The statutory division in plain language

Art. 4:13 BW of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek) governs the statutory division. That regime applies when the deceased leaves a spouse or a registered partner, plus one or more children. A will can switch the regime off. If the will says nothing about it, the statute stays in place. In the file that test comes first: is there a spouse or registered partner, are there children, and does the will switch the division off. Without those three facts a house is only an entry in the estate inventory. The software does not choose the division.

The surviving spouse or registered partner receives the assets. The house, the accounts, the household contents and the car go to that partner. The children do not thereby become co-owners of the house. In the estate inventory every entry remains, with the value on the date of death and the source of that figure. Beside that, the division records that the assets have been allocated to the surviving spouse or registered partner. That is a rule about allocation, not a sale and not a transfer of title. A bank statement or a WOZ valuation document belongs with the entry as its source, not as proof that the program has transferred ownership.

The children receive a monetary claim against the surviving spouse or registered partner. In principle that claim is payable on the death of the surviving spouse or registered partner, not already on the day the first parent dies. In the file that is a separate entry for each child. It states the child's name and the debtor's name. It is not a fraction of the house. It is not a sum that is transferred now. As long as no one has fixed the amount, the field stays empty. An open claim with a question about its source is better than a round figure.

Art. 4:13 paragraph 4 BW does mention interest. The monetary claim is increased by statutory interest, but only insofar as that interest is higher than six percent per year, as simple interest on the principal, from the day the estate opens. The deceased may provide otherwise, and so may the surviving spouse or registered partner and the child together. In the file that percentage does not come from an assumption. It follows the statutory interest for the year in question, or the departure set out in the notarial deed or in a later agreement. Ervazo does not fill in an interest percentage of its own and does not invent an extra ground on which the claim becomes payable.

In the file the statutory division remains a recorded fact, not a completed transfer. It states who the surviving spouse or registered partner is, which children have a claim, and whether the will switches the statute off. Ervazo does not draw up the notarial deed, does not file the tax return and does not make the payment. The program orders the entries and does not calculate by way of advice. The civil-law notary, the court or the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) decides the specific case. Until that decision, an open question stays open.