Inheritance certificate (or letter of inheritance) is validated by the village head and sub-district head. This document is usually sufficient for the heirs to step into the shoes of the deceased to transact/deal in the properties of the deceased – take control and distribute or sell to third parties.
However, a court order (determination of inheritance) may be required because banks may need protection of a court order before disbursing funds to the heirs based on their internal risk management/compliance requirement.
Also there may be situations where the village head is unwilling to sign off the inheritance certificate because he is not able to verify the heirs of the deceased. This might happen when the deceased is a foreigner with children from a previous marriage. In such an event, a court determination is necessary.
A court order provides a safer legal basis than a inheritance certificate. It gives better protection against claim that might be made by any disgruntled heir. A disgruntled heir might be dissatisfied with the determination in the inheritance letter/certificate and therefore claim against the bank had the bank acted based on the inheritance letter. The law legal provision gives the court protection in disbursing based on a court determination – Article 49 letter b of Law No. 3 of 2006 on Amendments to the Law on Religious Justice as follows:
“Religious courts are appointed and authorized to examine, decide, and resolve matters at the first instance between people who are Muslims in the field of: d. heirs
Such determination by the court includes :
identify the heirs;
determine their respective share;
identify the assets that are to be included into the estate for distribution.
In effect, a court determination/order is considered as good against the rest of the world. This is stronger than the letter of inheritance/inheritance certificate signed off by the village and sub-district chief.
The requirements needed to apply for an inheritance determination in the Religious Courts are:
Letter request to the Court for court determination;
Power of attorney (if there is legal representation by an Indonesian advocate)
Deceased’s ID card;
Deceased’s Death Certificate;
Heirs’ ID card;
Heirs’ Birth Certificate;
Family card;
Deceased Marriage Certificate (Buku Nikah);
List of assets to be distributed nd proof that they are in the name of the deceased – this is so that the assests can be included in the court order/deterimination;
Prepare for at least 2 (two) witnesses available to testify assertions in the request letter.