Wills vs Trusts in Amsterdam: 7 Proven Steps to Protect Your Family the Smart Way

Wills vs trusts in Amsterdam is one of those questions that sounds simple until you try to answer it. If you grew up in the UK, the US, Canada or Australia, you probably think of a trust as the serious option and a will as the basic one. In the Netherlands, that picture flips. Dutch law has no trust of its own, and for most families living in Amsterdam, a well-drafted Dutch will made at a notary does almost everything a trust would do back home, often at a fraction of the cost.

That does not mean trusts are useless here. The Netherlands recognises foreign trusts, and plenty of expats arrive with a US revocable trust or an offshore structure already in place. The catch is that the Dutch tax authorities look straight through most of them, which can lead to tax bills nobody planned for.

So which one actually protects your family? It depends on who you want to protect, what you own, where you own it, and which passport you hold. This guide walks through how Dutch inheritance law works, what a will can and cannot do, how a trust in the Netherlands is treated, what the 2026 inheritance tax figures look like, and which setup fits common Amsterdam situations: young families, unmarried couples, blended families, Americans abroad, and business owners. By the end, you should know exactly what to ask your notary, and why.

Wills vs Trusts in Amsterdam: The Short Answer

If you only read one section, read this one. For the large majority of people living in Amsterdam, the right answer to wills vs trusts in Amsterdam is a will, not a trust. More precisely, it is a notarial will combined with a lasting power of attorney.

Here is the quick version:

• A notarial will is the backbone of estate planning in Amsterdam. It lets you choose your heirs, name a guardian for your children, appoint an executor, delay when children get control of money, and keep assets out of a child’s future divorce.
• A trust is the exception, not the rule. The Netherlands has no domestic trust law. It recognises trusts set up under foreign law, but for tax purposes it usually treats the assets as if they still belong to you or your heirs.
• Dutch tools already do what trusts do. Testamentary administration (bewind), usufruct, a family foundation, a STAK or a family BV can each handle a job that a trust would handle in a common law country.
• Trusts still matter for some people. If you hold assets in the US or UK, already have a foreign trust, or are planning a move away from the Netherlands, a trust may sit alongside your Dutch will. It should not replace it.

The rest of this article explains why, so you can make the decision with your eyes open.

How Dutch Inheritance Law Shapes Wills vs Trusts in Amsterdam

You cannot judge wills vs trusts in Amsterdam without knowing the default rules first. Dutch inheritance law already gives some families decent protection, and it leaves others completely exposed. Your plan should fix the gaps, not repeat what the law already does.

What happens if you die without a will

If you live in Amsterdam and die without a will, Dutch law decides who inherits. The core rule is called the statutory division (wettelijke verdeling):

1. Your spouse or registered partner and your children are the heirs, in equal shares.
2. The surviving spouse or partner receives all the assets outright.
3. The children receive a money claim against that parent, equal to their share. In most cases that claim only becomes payable when the surviving parent dies.

For a married couple with young children, this is actually a fairly good outcome. The surviving parent keeps the house and the savings, and the kids are protected on paper. Where it goes wrong is everything around it: who raises the children if both parents die, who manages an 18-year-old’s inheritance, and what happens with a child’s claim if the surviving parent remarries.

Unmarried partners get nothing by default

This is the single biggest trap for couples in Amsterdam, where a lot of people live together for years without marrying or registering a partnership. Without a will, an unmarried partner inherits nothing. It does not matter how long you have been together or whose name is on the lease. Your estate goes to your children, or if you have none, to your parents and siblings.

On top of that, an unmarried partner who does inherit through a will only gets the large partner exemption for inheritance tax if certain conditions are met, such as a notarial cohabitation agreement plus at least six months living together, or five years at the same registered address. Miss those conditions and the partner can be taxed at the highest rates.

Forced heirship (the legitieme portie)

The Netherlands has a mild form of forced heirship. Each child can claim a legitieme portie, which is half of what they would have received if there had been no will. A few points make this less scary than it sounds:

• It is a cash claim against the estate, not a right to a specific asset like the house.
• The child has to actively claim it, and the right expires if they wait too long (generally five years after death).
• A properly drafted will can often push payment back until the surviving partner dies, so the partner is not forced to sell the home.

This matters for the trust question. People sometimes move assets into a foreign trust hoping to cut a child out. Dutch courts can treat that transfer as a gift by the deceased, which means the child may still be able to claim against it.

Marital property comes before inheritance

Before anyone inherits, the marriage itself is divided. For marriages entered into on or after 1 January 2018, the default is a limited community of property: only assets built up during the marriage are shared, and gifts and inheritances stay private. Older marriages are usually in full community of property, unless there is a prenuptial agreement. This affects how much is actually in your estate, so your notary will ask about it first.

