The Central Register of Wills

First comes the question whether there is a will. That question comes before the division. The Central Register of Wills (Centraal Testamentenregister) is the place where it is recorded that a deed exists. In the file, consulting that register is a fact of its own, with the date of the consultation and the result. If there has been no consultation, the file does not state that there is no will. A recollection by the family is a different source and gets a different name.

The register says that a deed exists. It does not give the full contents. A hit shows that there is a will, not the clauses. The file takes over no more than the extract shows. The text of the clauses comes in only when the deed itself, or a copy of it, lies in the file. Until then every question of substance stays empty: statutory division, legacy, executor, instruction (last). The extract does not fill those fields.

No hit is also a result, with the same care. The file records the date and that the register then pointed to no deed. That is not a judgment for all time about every possible disposition on death. It is the outcome of that consultation. The intestate heirs can then come into view as a working rule, with the four groups of art. 4:10 BW, for as long as there is no deed. That working rule stays open to revision if a will still turns up later.

The deed itself is requested from the civil-law notary who keeps the document, not copied out from memory. On the timeline stand the request and, after that, the document. An executor or an heir is based on the deed only once the deed is there. The answer from the register lies with it as proof that a search was made, not as a substitute for the deed. Two documents, two roles. The program does not draw the contents from a registration that does not contain the contents.

Ervazo does not consult the register itself and draws up no deed. It keeps the result that someone enters in the file and does not calculate by way of advice. A hit is not a division. The clauses come in only with the deed. The civil-law notary, the court or the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) decides the specific case. As long as only the answer from the register is there, it is known whether a deed exists or not, and nothing further.