End-of-Life Legalities

 

Or a word to the wise (and for the record)!

After Sander died in April, 2023...without a Will, remember?...and our tax accountant retired, our first order of business was to find an accountant to help Astrid through the morass and utter confusion of what confronted her, the only heir. 

Throughout that process until now, when the estate is now finally on its last leg (thanks to Canada finally figuring out the tax owed!), two very important decisions have been made and finalized:

1.  Our Marriage Post-nup

Bottom line, it's only and all about DUTCH TAX LAWS.  If our now 15-year marriage had continued as the common 50-50 option, any monies designated to our heirs would first have a percentage going to me (on Astrid's death) or to her on mine.  Because that's not our wish, we'd then give the money back to the heirs and pay a tax on our gift back to them.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???????  THAT'S DUTCH TAX LAW!

So, because we didn't know better when we married 15 years ago, we now have signed a post-nup that declares "what's mine is mine, what's yours is yours and what's ours is ours."  PERIOD.

KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF THE DESIRES OF OUR HEARTS!

2.  Dutch Wills and Last Testaments

I already have an American Will and Last Testament, of course, but because I'm a resident of the Netherlands, DUTCH TAX LAW applies to me without regard to my American Will, unless I have a Dutch Will, totally apart from the marriage post-nup.  Astrid already had a Dutch Will but needed it updated, so this past Tuesday we spent an hour with the notary who will now finalize everything for our signatures this next week.

In the notary's office, this was on the table in front of me, giving me a sense of calm.

I realize this is all very personal (and for our record), but I'm taking my duty seriously to urge you to pay attention to your country's TAX LAWS if you haven't already done so.  It took Sander's death (without a Will...I'm repeating myself!) to make us aware of what WE needed to do to minimize DUTCH TAX LAW.

You have no idea of the weight that falls off your shoulders when you pick up that pen and sign on the dotted line (with or without koffie)!