09. Will the documents work in practice?

A family may know that a will or levenstestament exists without having the current version, understanding the limits of the role or knowing the bank's procedure. A corporate resolution may have been located without being aligned with the shareholder register or an external mandate.

Evidence maturity therefore progresses from client-stated to document located, authority reviewed, institution/procedure confirmed and tabletop-tested. A status of ‘requires remediation’ applies to a particular dependency; it should not become one overall family score.

First identify the event and how it will be evidenced. Then identify the operative instrument or role, the institution that reviews the authority, the next lawful step and evidence that it has been completed. A break in any link can delay the entire outcome.

Personal, banking, corporate, fiduciary and provider routes should be kept separate. A tabletop review does not involve logging in with another person's credentials, making a test transfer or exercising an authority prematurely.

• the event;
• evidence of the event;
• the instrument and actor;
• recognition and procedure;
• the lawful action;
• confirmation of the result and an update to the map.

The working register includes assets, debts, family payments, payroll, an operating reserve, insurance routes and implementation costs. It then reviews not only the amount but when lawful access becomes available.

A liquidity gap arises when required payments fall due before the representative can evidence the role or receive a payment. The model shows the timing gap and assumptions; it does not calculate exact tax or presume access to another person's account.

Digital elements are divided into financial assets, business-critical services, personal data, devices and security dependencies. For each category, record the intention, lawful actor, provider/custody model, general locator, event procedure and required specialist.

Passwords, PINs, seed or recovery phrases, private keys, multi-factor authentication codes, security answers and the exact location of any secret must not be shared with VB Structuren or placed in email, a client-record system or a public form. Technical ability to log in does not establish authority to act.

For every important category, record the intended outcome in advance: preserve, transfer, archive, memorialise, cancel or delete after the required formalities. Treat the primary phone and email as separate dependencies because they often carry notices, recovery messages and two-step verification.

A tabletop test is completed without entering any account: who learns of the event, where the instruction is found, how the role is evidenced, which provider is contacted and what completion evidence is retained. Actions are separated into the first 72 hours, the first 30 days and the later period, and the map is reviewed annually and after a device, provider or responsible person changes.

In a trust, foundation or similar arrangement, a person may have transferred legal title while retaining a power to replace the manager, approve distributions, change beneficiaries or direct investments. The labels settlor, trustee, protector and beneficiary do not, by themselves, show who actually controls decisions or receives the benefit.

Build one page first: who contributed each asset, who owns it legally, who manages, who can stop or change a decision, who receives money and on what basis, who maintains the records, and what happens on the death or incapacity of a key person. Only then should Dutch and foreign specialists consider classification, possible attribution of assets and reporting duties.

• settlor and source of the contributed assets;
• legal owner and actual manager;
• reserved powers, vetoes and replacement powers;
• beneficiaries, conditions and distribution history;
• banking, accounts, reporting and review triggers.

Key point

The Dutch outcome follows the facts and control—not the foreign label attached to the structure.

The map for a foreign structure identifies the founder or settlor, trustee or board, protector, beneficiaries, the person who owns and controls the assets, distribution rules, governing law and Dutch tax and legal questions. This separates the actual architecture from a marketing label.

Dutch and foreign specialists confirm the consequences within their respective areas of competence. A change of trustee, protector, beneficiary, provider, country or document triggers a new Operating review.

Key point

A review of a foreign trust or foundation remains a separate specialist task, not a universal answer for an international family.