Estate inventory in brief: deadline and our service

Two deadlines

The estate inventory must be held within three months of the death. The deed is delivered to the Tax Administration within one month of the inventory meeting. The deadlines apply to every estate: a deed is drawn up even when the deceased had no property or the estate has only debts. Once the debts are recorded in the deed, the heirs are not liable for them with their own money. Three months is a short time if ordering the family history extracts is delayed, because processing them takes weeks. That is why the documents should be ordered right away, alongside the funeral arrangements. If the deadline is not enough, an extension can be applied for; that is described below. The estate inventory is not the same as the distribution of the estate: the deed gathers the information, and the distribution is done later on its basis.

Who the parties are

The parties to the estate are the deceased's heirs, a universal legatee and the surviving spouse until the division of marital property. The parties are invited to the inventory verifiably, but attendance is not compulsory, and an absent party loses no rights. A cohabiting partner is not a party unless named in a will. Cousins do not inherit. The order of succession is this:

• Children or their descendants, and universal legatees
• The surviving spouse as a party until the division; with no descendants and no will, the spouse inherits alone
• Parents, then siblings and their descendants
• Grandparents, then aunts and uncles
• Lastly the state

What the deed records

The deed is a list on whose basis the Tax Administration assesses inheritance tax and with which the estate is managed at the bank. The Tax Administration has no form or template for the deed; banks, law offices, legal aid offices and funeral homes draw them up. The deed names the deceased, the parties and their relationship, the reporter of the estate, the two trustees and a contact person, plus the following:

• The deceased's assets and debts at their value on the date of death
• The surviving spouse's assets and debts and whether there was marital right
• Whether the surviving spouse retains the shared home
• The will and any statutory share claims
• Advance inheritances and gifts within the last three years
• Insurance payouts
• A previously deceased spouse's assets, if no division was made
• Funeral and inventory costs as deductions

Family history extracts and other documents

An unbroken family history of the deceased is needed from the age of 15 to the date of death. For periods of membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church the extract is ordered from a single regional central register and costs 75 euros. For periods when the deceased did not belong to the church, extracts are ordered from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency: 40 euros per document from the electronic register and 80 euros from digitised material, with processing between 5 and 6 weeks. For living parties an extract with personal data is enough. The family history is the longest single wait, so it is ordered first. In addition you need:

• Bank balance certificates as of the date of death
• Securities at their value on the date of death
• The housing manager's certificate for housing company shares
• Certificate of title, cadastral extract and encumbrance certificate for real estate
• Statements from insurance and pension companies
• The will, a prenuptial agreement and the deed of a previously deceased spouse
• Loan statements, unpaid bills and funeral invoices

The reporter, the trustees and the meeting

The reporter of the estate is usually the surviving spouse or a child who knows the deceased's finances. The reporter provides the information and attests that it is correct. Two trustees assess the assets and debts and sign the deed. The law sets no qualification requirement for them, but a party cannot act as a trustee. When the inventory is done through Tyyni, the trustees come from us. The meeting can be held remotely, and it takes under an hour when the deed has been prepared in advance. Signatures are given electronically or on paper. Several signed originals of the deed are made: an original is needed at the bank and for registering title to real estate, and a copy is sent to the Tax Administration. One copy suffices for every party's inheritance tax. Receipts and balance certificates are not sent, but they are kept for six years.

Extension and lateness

If three months is not enough, an extension for holding the inventory is applied for from the Tax Administration before the deadline passes. If the last day falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the application is filed on the preceding working day. An extension is granted only for a justified reason, for example because the family history extracts are delayed. The application is made in OmaVero (Tax matters, Inheritance tax functions, Extension) or on paper form 3626. Even with an extension, the deed must be delivered within one month of the meeting. The consequences of lateness:

• Up to 60 days late: a 50 euro late fee
• More than 60 days late or not at all: a tax increase, usually 10 percent of the increased tax and at least 75 euros
• If the tax is assessed by estimate: a 25 percent increase

What happens after the deed

The Tax Administration assesses inheritance tax on the basis of the deed, and each party receives their own tax decision for their share. After the deed has been filed, the estate is managed jointly: the bank acts on the basis of the deed, and transfers of real estate and housing company shares are made with it. Distribution of the estate is a separate stage. The parties can distribute the estate by mutual agreement, or if they cannot agree, the district court appoints an estate distributor. The estate is closed once the property has been distributed. The deed is the basis for everything that follows: taxation, banking and the distribution. That is why it should be drawn up carefully, and the original should be kept for as long as the estate exists.

What Tyyni handles and what it does not

Tyyni does the estate inventory at a fixed price: 590 euros when we also handle the funeral, and 690 euros as a separate assignment. The price does not change with the size of the estate. We obtain the documents, draft the deed, provide the two trustees and file with the Tax Administration; the meeting is held remotely. We do not handle disputed estates or assets abroad; for those you should use a law office or a legal aid office, and we tell you so at the very start. We also say right away if the deadline looks tight, so that an extension is applied for in time. The price includes:

• Ordering the family history and the parties' extracts
• Requesting balance certificates and other statements
• Drafting the deed
• Two trustees
• The inventory meeting held remotely
• Filing the deed with the Tax Administration

The next step

The estate inventory can be ordered together with the cremation or separately later, also when the funeral was handled elsewhere. Preferably start right after the funeral arrangements, because processing the family history takes weeks and the deadline is three months from the death. To begin, we need the deceased's details, the reporter's contact details and which banks the deceased had accounts with. The remaining documents we request ourselves. The meeting is held remotely, so the parties do not need to travel. The cost of the inventory is deducted in the deed. Call us or start online; nothing is binding until we confirm the arrangements by phone.

Frequently asked questions