The levenstestament stops at death

A levenstestament arranges the period in which someone is still alive but can no longer, or no longer wants to, act themselves. A holder of the power of attorney can then do business at the bank, with the care services or around the home, within the limits of that deed. After the death that power of attorney does not continue. Then the will takes over and, if it designates someone, the executor. Whoever used the levenstestament in the last months often has the folder and the last payments. You take over that knowledge, not the authority. Write the name of the holder of the power of attorney down as the source of that knowledge, not as executor.

In a life file you can record where the levenstestament is: with which notary, under which reference, and who has a certified copy. That is a place where it can be found, not a valid deed in itself. After the death you ask the notary how the will relates to what was done during life. Sometimes the executor is the same person as the holder of the power of attorney, sometimes not; write the names apart with the source. The Central Register of Wills (Centraal Testamentenregister) shows that there is a will, not the text. The levenstestament is a different document from that will.

Acts just before the death deserve a calm check, not suspicion as the starting point. Ask the holder of the power of attorney for an overview of accounts, large payments and any sale in the last period. That overview belongs with the account of that period, not with a judgment you pass yourself. With a gift or a large transfer you note the date and the amount and you put the question to the notary. You do not write in the file whether the power of attorney covered that act. The text of the levenstestament and the notary do that.

Care decisions from the levenstestament no longer have effect after the death for new care. They can explain why an admission ran as it did; keep that wish as background. Do not mix it with the description of the estate inventory. Funeral wishes sometimes stand in the same document or in a separate disposition (wilsbeschikking). You pass those wishes to the funeral director for as long as the ceremony is not yet fixed. Afterwards they remain a source with the bill, not an instruction you still change. Note where the document lies, so that a colleague does not have to search for it again.

If there was no levenstestament, write that down too, with how you asked after it. A family that searches for a document that does not exist loses days. Ask the notary the family names and look in the life file. No find is an outcome; the winding-up then starts with the will or with the statutory rules, through the notary. The person who informally did the care remains a source for the practical course of events. Receive the folder against a short list, so that later it is clear what was in it.

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 turn the levenstestament into an authority that would still continue after the death.