Our wide expertise in family law, inheritance law and estate planning enables us to advise private clients as they make important, sometimes sensitive, decisions. Our corporate clients may also have questions which relate to issues in the private sphere and which call for expert legal advice and action. Given our knowledge and experience in both fields, we are always able to reconcile business and private interests.
We can also claim extensive experience in international estate planning, with particular expertise in French family law and inheritance law.
We combine our in-depth legal and tax knowledge with a practical approach geared to finding solutions to even the most complex family and inheritance law issues. In doing so, we are always mindful of the human and emotional aspects that are involved in matters of family law and inheritance law.
Burgemeestre & partners is active in all areas of business law. Our specialists provide practical and proactive advice based on your wishes, requirements and best interests as a business owner.
Our firm assists clients with devising, maintaining and changing their corporate and organisational structure. Moreover, our specialists have broad experience in private equity transactions, takeovers, employee participation arrangements, corporate governance and strategic partnerships (such as joint ventures).
Naturally, we also perform all customary notarial services, such as amendments to articles of association, share transfers, share issues, depositary receipt issues, share pledges, (cross-border) conversions, mergers and corporate split-ups.
We advise property owners, investors and developers and are able to conduct all property-related notarial business, such as commercial and residential property transfers (conveyancing), the division of buildings into commonhold units/condominiums, leasehold transactions, and all matters relating to NSW estates (i.e. those coming under the Dutch Estates (Conservation) Act).
The civil-law notary has a legal obligation to report unusual transactions that may be related to money laundering or terrorist financing to a reporting point of the Financial Intelligence Unit in the Netherlands, named: FIU-Nederland. This obligation is based on the Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (Prevention) Act (in Dutch: Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme ( Wwft)). This obligation is also applicable to proposed transactions that have not have not (yet) been executed.The Wwft applies to almost the entire field of work of the civil-law notary except for most transactions in relation to family and inheritance law.
Under the Notary Act (in Dutch: Wet op het Notarisambt), all clients who request the civil-law notary to provide services, need to have their identity established by the civil-law notary and have their identity verified using a valid and original identification document.
p>The degree of risk posed by a particular client or transaction determines the extent of the investigation that the civil-law notary is obliged to conduct under the Wwft. For example, clients who hold a politically prominent position (PEP's) or family members of PEP's are subject to a more extensive investigation. A civil-law notary may not provide services if the client's survey cannot be completed. If, at that point, a relationship with the client has been established, the relationship has to be terminated. In addition, if there are indications of money laundering or terrorist financing, the civil-law notary is obliged to report this to FIU-Nederland.
Persons can have their identity verified on the basis of a valid national passport, a diplomatic passport or service passport, a valid Dutch identity card with a passport photo or a valid driver's license with a passport photo. In addition, their identity can be verified on the basis of a valid resident permit if their stay in the Netherlands lasts more than three months. Determination of the identity can also be done by another professional in consultation with the civil-law notary.
The identity of a legal entity, such as a (Dutch) BV, a NV or a foundation, can be established by an extract from the trade register of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. This can be either a hard copy extract or an extract in electronic form requested by the office of the civil-law notary.
In addition, Dutch companies must register their ultimate beneficial owner(s) (UBO's) in the UBO register. UBO's are persons who hold a share or economic interest of more than 25 percent in the capital of a legal entity or have actual control (in Dutch: feitelijke zeggenschap) over the company. Every legal entity has at least one UBO, but it can have multiple UBO's. If an UBO cannot be determined, the persons belonging to the senior management are regarded as pseudo-UBO's.
At the commence of the services, the civil-law notary will request an extract from the client from the UBO register. As of October 1, 2024, the civil-law notary has the legal obligation to report back to the UBO register. This means that the civil-law notary must investigate if the registration of the UBO in the UBO-register is correct and if it is not registered correctly or incomplete, the civil-law notary will have to report this to the UBO register.
Based on their professional rules, civil-law notaries may not accept or pay out cash amounts above €2,500 as of May 1st, 2019. Under the Wwft, notaries are obliged to report cash payments to FIU-Nederland. As of July 25, 2018, this reporting obligation applies to cash payments to or by the civil-law notary of € 10,000 or more. Due to the prohibition in the professional rules, in principle cash payments above € 2,500 will not occur. However, the reporting obligation also applies if the client deposits the cash into an account of the civil-law notary. Cash payments intended by the client to the civil-law notary or requested payouts of € 10,000 or more that are not carried out must also be reported. The civil-law notary has no obligation to report if any (intended) unusual transactions are discussed in a exploratory conversation. In such a conversation, clients can discuss all matters freely with the civil-law notary. The legal obligations to report applies from the moment the notary actually commences its services and it is clear that the requested transaction falls under the legal regulations. In that case, the civil-law notary is obliged to report any unusual transaction as referred to in the Wwft to FIU-Nederland. By law, the civil-law notary may not inform a client of such a report.
The Wwft also obligates civil-law notaries to verify the origins of (if any) the clients own funds to be deposited and to keep this information in their file. This obligation also applies if the funds are wired from a Dutch bank account. The civil-law notary has its own investigative obligation in addition to the bank's obligations. This obligation to investigate also applies to funds that are not paid via the civil-law notary's third-party account (in Dutch: derdengeldenrekening) (including payments between the parties). In addition, this obligation to investigate also applies if the transaction is financed with financial resources other than money (such as settlement or shares). The civil-law notary may not participate in a financial transaction if it is not likely that the funds used are originated from a legal source. The extensiveness and depth of the investigation by the civil-law notary depends on the degree of risk of money laundering or terrorist financing. If the investigation cannot be completed to the civil-law notary's satisfaction, the civil-law notary will refuse its services and may report the transaction to FIU-Nederland.
Source: KNB
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