Last year, 100,451 Belgians took out a healthcare proxy. That is an increase of 18.7 percent compared to 2022 and pushes the number above the 100,000 mark for the first time. Since its introduction in 2014, approximately 500,000 healthcare proxies have been signed in our country. The instrument is especially popular in the north of the country. Nearly 9 in 10 (89,694) powers of attorney were concluded in Flanders last year. Wallonia and Brussels were good for 7,300 and 3,457 copies respectively.
Avoid blocking
“In a healthcare power of attorney, people preventively determine who should manage their assets if they are no longer able to do so themselves, for example due to an accident, illness or old age,” says notary Carol Bohyn, spokesperson for notaris.be. “As a power of attorney, you can appoint one or more persons to manage your bank accounts, pay your invoices, collect your pension, etc. If you wish, you can also provide instructions in the power of attorney for the sale of real estate or to make donations. This ensures that your assets will not be blocked if you become incapacitated. You can also indicate in which retirement or care home you want to stay later.”
A health care proxy is usually granted to the partner or to one or more children. If nothing has been arranged, the judge can appoint an administrator to manage your assets if you are no longer able to do so yourself. The idea that a professional administrator will further represent their interests sometimes deters people.
Quarter more inheritance agreements
The statistics also show that succession planning is also on the rise. This is evident from the increase in 2023 in the number of registered wills (+8.37 percent) and inheritance agreements (+27.5 percent). Notary Carol Bohyn: “The inheritance agreement is a relatively new instrument. It is one of the innovations that came into effect during the reform of inheritance law in September 2018. In this agreement, parents and their children make agreements about their future inheritance. Last year, 5,927 inheritance agreements were registered in our country, three quarters of which were in the north of the country. 4,422 inheritance agreements were concluded in Flanders, 1,209 in Wallonia and 296 in Brussels. Since its introduction in 2018, more than 20,000 inheritance agreements have been concluded in our country.”
An inheritance agreement is an ideal instrument for identifying and openly discussing matters from the past.
Notary Bohyn: “Parents help their children in all kinds of ways over the course of their lives. This ranges, for example, from a traditional donation to the financing of training abroad to help with a renovation. This sometimes creates an imbalance between the heirs. In principle, donations are settled, while this is not automatically the case with other benefits received. In an inheritance agreement you check whether all children feel they are being treated in a balanced manner. If necessary, distortions can be corrected. All heirs – including any stepchildren and grandchildren – are involved in the discussions. This way, later conflicts can be avoided.”
