Inheritance in Belgium. Is this a violation of Human Rights?

Sorry for your loss. I am no expert but I think I understand your question.
Regarding inheritance, it is common that if you claim inheritance you will inherit both good and bad after the deceased.
Once renounced, inheritance cannot ever be claimed back unless you can prove you were physically forced to renounce and that you can’t in this case.
If you claim inheritance, and his undoubted responsibility for the company’s failiour be proved in the court proceedings, you will inherit all of the penalties and liabilities.
His assets are blocked until court decision regarding his influence on the bankruptcy is reached.
Sorry but that’s risk that has to be taken based on your personal knowledge of judgement of the deceased.

Thank you for your very quick response.
My irritation for want of a better word is that in this case there is no legal action taking place but we are being advised to decline inheritance absolutely on the possible chance that there is a legal case and that it is an absolute decision. There seems to be no allowance to maybe put it on hold until a decision is reached.
I know that you can't have your cake and eat it however this is such an outside possibility it seems unfair.
Not only have they lost their Father, we are having  to sell the family home and they will also have lost everything that he has worked for on what I again see as a slight possibility.
The win win is the state and the lose lose family.
I feel that their rights are being eroded because of the rigidity of the laws here.

Here is something that can be of real use to you.

If the deceased has one or more children, the spouse is entitled to an usufruct in the estate

The usufruct is the right to hold the assets of the estate and to collect and use the dividends, interest, rent, etc. It is comparable to a life interest. It does not give a right to sell the assets of the estate. Both the heirs and the spouse have the right to ask that the life interest is converted into full ownership of some of the assets, but the spouse may refuse this conversion in respect of the house.

Community property is a typical continental form of matrimonial property. By default everything a Belgian couple acquires after their marriage is owned by both. The possessions they had before their marriage, as well as anything they inherit from their family, remain their own private property. They can change these rules by signing a marriage contract before a notary so that they either own everything separately or everything as community property

When one spouse dies, half of everything owned in community property remains the property of the surviving spouse and is not part of the deceased person's estate. The other half of community property falls in their estate.

If there is one child, he or she inherits at least half of the deceased’s assets, two thirds are reserved if there are two children, and three quarters if there are three or more children
The surviving spouse has an usufruct in one half of the assets of the deceased, in particular in the family home
If there are no children, the parents or grandparents are entitled to one quarter of the assets for the mother's side and one quarter for the father's side
A will may only dispose of the assets that remain after these rules are applied. If there are no protected heirs then a will may dispose of all of a person's property.



The estate
The estate is made up of all the assets and all the debts of the deceased person.

The assets are:

All their private property
The deceased person's share of the community property
All income to which they were entitled up to the date of death
All debts owed to them
The debts are:

All private debts
Half of any debts of the the community property if applicable
Funeral and other final expenses (such as hospital fees)
Legal fees for managing the succession
Any legacies to be delivered
If there are more debts than assets, the heirs can reject the inheritance.

Acceptance or rejection of the inheritance
Any heir, however they inherit (by will or by law), may:

Accept all the inheritance, in which case their estate and all their share of the deceased person's assets and debts become one
Accept the inheritance under condition of inventory (beneficium inventarii) which keeps the estate of the deceased separate from that of the heir. The heir will then only pay debts up to the total value of the inherited assets
Reject the inheritance, in which case the heir will inherit neither the assets, nor the debts of the deceased. The inheritance then goes to the other heirs
If an heir accepts an inheritance under condition of inventory or rejects it, he or she must make a declaration to the clerk of the court of first instance in the place where succession is being settled.

An heir who accepts an inheritance under the condition of inventory can change their mind and accept the inheritance outright. However, an heir cannot undo his rejection of the inheritance, even if he did not understand the consequences of rejecting it. For this reason it is important to obtain legal advice before deciding whether to accept or reject an inheritance.

These decisions are subject to time limits:

Three months to have the inventory drawn up
Forty days to decide whether to accept or reject the estate

This is a question that should be asked of a notary/lawyer. Because there are too many legal implications.

My analysis of the situation, without being a lawyer and without a thorough knowledge of this problem, is that:

- He was director so he was with an employee contract.
- Even if the company that employed him went bankrupt, without fraudulent acts on his part, he did not consider himself responsible.
- The debts of a company are not the responsibility of the employees. Unless there is proven fraud.

The Central Successor Registry centralizes information on inheritances

A death is always a difficult moment, leading to all sorts of practical questions that must also be settled.

Since March 1, 2018, the metadata of important deeds and certificates concerning the settlement of the estate of a deceased person can be found easily thanks to the new Central Registry Successoral (RCS abbreviated).

These are acts and certificates of inheritance issued by a notary, acts relating to a declaration of renunciation, acts relating to an acceptance under the benefit of an inventory and European inheritance certificates.

The consultation of the RCS is free for both citizens and professionals (lawyers, notaries ...), and may, initially, be the subject of a request to the Support Service Databases Fednot, the Federation of Notaries, responsible for the management of the RCS.

Administrative simplification

Statements regarding the acceptance of an inheritance "under benefit of inventory" are also included in the RCS. Until now, these declarations were kept in paper form at the registries of the district courts of the district where the succession had begun. Which was impractical and not very respectful of the environment; people had to go to different jurisdictions and there was no information available on other documents related to the estate. All this is a thing of the past: in all simplicity, the RCS now gives a complete overview of the parties involved in the settlement of an estate. All this information is now centralized and you no longer need to move. The register is also a central point of contact in the search for information on the contact details of the notaries concerned.

Accept or not an inheritance?

An heir may adopt three attitudes to an inheritance.

He may, in the first place, choose to accept the succession altogether. To do this, he has no steps to take; the acceptance of an estate can be tacit. In other words, one must be cautious about the actions one takes when one inherits. If you empty a family member's house after death, assume that you accept the inheritance ... even in the presence of debts.

The other two options facing an inheritance are waiver or acceptance under the benefit of inventory. In both cases, you must make a declaration at the notary of your choice. This declaration will then be mentioned in the RCS.

If you can say with certainty that there is more debt than income in the estate, you should give it up. In this case, you will not inherit anything, but you will not be required to repay the debts either.

If you are unsure of the extent of the debts in the estate, it is better to accept the estate under inventory benefit. The notary will draw up an inventory of all assets (income) and liabilities (debts) of the estate. So you'll know where you are. By accepting the estate under inventory benefit, you will never be required to pay more than the value of the asset you inherit. Therefore, in the worst case, you will not inherit anything at all.

In conclusion, make an appointment with a notary.

Regarding the violation of human rights, when it comes to money, you can forget them ...