border implementation.

Vlad BurilovFounder · VB Structuren BV

VB Structuren collaborates with S.A.L.T. Partners
Professional working languages: English, Russian and Dutch.

A calm next step

Collecting documents is not enough. Review the system.

See what the Estate Control Check reviews, which maps stay with the family and where the work passes to the civil-law notary and other specialists.

What the Estate Control Check includes

Find the right page

Where to start