The quasi-statutory division is not switched on by itself

A quasi-statutory division is a variant in a will. It is not automatic. The statutory division of art. 4:13 BW applies because the statute says so, unless the will switches it off. The quasi-statutory division applies only if the will includes it. The names resemble each other. In the file they are two different rules, with two different sources. The source of the one is the statute. The source of the other is the deed.

The civil-law notary reads whether the variant is in the will. The file does not adopt that reading on its own account. A question belongs there for as long as the deed has not been checked: does this will contain a quasi-statutory division? The answer is yes or no, with the passage alongside. A family that uses the term is not a source. Nor is a leaflet, or a memory of a conversation. Only the deed, read by the civil-law notary, fills in the answer.

If the variant is not in it, the file does not switch it on because there is a partner and there are children. The question then remains whether the ordinary statutory division applies, depending on what the will says further. If the variant is in it, it comes into the file as a rule of its own. The consequences are not copied from art. 4:13 BW merely because the name resembles it. What the deed states about assets, claims, interest or payability comes from the deed. What it does not say stays empty.

Interest and payability are a good example of that. Often those are set out in the will or in the statute. With a quasi-statutory division the will is the first place to look, not a default percentage. The file leaves the percentage out until the passage states it. The same goes for the moment at which a child can demand something. That moment is not equated with the death of the surviving spouse or registered partner, unless the deed says so.

Ervazo does not switch the quasi-statutory division on by itself and does not calculate by way of advice. The program does not draw up the deed and makes no payment. A partner with children is not a sufficient fact for that. The name alone switches nothing on. The civil-law notary, the court or the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) decides the specific case. Until the civil-law notary has read the deed, the variant remains an open question and not a division.