As an heir, you have three options for dealing with an estate. You can accept purely, accept benefactorily or reject. If you reject, you have never been an heir and therefore do not receive anything as an heir. Consequently, you are not liable for the debts of the estate. If you reject, it is usually the case that the descendants of the rejecting heir become heirs, and they too have to make a choice again.
If an estate needs to be rejected on behalf of a minor, this can only be done with the consent of the subdistrict court judge. At that point, the judge wants to know the composition of the estate in order to assess the consequences for the minor.
A rejection is done by filing a statement with the court registry. This declaration will be registered at the court in the estate register, so that it is clear to third parties (e.g. creditors) that you have rejected the estate. Court fees are payable for making a declaration of rejection. If several identical declarations are made at the same time in one estate, court fees are only due once.
In a number of cases, it is fiscally interesting to reject. For example, if you inherit from a sibling and would like to give something to your own children. You could then favour your children untaxed. This is because gift tax is due on the favouring resulting from the repudiation. However, it is important here that either there is no will or a will provides for this.
For more information on rejection, pure acceptance or beneficent acceptance, please contact us. We will be happy to advise you.
