Succession Law and Estate Planning
The framework
Belgian succession law was reformed in 2017-2018. Master: the devolution hierarchy (descendants, ascendants, collaterals, spouse), the reserved portion (réserve) and disposable quota, representation, collation and the return of gifts, the reduction action, and the mechanics of a will and of a pact on future succession (now narrowly permitted). Understand the surviving spouse's usufruct over the deceased's estate and its conversion. Know the liquidation of the estate: inventory, debts, legacies, and the option of acceptance or renunciation.
Traps
- Reserved portion: post-reform, the reserve is expressed as a fraction of the fictitious estate, and the disposable quota is the residue. Old-fraction reflexes are a classic trap.
- Collation: gifts to heirs are presumed to be advances on inheritance unless dispensed; the valuation date matters.
- Representation applies to descendants of a predeceased heir, not to all collaterals.
- Surviving spouse's usufruct: questions test conversion into full ownership and its tax consequences.
- International estates: the European Succession Regulation's habitual-residence rule and professio juris are frequent cross-overs.
Rule of thumb
Build the fictitious estate: add back gifts, value at the relevant date, deduct debts, then compute the reserve. Only after that check whether any gift or will breaches the reserve and triggers reduction.
Worked example: Deceased leaves two children and a will giving a third of the estate to a friend. The reserve for two children leaves a disposable quota; if the legacy exceeds it, the friend's legacy is reduced, not void, and reduction operates proportionally among legatees.