Booking an advance to an heir

Sometimes an heir needs money before the division is complete. An advance from the estate can then be made, but only if the person who is authorised takes that decision and the estate inventory can bear it. Book the amount as a payment to that heir, in reduction of their share, not as a gift and not as winding-up costs. Put the date, the amount, the account from which it was paid and the name of the recipient. Also write down who took the decision: the executor, the heirs together, or the notary. A transfer without that sentence cannot later be explained.

Before you pay, look at debts that are still open and at costs that are still to come, such as the funeral bill. An heir who asks first does not automatically get money first. The other heirs hear of the decision, in the same factual wording. Do not promise that the rest will later receive the same amount, unless that decision has really been taken. If you agree unequal advances, the write-off against each person's share stays visible. An advance that has been booked nowhere disappears from the final account and comes back as a surprise.

The recipient confirms receipt, by email or with a short statement with the date and the amount. Keep that with the payment. Agree that the advance will be set off in the final division and that it is not a gift. That sentence belongs in the confirmation, so that no one later presents it as a gift or, on the contrary, forgets it. Whether set-off remains possible if the share turns out smaller than the advance, you discuss with the notary before you transfer a large amount. In the file you leave that question open for as long as it has not been answered.

An advance in belongings works in the same way, with an extra risk. Whoever takes a car or a piece of jewellery can give the impression of accepting the estate. So formulate the handover as an arrangement in the estate inventory, with a list and a confirmation. You put the value with it only if there is a source, such as a valuation you keep. Without a source the value stays empty and the handover is still recorded. A figure the recipient names themselves without a document you do not take over as a value in the estate inventory.

In the account and justification the advance stands with the payments or the handovers, with the name of the heir. In the division it comes back as a reduction of what that person still receives. Those two places must name the same amount and the same date. Ervazo can record both; the program does not transfer the money and does not decide whether the advance is allowed. A task reminds you to inform the other heirs and to file the confirmation. The task is done once those documents are there, not only once the money has already left the account.

This is an administrative checklist, not legal advice. The notary, the bank or the body concerned decides what this file needs and in which order. Ervazo keeps the tasks, the letters and the recorded values. The program does not send the letters, does not pay any debts and does not file a return. For each step, note the date, the person and the document you have received. What is still missing stays an open task. A ticked line means only that the administration has been updated. Do not treat the amount as a gift, and note the date, the amount and who decided.