The grandchild by representation

If a child of the deceased died earlier, the children of that child can take his or her place. That is called representation (plaatsvervulling). The grandchildren do not each receive a full child's share of their own on top of the other children. Together they share the place of the parent who died earlier. In the file that parent stands with the date of death, and beneath that the grandchildren with their names. Against the group you write that they share that one place. You leave any fraction empty. Ervazo does not divide the place into pieces of its own choosing.

A grandchild of a child who is still alive does not step into that place. The parent who is still alive is himself or herself the heir in that line. The grandchild then does not come onto the list next to that parent as an extra person entitled. You may if you wish note the grandchild as a family member, not as an heir, unless a will itself names the grandchild. Those two grounds stay separate: representation because the parent died earlier, or a disposition in the deed. A birthday card to grandmother does not make the grandchild an heir. The date of death of the parent in between is the fact that opens the place.

If there are several grandchildren of the same child who died, they all stand in that one place. You do not give the first grandchild a full share and the others a remainder. Nor do you give each grandchild the share of a child of the deceased. The place is one. You do not yourself write how that place is later expressed in figures. A child of the deceased who is alive keeps a place of their own, beside the place of the child who died earlier. Those two places are not one pot. On the list you see the living children and, separately, the branch of the deceased child.

Check whether the grandchild was still alive on the day of death, and whether there is again a further line if that grandchild died earlier. You note that further line in the same way: it shares the place, it does not receive an extra full share. A missing date of birth remains a gap, not a reason to skip someone or, the other way round, to count them in. Ervazo makes no deed and fills in no fraction.