Belgian inheritance laws valuation date

Question

Is the value of a property at the time of deceased used for splitting inheritence or is it the value of the property when sold a later date?

Answer 1

I only know the relevant law in germany but strongly suspect the law is the same or very similar in Belgium.

The relevant date for the value of an inheritance is the day of the death. For all items in the inheritance the value on that day needs to be estimated and this value is used both for computing an inheritance tax and for computing the size of the inheritance for the different heirs.

For real estate there should be some formula that uses a square meter price from some official source to compute the value (in German this is called 'Bodenrichtwert' and can be found for example here). Whether you can realize more or less than this price in an actual sale later on is not relevant for the inheritance.

If there is no testament the heirs need to agree amonst each other who gets what. Their respective shares in total value are computed based on the value at the time of death.

Answer 2

I am in New Zealand. My answer is based on my experience.

My parents-in-law died not so long ago. To figure out the value of their house, the lawyer said that the house would have to be sold. So, the trustees wanted to sell the house.

But I wanted to buy it for sentimental reasons for my wife. I asked the beneficiaries to select a valuer. I offered them the price from the valuation less 2% (agent fees). And it was accepted.

Note that this was for the purpose of splitting the value of the house. Of course, the Tax department would probably take the value at the time of death. But there are no death duties in NZ.