A will sets the statute aside

The statutory division of art. 4:13 BW is the rule for as long as the will does not switch it off. A will prevails over that division if it says so. If the will says nothing about that division, the statute remains the working rule. In the file that is a yes or a no with a source, not an impression of the atmosphere. The source is the deed. Without a deed the answer is still open, even if the family thinks it knows what the deceased wanted.

The clause should be traceable word for word. The file names the will, the date and the civil-law notary, and points to the passage that switches the statutory division off or, instead, leaves it in place. A summary in one's own words may stand beside it, but it does not replace the document. Whoever only writes down that there is a will has not yet written down whether art. 4:13 BW applies. Those two facts lie side by side and both stay visible.

If the will switches the division off, the house and the claims follow the deed and not the default of the statute. The surviving spouse or registered partner does not then receive the assets automatically. The children do not then automatically receive a monetary claim that is not yet payable. What the deed does allocate comes into the file as a rule of its own, with the deed as the source. What the deed does not mention stays empty. The program does not fill the gap with the statutory division, because that has just been switched off.

If the will leaves the statutory division in place, or is silent, art. 4:13 BW remains the division in the file. Other clauses can exist beside it. A legacy, an instruction (last) or an executor does not silently change the division of the rest. Each part gets a rule of its own. In that way it stays visible what comes from the statute and what comes from the deed. A will is not a switch that turns all statutory rules off at once.

Ervazo does not read the deed as a civil-law notary and does not calculate by way of advice. It records what has been entered, with the source alongside. The program does not itself draw up the deed. A yes or a no without a passage remains an open field. The civil-law notary, the court or the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) decides the specific case. As long as the passage is not in the file, the question whether the statute has been switched off remains an open question.