In Belgium, an inheritance deed is an instrument drawn up by a notary which states the identity of the deceased and his/her heirs.
To draw up such deed, the notary will first carry out tax investigations to ensure that no tax debts are owed by the deceased or the heirs. If the deceased or the heirs owe any tax debts, these will need to be settled before any banking assets can be unblocked.
The objective of an inheritance deed, to which the notary usually annexes an extract of the death certificate, is to inform financial institutions about the deceased’s estate succession and, for this purpose, contains mainly the following information:
- the deceased’s full identity and, if relevant, his/her matrimonial property regime
- the location and date of death
- whether or not there is a gift between spouses
- whether or not there is a will
- the devolution of the estate
An inheritance deed has no particular probative value and is anyhow not deemed to be evidence until such time as it is subject to a procedure challenging its authenticity. It is information gathered by the notary on the basis of which the notary draws certain conclusions, which can be rebutted by evidence to the contrary under ordinary law. The term “acte de notoriété”1 (affidavit) reflects this state of affairs.
1 Note from the translator: “acte de notoriété” in French literally translates into English as “deed of notoriety”.
