Explains why inheritance certificate is required for deceased foreigner, difference between Indonesian and overseas probate practice.
Outline
A. Why is an inheritance certificate needed
B. Inheritance certificate where deceased is foreigner
C. Difference between inheritance certificate and inheritance determination by court
D. Is there executor in an inheritance certificate?
A. Why is an inheritance certificate needed even if I am the sole beneficiary under a will or the only heir in law?
The English equivalent of an inheritance Certificate is a probate or letter of administration.
This document is required by the beneficiary to be legally recognized in law to handle the assets of the estate.
This is required to cash out bank account of the deceased or transfer title in property. A will is not legally recognized until it is proven in court, in which event the document confirming the proof of the will is called grant of probate. The Indonesian equivalent of this is called penetapan ahli waris (Inheritance Determination).
B. Is inheritance certificate required if the deceased is foreigner with assets in Indonesia?
Complication arises when the deceased is not an Indonesian citizen or resident. His executor or administrator might have obtained probate or letter of administration from the deceased home country say in Singapore.
Not all Indonesian banks will accept the Singapore probate or letter of administration as proof of the authority of an executor/administrator (named in these documents) to take over the bank account at the Indonesian bank. The banks’ concern is valid – they don’t have legal protection against claim by unbeknownst third party beneficiary that might subsequently surfaced.
We contacted several Indonesian banks and they indicated that they consider on a case by case basis from a risk management standpoint. They may recognize the overseas probate where they consider the risk as low. In such an event, the banks will require the copy of the foreign probate to be notarized and legalized/apostilled.
If so, the beneficiary might need to go through the trouble of applying for an Indonesian court probate/letter of administration (known locally as penetapan ahli waris – inheritance determination) issued by the Indonesian court.
C. Difference between inheritance certificate and inheritance determination by court
Indonesian citizen with a permanent Indonesian address might have the option of applying for a inheritance certificate signed by the neighborhood chief provided he is about to verify the family details from the record kept by the neighborhood chief. This is probably not open to foreigner or where the details family members are unclear.
If it is not possible to obtain an inheritance certificate, the remaining alternative is to apply for an inheritance determination from a court.
D. Is there executor or administrator appointed under an inheritance determination or inheritance certificate?
Under common law system such as those in Singapore or Australia, an executor or administrator are appointed to collect the assets of the estate for distribution among the beneficiaries. There is no concept of administrators or executor under Indonesian law. All beneficiaries are to act jointly instead of through executor or administrator. However, in reality, the less active beneficiary might appoint one of the beneficiary to represent him or her.