Before meeting the notary: five decisions the family should make itself

A family owns a business worth about €12 million, an investment portfolio of €5 million and a mortgaged home. The daughter works in the company, the son lives abroad, and the spouse needs stable income and the ability to remain at home. ‘Divide everything equally’ does not say who manages the company, where the son’s cash comes from or how the spouse’s costs are funded.

Before choosing a legal form, the family describes the practical outcome for each person. Value, voting power, management, risk and timing are considered separately. Equality or a different balance then becomes an informed choice rather than an automatic percentage.

For one family, protection means the right to remain in the home. For another it means recurring income, the freedom to sell or a reserve for care. Those aims may conflict with an immediate transfer of ownership to the children.

Write down the minimum acceptable outcome: housing, monthly liquidity, freedom of action and tolerable restrictions. The notary can compare routes only when the practical aim is visible.

Fairness between children may take account of earlier support, entrepreneurial risk, work in the company and the waiting time for cash. The executor (executeur), any asset administrator (bewindvoerder), a guardian for minor children (voogd) and their substitutes are selected separately.

An appointment should not be a surprise. A person may refuse the role or lack the right skills. Discuss tasks, time, conflicts, remuneration and a substitute before the name enters the instrument.

An illiquid business and an expensive home can make a family wealthy on paper and vulnerable by timing. Map the first months’ costs, possible tax, mortgage payments, asset maintenance and payments to family members.

A notarial route cannot be assessed without that calendar. If equalisation requires a forced sale of the business, the family objective and its implementation route are contradicting one another.

A foreign heir, property outside the Netherlands or an older foreign will needs a separate local answer. The family appoints a coordinator and creates one question list: which law, which procedure, which document and which professional confirms compatibility.

The preparation produces a two-page statement of objectives and questions. It is not a self-made will. It makes the notarial meeting focused and preserves the link between the family decision, the tax model and implementation.