Rejecting German uncle's inheritance

Questioner

My uncle who lived and worked in Germany has passed away. Now he had debts so his (German/Dutch) children will reject the inheritance. In Germany the rules are that if you are an heir and do not reject within the term that you have accepted it. Now my parents are worried that we will automatically accept the inheritance if we do nothing. Two questions: - do we need to take action, are we officially already heirs or should we be notified? - do we have to go all the way to Germany to reject the inheritance? I read a lot about rejecting in the Netherlands and on behalf of multiple people at once. (this saves considerably in costs) I can hardly imagine that if one of my cousins ​​lived in, say, America, he would have to go to Germany to avoid inheriting a debt.

Lawyer

With the entry into force of the European Succession Regulation on 17 August 2015, heirs and legatees residing in the Netherlands who are dealing with an estate that has been opened in another Member State of the European Union (with the exception of Denmark, the United Kingdom and Ireland) can make a declaration of acceptance or rejection of the estate or legacy at the registry of the court of their place of residence, in accordance with the procedure applicable under Dutch law. I have no experience with it and do not know whether there is substitution in German law in case of rejection by the original heirs. You could ask the law firm Damste (www.damste.nl). I think they have know-how regarding German inheritance law. But suppose your parents become heirs through the rejection by the children, then you can reject in NL in any case. You and your possible brothers and sisters will have to do the same.

Lawyer

Still an intriguing question. You can also inquire with Mr Schimansky in Zutphen. He is a lawyer in both NL and Dld and specializes in inheritance law (NL and Dld). See info@schimanski.nl Good luck (and let me know how it turned out).