Three young Belgians invent the will… online: How does Legacio work?

90 € instead of the triple, even quadruple in a notary: to write a will costs less and is simpler than you think, in most situations.Killian, François and Boris (photo above) understood this well and therefore embarked on the adventure of the 'digital start-up'.

Unless you have lived in a cave for 20 years, you do not know that our life is scanning (or digitalized, if you prefer this anglicism).Communication, bank, education: it becomes difficult to find sectors of activity that do not have an online version.From now on, even certain legal legal procedures can be done via a website.The young Belgian company that offers it is called Legacio: I discussed with one of the founders and one of the lawyers.

Generally, in terms of succession, "nothing is prepared" in advance

“We are a platform that provides online legal services around the estate,” sums up François, one of the young co-founders, alongside Killian and Boris.A very young platform: "We started at the beginning of 2020, and we helped hundreds of families to settle the formalities occurring after the death" of a parent of a parent of a parent "."But we went that in the majority of successions, nothing was prepared: people are confused, they do not know what to do or what the deceased would have liked.This adds a layer of stress at a time that is already super scary.This is how we had the idea of the online will ", in addition to the" declaration of succession "that Legacio already proposed, a compulsory approach when someone having goods loses life.

It is therefore for the succession (sharing of property, compulsory declaration to the authorities competent for taxation) happens as best as possible that providing a will has meaning.But there are few people who think of doing it because in Belgium, we are used to going to the notary, and "it usually costs between 250 and 450 euros".

A half online procedure

With Legacio, everything starts from a website.You enter your contact details and some basic information, and then you are asked 90 € to go further.Then comes the more precise form, which asks you many questions about your family situation, on your heritage, and asks you if you want to leave certain things (ex: your old motorcycle) to certain people (ex: your little brother).

All took me about 15 minutes.Then you receive an email to plan a call with one of Legacio's lawyers.On the phone, he reviews your form, answers your questions and if necessary, adapts this form.Your will is then sent to you by email, but you must copy it by hand so that it has an official value, then keep it in a safe place (against payment of 50 €, Legacio also offers to record it for you withof a notary, but it is not compulsory).In reality, we could do without Legacio, and directly write everything by hand, but there is the risk of forgetting certain elements or making mistakes that would lapse a will.

At 39, being legal cohabitant, having 3 children with my spouse and a very basic material heritage, my situation is quite clear."The target heart is above all 40-65 year olds, and all those who separate and settle with someone who also has children.For blended families, especially if there is a purchase of a house or a new child from the new couple, it can become complicated and you have to clarify certain things ”.

Note that an automatic annual levy on the credit card of € 10 is provided by Legacio, by default, in order to be able to modify this will (because your situation and your heritage may evolve).You can cancel it.

What if you do nothing?

I still asked Legacio's lawyer the question: if I do not write a will, what happens to my heritage (that is to say a house being reimbursed, a little of'Money, a car, life insurance…)?

"The law in Belgium provides for a number of measures for residents who have not planned anything.There are fundamental questions: who are your heirs?What are they inheriting?At what cost they inherit?If you do not plan a will and if you do not have a marriage contract (which is my case), you can say that you have not provided any answers to these questions.And the law then provides for legal or inheritance devolution, these are two synonyms.There are the three answers provided for the law to these three questions.As legal cohabitants with children, if you had something to you in priority, before Madam, she will receive the usufruct (the right to enjoy it until her death) from your family home, while the nude-Property will go to your children.On the other hand, an important element, all the rest of your wealth (movable property as money, car, etc.) will go to your children in full ownership ”.So in a scenario like mine, a will is useful if you want to predict more for your partner, for the mother of her children.

Important also to know: by default, to protect children, the law provides that they are entitled, automatically, to 50% of my wealth, "this is the reserved share".All that can be bequeath in a will, the other 50 percents, “this is the available quota” that we can give to whoever we want (watch out for inheritance tax), even to charitable associations (Legacio proposes itin the form).In other words, what you plan in a will only concerns 50% of your assets.

For "normal" cases

In the end, Legacio is a new digitization of a traditional service, in this case the visit to the notary (for certain formalities linked to the succession, for the moment at least).In cases of simple successions, without a large scattered heritage, without you being at the head of several companies, the Legacio online will sufficient.“For more complicated situations, it is always better to go through the notary,” we recognize on the side of the young company.