Converting a life file into an estate

On the day a life file becomes an estate, the phase changes, not the content that was already there. The bank, the home and the contacts stay. A date of death is added. Without that date there is no valuation date for the estate inventory and no start of the deadline for the return. Put the date at the top and use it the same way everywhere. A date in a note and another date in the field is the start of a wrong list. The conversion is the moment to fill that field. Guessing at the day later does not help the division and does not help the indication.

Then comes the circle. Whoever appears to be an heir goes on the list, with the relationship. Acceptance stays open. Do not fix it because a template points one way. The choice is for the heirs, in the form that goes with it, and that choice lies outside this screen. The file states that acceptance is still open, until there is a decision with a source. An open choice is an honest fact. A filled-in choice without a source is a risk for what comes after, from the debts through to the division. Leave the field on open for as long as the documents do the same.

The playbook sets the first tasks ready. Those are reminders: look for papers, tell the banks, check whether there is a will, an estate inventory, prepare the return. They are not deadlines of the Belastingdienst. The task for the inheritance tax return gets an owner, because otherwise the filing keeps floating between the people. The deadline itself follows the year of death. Twenty months for a death in 2026, eight months for a death in 2025 or earlier. The playbook does not fill those months in for you. You check the year and the date of death before you trust the end date of the task.

Amounts do not yet go to the portal on that day. A timeline can be on if the steps are right, but balances without a source stay inside. Internal notes stay inside in any case. The conversion does not automatically share everything a trusted person could read during life. Switch sharing off, and switch a layer on only once the line is right. A balance on the date of death is something other than the balance of today. Until that difference stands on the line, the amount is not a message for heirs. The indication with the table for 2026 waits for the same caution. It is not a return.

The day of conversion asks for a date of death, a circle of heirs, an acceptance that is still open, and tasks from the playbook with an owner. Amounts do not yet go to the portal. What was recorded during life stays, but you start sharing again from the beginning. This is not legal advice and not tax advice. Whether the conversion happens at the right moment, who is authorised and whether acceptance is still really open, is assessed by the notary or an adviser with the documents. The software orders the checklist and does not decide those questions.