The four groups of intestate heirs

If there is no will that provides otherwise, the statute designates the intestate heirs. Art. 4:10 BW does that in four groups, in a fixed order. The first group is the children and the partner. The second group is the parents together with the brothers and sisters. The third group is the grandparents. The fourth group is the great-grandparents. In the file that order belongs as a map, not as a list of names without rank.

The group that is in view is noted in plain language. A child belongs to the first group. A spouse or registered partner belongs there too, if the statute applies to this estate. A brother belongs to the second group, together with the parents. A grandparent belongs to the third. A great-grandparent to the fourth. The file does not itself fill in further ancillary rules. Someone who does not fit in one of these groups does not silently receive a place in a group.

The file names the people by their tie to the deceased. Child, partner, parent, brother, sister, grandparent or great-grandparent. That tie is a fact from the civil-status register or from another document, not an impression of the family. A niece, a nephew or a good friend does not stand in these four groups merely because they were close. For such a person another basis is needed, such as a will. That basis stays empty until the document is there.

Fractions do not belong in the software as a default. In special cases the statute lays down the shares otherwise than by an equal split. The file therefore does not set an automatic division across a group. It names who belongs to the group now in view, and leaves the share of the estate open until the civil-law notary or the deed states the share. An empty fraction is not a gap in care here. It is the difference between listing people and fixing a division.

Ervazo ranks the persons involved who have been recorded and does not calculate by way of advice. The program draws up no deed, no tax return and no payment. Choosing a group in the file is not a ruling that those people inherit. The map of four groups remains an ordering of names and ties. The civil-law notary, the court or the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) decides the specific case. Until that decision the fraction stays empty.