The EU Succession Regulation and choosing your home law

Many Amsterdam residents are not Dutch. Under the EU Succession Regulation (No. 650/2012), which has applied since 17 August 2015, the law of the country where you habitually live governs your estate by default. If you live in Amsterdam, that means Dutch law.

The regulation also lets you choose the law of your nationality instead, but only if you say so in your will. A British, American or Australian resident can use this to sidestep Dutch forced heirship, since their home law usually has none. Two important limits:

• The choice covers who inherits. It does not change Dutch inheritance tax, which depends on your residence.
• If you never make the choice in writing, Dutch law applies automatically.

What a Will Does in the Netherlands

A will in the Netherlands (testament) is more powerful than many newcomers expect. In a common law country, people often need a trust to manage money for children or to protect assets from a future divorce. In Amsterdam, a notarial will can do both of those things on its own. That is the main reason the wills vs trusts in Amsterdam choice usually ends with a will.

How a Dutch will is made

There are two main routes:

• Notarial will. You meet a Dutch notary (notaris), who drafts the will, reads it through with you, and records it as a notarial deed. This is by far the most common route, and the one you should use.
• Handwritten will deposited with a notary. You can write the will yourself, but it only counts as a valid will once a notary takes it into safekeeping. It is cheaper, but the risk of unclear wording is high.

The notary registers the will in the Central Wills Register (Centraal Testamentenregister), so it can be found after your death. You can also leave a short handwritten codicil for personal items like jewellery, furniture or a watch, but not for money or property.

What about a will you already made back home? Dutch authorities generally accept foreign wills that were validly made under the rules of the country where they were signed. As Expatica’s guide to wills in the Netherlands points out, though, a will made abroad cannot be registered in the Dutch register. That alone is a good reason to have a Dutch will once you settle in Amsterdam, even if it only covers your Dutch assets.

What you can arrange in a Dutch will

This is where the will earns its place in the wills vs trusts in Amsterdam debate. A good notarial will can include:

1. A guardian for your children. You name who raises your kids if both parents die. Without this, a court decides.
2. An executor (executeur). This person handles the estate, pays debts and deals with banks and the tax office. For expats, choosing someone who speaks Dutch or has a Dutch adviser saves a lot of stress.
3. Testamentary administration (bewind). This is the closest Dutch equivalent to a trust. You appoint an administrator to manage what a child inherits until an age you choose, say 25 or 30. The child is the owner, but they cannot spend it freely until the bewind ends.
4. An exclusion clause (uitsluitingsclausule). This keeps a child’s inheritance out of any shared marital property, so it is protected if the child later divorces.
5. Stronger partner protection. You can adjust the statutory division, give an unmarried partner the same position as a spouse, or leave your partner a usufruct (the right to use the house and income) while the children own the capital.
6. A choice of law. As covered above, non-Dutch residents can choose the law of their nationality.
7. Tax-aware gifts. You can spread part of the estate to grandchildren or use each child’s exemption more fully, which can lower the total Dutch inheritance tax bill.

What a will cannot do

A will is not a cure-all, and it helps to be honest about its limits:

• It only works after death. If you become seriously ill or lose mental capacity, a will does nothing. For that you need a lasting power of attorney (levenstestament), also made at a notary.
• It does not avoid inheritance tax. It can reduce tax by sharing the estate smartly, but it cannot make Dutch tax disappear.
• It may not cover everything abroad. A house in Spain or a 401(k) in the US may need a local will, a beneficiary form, or a trust in that country.
• It is public to your heirs. Unlike a trust deed, the contents of a will become known to the people involved after your death.

What a Dutch will costs and how long it takes

Notary fees are not fixed, so prices vary between offices. As a rough guide, a simple single will often costs a few hundred euros, while a couple’s wills with guardianship, bewind and an English translation can run to €1,000 or more in total. Most notaries can complete a will within two to six weeks. Ask for a fixed quote before the first meeting, and check whether a lasting power of attorney is included.

Can You Have a Trust in the Netherlands?

Short version: you can hold one, but you cannot create a Dutch one. The Netherlands is a civil law country, and Dutch law simply has no concept of splitting legal and beneficial ownership the way a common law trust does. That one fact shapes the whole wills vs trusts in Amsterdam question.

Recognition under the Hague Trust Convention

The Netherlands is a party to the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition. In practice this means a trust validly set up under, for example, English, Jersey or US state law will be recognised by Dutch courts. The trustee is treated as the legal owner, and the trust’s own law governs how it is run.

Recognition has limits, though. Dutch courts will still apply Dutch mandatory rules where they must, and forced heirship is the obvious one. If moving assets into a trust looks like a gift by the deceased, a child’s legitieme portie claim can reach those assets.

