Help with Inheritance Issues: Theft and Distribution


Questioner

concerns: theft/embezzlement in the distribution of an inheritance. case: 2 heirs and both joint executors. One of the two has moved into the parental home, among other things, as an anti-squat/theft measure. Due to arbitrary actions/behavior without accountability or prior consultation and delaying the settlement, a disagreement arises due to delaying by one of the two. Ultimately, the judge establishes an agreement, settlement terms, valuations, etc., and both parties agree to this. During this lawsuit, the question was explicitly asked whether any items from the estate had been moved to other locations. This was answered with no twice. After about six months, someone comes to us with pangs of conscience who wants to declare under oath or before the judge that he helped the other party, just before the lawsuit, to have jewelry, furniture, cutlery, porcelain, etc. (7 or 8 station wagons full) hastily shipped elsewhere. The question now is: what can I, as a simple heir, do about this? Most of the items considered to be 'lost' had more of an emotional value than a monetary value and would have been nice to pass on to the children as family heirlooms in due time.

Lawyer

When an error occurs in an agreement or it was concluded/agreed upon by error, it can be dissolved. Given that you have a witness, it is advisable to have a witness statement drawn up. And then you must bring the case before the court. If desired, you may contact me directly.

Lawyer

There is a provision in the Civil Code that imposes a penalty on this kind of behavior. That provision states that whoever steals from an inheritance as an heir forfeits his right to what he wanted to steal. I'll just put it in plain language. So: if an heir behaves as you describe, you should quickly hire a lawyer (the best is: a lawyer specialized in inheritance law, you can find them at www.vean.nl). Assuming that it is worth it financially and that it can also be made clear that there has been theft. Vague stories and suspicions alone are not enough. So that witness: you can still get something out of him.

Questioner

Sorry for the slow response. I had a modem problem. My problem with this story is that the witness did help and has a general idea of ​​what he took away but no detailed descriptions. As a co-heir I could only conclude that some things were no longer there. At the time this was dismissed with the statement that mother had taken them away/sold/given them away or something like that. If such questions were asked of the other party, they could simply deny that they have those things. We have no further evidence. So it is the witness's word against the other party's. Seems to me a shaky starting position. Another question: how expensive is such a procedure compared to the limited financial value of the alienated assets? In your second answer you give me two answers that I can't do much with. A. What is solid evidence in my case? Should this be an exhaustive enumeration and description by the witness or is e.g. recording the fact, dates, etc. sufficient? B. And what do you mean by quite expensive?

Lawyer

In a subsequent answer from Mr van der Kolk, you must have solid evidence because you can do little with suspicions. On the other hand, a procedure is quite expensive.

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