Property /house

If your friend doesn't understand what happens in this situation, he/she needs to go back to the notaire/notaris that handled and get them to explain what happens if one spouse dies.

Note that 1) all bank accounts will be frozen as soon as the death is registered, 2) the spouse won't automatically inherit the deceased's share of the property but will acquire usufruit rights (if the deceased had children*, they WILL automatically inherit the deceased share), and 3) there will almost certainly be some inheritance tax to pay.

If either one of you have no children* and you haven't yet made wills in Belgium this is an URGENT task - the notaire/notaris will arrange it - the consequences of not having wills if you don't have children could be quite dire.

* Children includes children from a previous relationship and even illegitimate children.

Sorry, ............. the notaire/notaris that handled the original property purchase and get them ..............

Hi Isan, they also need to be aware that life insurance will be taxed here. So they took out cover to pay off the balance in the event one of them dies the government will take a big chunk of it. So it may not cover the outstanding g balance. The laws here are really harsh for the surviving spouse. The system is pretty difficult and lengthy. It depends the age of the children if any but although your friend has rights to live in the home the children if any will each own some part of it. If in joint names then the half of the ownership will be reverted to the children and the spouse in equal shares if the marriage is recognised from what I understand. If they weren't married they Noraire should have made this in the agreement.
I have a friend whose spouse died they and their three children each received one quarter share of the half that was in the spouses name,. So my friend has 5/8 share and the children 1/8 each. They were all at home when the spouse died but now two left to study.

I am a widower so I have been through this situation.
My wife's death was not unexpected so we had gone to a notaris beforehand and had an extensive briefing on all the implications.
This is something that your friends should do for their joint piece of mind.
We were able to pay off our mortgage just before her death so that was not a problem for us.
All bank accounts to which my wife was a signatory were blocked forthwith but an account in my name was opened with half the balance from our joint account. My saving account was unaffected. I had to take to the bank all invoices with any element which was the responsibility of my wife - e.g. the previous month's phone bill - and they were then paid, half from her account and half from mine. This was inconvenient but obviously didn't last long.

"The laws here are really harsh for the surviving spouse. The system is pretty difficult and lengthy."
This was absolutely NOT my experience.
I have the right to live in 'her' half of the house for the rest of my life but had to pay inheritance tax on the perceived benefit. I'm sure that that amount will depend on the value of the house and the age of the survivor; in my case it was around €200.00. The children nominally own their mother's 'half' of the house and they, too, had to pay inheritance tax even though they have not inherited anything yet. There is a system by which children can actually get their share - and kick the surviving parent out - but it is so disadvantageous to them to do so that I cannot imagine that anyone would ever try it.

I'm certain that the place to start - and to start now - is with a notaris.