How the Dutch tax office treats a trust

This is where most expats get surprised. Since 2010, the Netherlands has had special rules for separated private assets (afgezonderd particulier vermogen, or APV). Most discretionary trusts and many foreign foundations fall under them. The basic logic is:

• During your life, the assets are treated as still yours. Income and wealth inside the trust are taxed in your Dutch income tax return, in Box 3, even if you cannot touch the money.
• Putting assets into the trust is usually not a taxable gift, because for tax purposes the transfer is treated as if it never happened.
• After your death, the assets are treated as passing to your heirs. Dutch inheritance tax applies as if they inherited directly.
• The heirs then step into your shoes. From that point, the trust assets can be attributed to them for income tax, and distributions to other beneficiaries can trigger gift tax.

The result: in the Netherlands, a trust rarely saves tax and often makes the paperwork harder. It is not illegal or forbidden, but it does not deliver the tax benefits people expect from a trust in London or New York.

Foreign trusts held by Amsterdam residents

The most common real-world case is an American who moves to Amsterdam with a US revocable trust. That trust still does useful work in the US: it keeps American assets out of US probate and can speed up the transfer of US accounts after death. On the Dutch side, a revocable trust is generally looked through, so it is treated as your own property. That is usually harmless, but it means the trust does not replace a Dutch will for anything you own here.

Irrevocable or discretionary trusts from the UK, Jersey or elsewhere are trickier. Under the APV rules, a beneficiary living in Amsterdam can be taxed on trust assets they never asked for. If you are a beneficiary of a family trust abroad and you are moving to the Netherlands, speak to a Dutch tax adviser before you register your address.

Dutch alternatives that do a trust’s job

Because trusts are awkward here, Dutch lawyers use other tools to achieve the same goals. The main ones are:

For most families, testamentary administration inside a notarial will covers the main reason people want a trust in the first place: keeping money safe until a child is old enough to handle it.

Wills vs Trusts in Amsterdam: Side-by-Side Comparison

Here is how the two options compare on the points families care about most. The “trust” column assumes a foreign trust held by someone who lives in Amsterdam, since you cannot set up a Dutch one.

The pattern is clear. A will wins on almost everything a family in Amsterdam needs day to day. A trust only pulls ahead on privacy, incapacity planning abroad, and avoiding foreign probate.

Dutch Inheritance Tax in 2026: What Your Heirs Will Pay

Whichever side of the wills vs trusts in Amsterdam choice you land on, Dutch inheritance tax (erfbelasting) is the same, because it depends on where the person who died lived, not on the paperwork. If you live in Amsterdam, your worldwide estate is in scope. The 2026 figures published by the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) are:

The partner exemption is reduced by half the value of any survivor’s pension the partner receives, but it cannot fall below €213,915.

Two quick examples

• A child inherits €200,000. After the €26,230 exemption, €173,770 is taxable. The first €158,669 is taxed at 10% (€15,866.90) and the remaining €15,101 at 20% (€3,020.20). Total tax: about €18,887.
• An unmarried partner inherits €200,000 without meeting the partner conditions. They count as “anyone else”. After the €2,769 exemption, the tax comes to roughly €63,000. The same amount to a qualifying partner would be tax-free.

That second example is why cohabiting couples in Amsterdam should never skip the notarial cohabitation agreement.

Using gifts during your life

Gifts are often the cheapest way to move wealth, and they work alongside either a will or a trust. In 2026, parents can give each child €6,908 a year tax-free. A child aged 18 to 40 can also receive a one-off increased gift of €33,129, or €69,009 if it pays for an expensive study. The old tax-free gift for buying a home has been abolished, so do not plan around it.

Which One Actually Protects Your Family? Five Amsterdam Scenarios

Theory is useful, but most people want to know what fits their own situation. Here are five common setups and how the wills vs trusts in Amsterdam question usually plays out for each.

Scenario 1: A married couple with young children

The statutory division already protects the surviving parent. What it misses is the children’s future. A notarial will for each parent should name a guardian, set up testamentary administration until the children are at least 21 or 25, and add an exclusion clause. Add a lasting power of attorney for both parents. For this family, wills vs trusts in Amsterdam is not a close call, and no trust is needed.

Scenario 2: An unmarried couple living together

This is the highest-risk group. Without a will, the surviving partner gets nothing and could even be forced to move out if the home was in the other partner’s name. You need wills that leave assets to each other, plus a notarial cohabitation agreement so the partner qualifies for the €828,035 exemption. A trust would not fix the tax problem, and it would cost more.

Scenario 3: A blended family

If you have children from a previous relationship, the default rules can push everything to your new partner and leave your children with a claim that is only paid after that partner dies. Many people prefer a usufruct setup: the partner can stay in the home and use the income, while your own children own the capital and inherit it later. This is a classic job a trust would do abroad, and a Dutch will handles it well.

