A handwritten codicil

A codicil under Article 4:97 of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek) is valid only if the maker wrote it entirely by hand, dated it and signed it personally. The text is therefore not typed and not printed. A signature under a printed sheet does not make that sheet a codicil. The date is on the same paper, so that it is later clear on which day the maker wrote. The signature is that of the maker. Initials of a housemate or of a child do not take its place. The file should contain the document itself or a readable image, with the date that is on it. Ervazo does not draw up the codicil. It notes whether handwriting, date and signature are visible.

The codicil can leave certain clothes, certain jewelry that someone wore personally, certain household goods and certain books. It concerns items you can point to, not a category in general. A sentence that names a ring, a coat or a title is usable. A sentence that only speaks of jewelry or of books without naming them leaves open which object is meant. In the description of the estate inventory the asset remains an entry of its own, with the name of the person to whom the codicil assigns it. The source is the handwritten document, not a memory of a conversation. If the name of the asset is not literally on paper, the allocation stays open. Ervazo does not fill in an object that the codicil does not name.

The codicil can also say that those named goods stay outside a marital community of property. That is a sentence about those things, not about the whole estate. The sentence only has a point if the goods themselves have been identified. A rule such as my children share the jewelry does not suffice, because the items have not been specified. Copy the literal designation into the file: which garment, which piece of jewelry, which piece of household goods, which book, and to whom. Add whether the codicil says that this asset falls outside the community. If that sentence is missing, you note that the codicil is silent on it. You do not infer that exclusion from the fact that it was a personal piece of jewelry. The paper shows what is on it, and what is not on it remains an open field.

Keep the codicil with the papers of the estate and note who has the paper in hand. A copy in a folder is a memory aid, not a substitute for the question whether the original still exists. If a second handwritten sheet appears later, both dates remain visible. You do not strike the older sheet because the newer one looks more complete. Which sheet applies is a question for the notary. Ervazo lays the sheets side by side and does not choose. The program makes no deed and gives no opinion on validity.