The default outcome
03. What happens if you change nothing?
A default plan already exists.
Succession law, a will, ownership arrangements, company documents and beneficiary nominations can send different assets along different routes.
13 minutes
Why this chapter matters
This chapter compares the family's expectation with the outcome supported by the documents and rules that apply to each asset.
Questions for the initial map
- 01
Who inherits if the current documents remain unchanged?
- 02
Which payments or assets may pass outside the estate?
- 03
Do the will, relationship documents and company rules point in the same direction?
- 04
Do equal shares produce equal liquidity, control and timing?
Working model
One asset, several controlling layers
The useful question is not which document is generally superior, but which layer controls the particular outcome.
Default succession law
Who inherits where no specific arrangement changes the statutory route.
Will
Heirs, legacies, executor, protective administration and conditions.
Ownership and contract
What already belongs to another person or is paid directly to a nominated beneficiary.
Company rules
Transfer restrictions, voting rights and the appointment of management.
Procedure
Which evidence and actions will be required after the event.
Saying that the children will receive equal shares does not establish equal liquidity, equal control or equal timing.
Short answer
What to understand before the next decision
If nothing changes, the outcome will be created by current law and the documents already in place. The home, business, insurance proceeds and a foreign asset may follow different routes even when the family thinks of them as one estate.
01 · Default outcome
The default outcome combines the law with choices already made
Not making a new decision does not mean that no plan exists. The ownership regime, relationship agreements, the will or absence of one, company restrictions, beneficiary nominations and institutional procedures are already in place. Together they create the actual route for each asset.
It is therefore useful to write two lines for every expected outcome: what the family believes will happen, and the authority or document supporting that belief. Where the basis is unknown, the outcome remains unconfirmed even if everyone regards the arrangement as obvious.
02 · Will and other routes
A will governs the estate, but it does not rewrite every external contract
A will can appoint heirs and an executor, create legacies, establish protective administration and set other conditions. It does not, by itself, dispose of property owned by someone else, a company asset, a benefit governed by a current nomination or an asset subject to a foreign registration procedure. It is unsafe to assume that one document automatically displaces all the others.
A Dutch will must be executed before a Dutch civil-law notary. Its existence and terms should be compared with the current family, assets and related documents—not judged solely by its date or by an attractive statement of intent.
Key pointThe issue is not which document is generally superior, but which layer controls the particular asset and event.
03 · Family expectation
Equal shares can produce unequal cash, timing and influence
One child may receive an illiquid business interest, another a liquid portfolio, while the partner receives a right to occupy the home together with responsibility for its costs. Even where the opening values are similar, the risks, cash flow and decision-making power are different.
The family objective should therefore be expressed in more than percentages. Discuss the partner's housing and income, the economic position of each child, the business role, timing of receipt, safeguards for a vulnerable beneficiary and the source of funding for tax or equalisation.
04 · After the event
A beneficiary still has to establish the role and enter the procedure safely
After a death, an heir may need to choose how to accept or reject the estate, obtain evidence of the role and deal with liabilities. That decision should not be made from a general article: the asset and debt position, unknown liabilities, minors and actions already taken by other heirs can change the risk.
Planning before the event should not predetermine that choice. It should make reliable information, professional support and liquidity available so that no one has to act hastily with estate property before the role and consequences are understood.
Instrument and procedure
How this product works in the Netherlands
Will & Family Continuity Plan
A will plan compares the default result with the outcome the family actually wants. Dutch planning requires alignment of heirs, children's claims, partner protection, the executor, asset management and liquidity on both the first and second death.
When this becomes a separate project
- there is a spouse or registered partner and children;
- there are children from different relationships or heirs with different needs;
- the family owns a business, real estate or assets that cannot be divided mechanically.
Five steps from facts to implementation
- 01
Map the default result
Determine the route for each asset under law, current deeds, contracts and corporate rules.
- Owner
- VB Structuren
- Working basis
- Family map, ownership map and current wills
- 02
Record family objectives
Address the partner's home and income, fairness among children, control, access age and business continuity.
- Owner
- Family + VB
- Working basis
- Family objectives brief
- 03
Compare legal routes
Compare statutory distribution with claims, usufruct, successive interests, legacies, administration and an executor.
- Owner
- Notary + tax adviser
- Working basis
- Options memo and tax scenarios
- 04
Test legal constraints
Account for children's forced-heirship claims, spouse protections, existing contracts and assets the testator does not own.