Scenario 4: An American (or Brit) with assets back home

Here the answer to wills vs trusts in Amsterdam is often “both”. Keep the US revocable trust for American assets, since it avoids US probate. Make a Dutch will for assets in the Netherlands, include a choice of your nationality’s law if you want to avoid Dutch forced heirship, and make sure the two documents do not contradict each other. Check that the trust’s terms work with Dutch tax rules, especially if you might add discretionary features later.

Scenario 5: A business owner or a large estate

Once you own a company or a sizeable investment portfolio, the tools get more specialised. A STAK can pass the economic value of shares to your children while you keep control. A family BV can hold investments and make gifting easier. The Dutch business succession facility (BOR) may also reduce inheritance tax on a qualifying business. These structures sit next to a will, and a trust is usually the least efficient option here.

Common Mistakes Expats Make

After years of watching people sort out estates in Amsterdam, advisers see the same wills vs trusts in Amsterdam mistakes again and again:

• Relying only on a will from home. It may be valid, but it cannot be registered here, may not use Dutch tools like bewind, and may clash with Dutch tax rules.
• Assuming the home trust saves Dutch tax. Under the APV rules, it almost never does.
• Forgetting the choice of law. If you want your home country’s inheritance rules to apply, you have to say so in writing.
• Skipping the cohabitation agreement. For unmarried couples, this single document can be worth tens of thousands of euros in tax.
• Ignoring incapacity. A will helps your family after you die. A lasting power of attorney helps them while you are still alive but unable to act.
• Never updating anything. A new child, a divorce, a move or a new house should all trigger a review.

7 Steps to Protect Your Family in Amsterdam

If you want a practical way through the wills vs trusts in Amsterdam decision, follow these steps in order:

1. List everything you own and where it is. Include property, bank accounts, pensions, shares, crypto and anything held abroad.
2. Write down who you want to protect. Partner, children, stepchildren, parents, a charity. Be specific about who gets what and when.
3. Check your marital or partnership regime. Find out whether you are in limited community, full community or have a prenup.
4. Decide on your governing law. If you are not Dutch, decide whether Dutch law or the law of your nationality should apply.
5. Book a Dutch notary for a will and a lasting power of attorney. Many Amsterdam notaries work in English. Ask for a fixed fee upfront.
6. Review any foreign trust with a Dutch tax adviser. Confirm how it is treated under the APV rules and whether it still makes sense.
7. Diarise a review every three to five years. Also review after any big life change.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a will made outside the Netherlands valid in Amsterdam?

Usually yes, if it was validly made under the rules of the country where you signed it. But it cannot be registered in the Dutch Central Wills Register, and it may not include useful Dutch clauses. Most advisers recommend a Dutch will as well.

Can I set up a trust in the Netherlands?

Not under Dutch law, because the Netherlands has no trust law of its own. You can set up a trust under a foreign law, and the Netherlands will recognise it, but Dutch tax rules will usually treat the assets as still yours.

Does a trust avoid Dutch inheritance tax?

In most cases, no. Under the separated private assets rules, trust assets are attributed to the settlor during life and to the heirs after death, so inheritance tax still applies.

Can I combine both options when weighing wills vs trusts in Amsterdam?

Yes, and for people with assets in more than one country it is often the best answer. A Dutch will covers your Netherlands assets and family arrangements, while a foreign trust handles assets abroad. The key is making sure the documents line up.

Can I disinherit my children in the Netherlands?

You can leave them out of your will, but under Dutch law they can still claim their legitieme portie, which is half of their statutory share. Non-Dutch residents may be able to avoid this by choosing the law of their nationality in their will.

Do I need a lawyer or a notary?

For a will, you need a notary. Dutch notaries are independent legal professionals, and only they can draw up a notarial will. For complex tax or trust questions, a specialised tax adviser or estate planning lawyer is a useful second voice. For many people, one meeting with a notary settles the wills vs trusts in Amsterdam question for good.

Conclusion

When you strip away the jargon, the wills vs trusts in Amsterdam question has a fairly clear answer: for most families living here, a notarial will paired with a lasting power of attorney is what actually protects them. Dutch law has no trust of its own, and the separated private assets rules mean a foreign trust rarely cuts Dutch inheritance tax, while a will made with a Dutch notary can name a guardian, delay a child’s access to money through testamentary administration, shield an inheritance from divorce, protect an unmarried partner, and choose your home country’s law if you are not Dutch. Trusts still have a place for people with assets in the US or UK, existing family trusts, or plans to leave the Netherlands, but they should sit next to a Dutch will rather than replace it. Map what you own, decide who you want to protect, and book a notary before life gets busy again, because the families who struggle most are almost always the ones who planned to sort it out later.