Settling an inheritance without untraceable heirs

Questioner

Dear Lawyer, My aunt recently passed away. She has no husband, no children and no parents. She does have brothers and sisters and they have children and grandchildren. Some brothers and sisters have also passed away. We now know who the legal heirs are. My question is about the following: One of the deceased brothers has a son who has since passed away and he has 2 children. These children are also partly one of the legal heirs. However, these children are untraceable and so is their mother. We have their names and that is actually all. We would like to continue with the financial settlement and close everything. The other heirs are all known and in harmonious contact with each other. Since my aunt was under guardianship and mentorship, there is also access to her bank accounts. How can we now legally continue with the settlement of inheritance-related matters? Incidentally, I myself am not a legal heir, but I have offered to look into this. Thank you in advance for your response. Yours sincerely.

Lawyer

I advise you to contact a notary, who has access to the BRP (Basic Registration of Persons) and can thus find the addresses of the untraceable persons.

Questioner

We are in contact with a notary, but the (minor) children probably live abroad and cannot be found. How can we go on without reaching them? Can we set aside their portion of the inheritance and move on?

Lawyer

In this case, you can request the court to establish a guardianship due to absence. You must demonstrate that you have done everything possible to track down the persons in question.

Questioner

We are in contact with a notary, but the (minor) children probably live abroad and cannot be found. How can we go on without reaching them? Can we set aside their portion of the inheritance and move on?

Lawyer

see the previous answer, you can request the court to establish a guardianship due to absence.

Questioner

Thanks again for your reply. By mistake my same question was posted for the second time, while you already answered it. I don't know exactly how this happened, but that was not the intention, my apologies for that!