- Owner
- Notary / inheritance counsel
- Working basis
- Legal constraints schedule
- 05
Prepare an executable brief
Translate decisions into notarial instructions, related corporate changes and a review calendar.
- Owner
- VB coordinates
- Working basis
- Notary brief and implementation tracker
Document stack
Two benchmark scenarios
Core case
Spouse and two children without a will
A home, savings and a standard Dutch family.
Starting facts
- After ownership analysis, the first spouse's estate is €900,000.
- The heirs are the spouse and two adult children.
- Under statutory distribution, the spouse receives the assets and the children receive monetary claims.
Route
- Show the children's claims and their due dates.
- Identify how the children's inheritance tax is funded.
- Compare the default route with notarial alternatives and the second death.
- Appoint an executor and substitute if the family needs one.
The family sees that 'everything to the spouse' does not remove the children's rights and that the first death shapes the second.
Model 02-06 can compare statutory distribution, claim interest and the first and second deaths once inputs are confirmed.
Advanced case
Blended family and family business
A second spouse, two founder children and one joint child.
Starting facts
- The operating BV is provisionally worth €15m.
- The eldest daughter works in the business; the other children do not.
- The founder wants partner security while preserving business value for the children.
Route
- Confirm ownership and corporate restrictions first.
- Compare claims, usufruct and successive-interest routes.
- Separate business control from compensation for non-working children.
- Coordinate the executor, administration, SHA/STAK and liquidity reserve.
The will becomes one node in a wider plan instead of carrying a job it cannot perform alone.
Models 02-06 and 02-06a require an independent valuation and a split between business and investment assets.
Red flags
- the will predates a marriage, divorce or child;
- equal shares replace liquidity and control analysis;
- there is no executor or substitute;
- the will is expected to amend corporate rules or beneficiary nominations;
- the first death is optimised without testing the second.
Worked example
What the family expects—and what the documents support
Alex believes that Maria will receive what she needs and that the children will later share the capital equally.
- The home and mortgage depend on the ownership regime and succession route.
- The insurance proceeds follow the current beneficiary nomination.
- The BV shares are affected by the will and company transfer restrictions.
- The foreign property requires a separate review of governing law and local procedure.
How much of the family's expectation can be supported today for each asset?
The map shows four parallel routes rather than one global outcome, and identifies where the family must decide before new documents are prepared.
Apply this to your situation
Do not miss the gap between intention and implementation
Start by marking what is already known. An unknown fact is a valid review outcome once someone owns the next step.
Three common mistakes
- 01Relying on an oral understanding
Family agreement does not replace a document or the procedure of an external institution.
- 02Looking only at percentages
The same share does not guarantee the same liquidity, control or timing.
- 03Rewriting the will first
Without an ownership and beneficiary map, a new will may leave the principal gap unresolved.
Reader checklist
- Record the expected recipient for each material asset.
- Beside it, identify the document or rule supporting that expectation.
- Record separately any payments and assets that may pass outside the estate.
- Compare cash flow, timing and control—not only estimated value.
- Review the executor's role and its interaction with the heirs.
- Do not deal with estate property before the acceptance options and liabilities are understood.
Questions for your advisers
What must be confirmed rather than assumed
- 01
What would happen to each asset if no new document were prepared?
- 02
Which provisions of the current will no longer reflect the family or ownership structure?
- 03
Which fairness decisions must the client make before the specialists can implement them?
Check the primary source
Official materials for the next step
These links provide the current general framework. They do not confirm the outcome for a particular family, document or asset.
- Rijksoverheid · statutory distribution (wettelijke verdeling) — opens in a new tab
The general Dutch succession route for a spouse or registered partner and children where no will changes that outcome.
- Rijksoverheid · what can be recorded in a will — opens in a new tab
General information on Dutch wills and the requirement for execution before a Dutch civil-law notary.
- Rijksoverheid · accepting or rejecting an estate — opens in a new tab
General routes for acceptance, beneficiaire aanvaarding and rejection; the appropriate choice requires case-specific advice.
Chapter worksheet
Family questions before meeting the notary
A first draft of objectives, roles, fairness, liquidity and open questions for the notary’s brief.
Answers remain in the page's memory only. You can print the worksheet or save it as a PDF.
Open the tool