Registration of certificate of inheritance

1. To what extent could the Certificate be registered in your Land Registry? Is this Certificate enough for the registration of ownership (or other rights in rem) in the name of the heirs (or legatees)? Otherwise, which other additional documents or complementary requirements would be needed?

The acceptance of a European Certificate of Succession is provided for by article 27a Cadastre Act Kadasterwet. This provision expressly states that the European Certificate of Succession can be presented to register successions involving registered property.  Further, the European Certificate of Succession can be registered for the purposes laid down in article 63 of the European Succession Regulation.

For practical information about the registration of a European Certificate of Succession as well as for model forms for the withdrawal, rectification, modification or the suspension of the effects of a European Certificate of Succession, please consult the Kadaster Website. The information is accessible in English and can be accessed through the following link.

• Do you request official translations of European Certificates of Succession that are drawn up in a foreign language? Is the registration of a multilingual deed possible?
  Yes, we do ask for the official document and the translation in dutch. the dutch translation will be registered, the document in the foreign language will be traceable (but not be officially registered in the land records). 

2. In particular: for the purposes of registration, if the interested parties have complied with a Certificate of Inheritance adequately, will sharing out or distribution of estate deeds be also necessary?

This depends. In the Netherlands, a sharing out that has immediate effect in rem is known. In most situations however a sharing out does not have immediate effect in rem but only gives rise to a personal claim. Therefore, it is argued that the key question is how the foreign country approaches this issue. If the foreign country provides for immediate effect in rem, then it will probably be applied in the land register immediately. If this is not the case, a notarial deed has to be drawn up to create the effect in rem.

3. In the event that the Certificate cannot be used for purposes of registration at all in your LR system, please let’s know the legal reasons.

The European Certificate of Succession can be registered in the land register of the Netherlands. For more information, please consult the answer given to question 1.

4. May the Certificate be rejected by your registration authorities in the event of inadequate completion, mistakes or inaccuracies?

The registration of a European Certificate of Succession is conditional on the completion of certain formal requirements. For example, the Certificate has to contain the relevant information (article 68 European Succession Regulation). Further, it is required that Certificates that are drawn up in a language other than Dutch, are translated (by a certified translator). For a complete overview of the formal registration requirements, please consult the Kadaster Website. The information is accessible in English and can be found accessed through the following link.

Depending on the degree of severity, the registrar will either contact the issuing authority to ask for a ratification or – in more severe cases – will reject the application to register the certificate in the land register.

• Do you control whether the authority, who issued the Certificate, is indeed competent to do so? Imagine you receive a request for the registration of a European Certificate of Succession that is drawn up by a foreigner claiming to be a notary in the Netherlands. Do you actively control whether this person is actually a notary in the Netherland and if so, how do you control this?
  Yes, we do check the competence of the issuing authority. we did ask the respective elra contact points with regard to the finding places of the german, austrian, belgian, polish and italian notaries.
• A foreign ‘court’ has drawn up a European Certificate of Succession and submitted a request for registration to your organization. As the Certificate does not comply with your national registration requirements, you have to reject the application. In practical terms, how and in which language do you contact the ‘court’?
  We contact this court in the german or english language. 
• Does your answer to the preceding question change when it is not the issuing authority but the heir himself who submits the request for registration?
  No. in that case we will also contact the person using the german or english language.
  

5. For the certificate to be effective for the distribution of the estate and its registration, should this document be issued by national notaries or other practitioners or could it be issued by foreign notaries?

For the purposes of this regulation, the Dutch Kadaster will register European Certificates of Succession which were issued by a foreign competent authority.