Estates

A team of specialist lawyers is ready to offer you solutions to any problems you may encounter following a death. Examples include contact with funeral directors, reporting the estate, advice on the associated inheritance tax, contact with the beneficiary, estimating the value of the immovable property that forms a part of the estate, etc.

In other words, our dedicated “estates” team will offer you a customised answer to any questions you may have following a death, as well as the division of an undivided estate and assistance throughout the process of the settlement and division of an inheritance.

If there are any disputes after a death, we will assist you during the court proceedings regarding the settlement and division of the estate.

However, it often doesn't have to get this far and such problems can be prevented by carefully planning the succession.

We offer advice about the way in which you can favour certain persons, in life and after death. Taking your personal situation, wishes and expectations into account, we will come up with a suitable solution, ranging from gifts, marriage contracts, cohabitation contracts to wills and agreements as to succession.

Our lawyers treat all the related procedures with a high level of expertise.

On a closing note, your choice of marriage regime or cohabitation model may have a major impact on the organisation of your assets. We offer advice before you choose a regime and any associated specific arrangements.

Donations and wills

We offer you advice on how to assign beneficiaries, both in life and after death. We listen to your specific situation, your needs and expectations. From thereon we work out a suitable solution: whether it be by means of a will, donation, assigning beneficiaries on investment products, etc.

Estate planning

Our dedicated team offers advice on the appropriate asset structure in order to achieve the desired tax optimization. This could be a company, holding company, private foundation, trust, … We also assist you with a variety of transactions regarding real estate property (purchase, sale, funding, donations, usufruct, lease, superficies, patrimonial companies, ...) or movable investments (companies, holding companies, investment insurances, art, etc.).

Family business

Family assets are more and more often incorporated in partnerships and companies. Our dedicated family property law team strives to find the best solution for your assets and the management of your family business through appropriate governance structures and family charters. We help our clients to create and manage their family business and to transfer their business to the next generation.

Inheritance law

If disputes or problems arise after a person’s death, we are glad to be of assistance. We help you with the inheritance statement or we offer you assistance during court proceedings on the settlement and division of the estate.

Matrimonial property law

The choice between a marriage regime and cohabitation regime has a clear impact on your assets. We offer prior advice on which regime to choose and help you with all specific arrangements relating to the regime of your choice. Our dedicated team can also offer you assistance in case of divorce and regarding your estate settlement or division.

Experts in Estates

Jan Stijns Partner Contact

Sofie Poukens

Pascal Nelissen Grade

Liability, insurance and traffic law Travel law Sports law Criminal law & fraud Persons and family law

Pascal Nelissen Grade has 25 years of experience and learned all about law from childhood on. With the same earnest and attention for detail, Pascal switches his lawyer robe for a race overall and helmet and goes out racing on circuits both in Belgium and abroad.

Pascal is also:

Permanent member of the mixed commission for legal assistance and the commission for attorney’s fees.
Member of the council of the Bar Association of Leuven.
Chairman of the commission on fee litigations, estimations, arbitration and mediation (Bar Association of Leuven).
Member of the commission on lawyer ethics (Bar Association of Leuven).

In 2014, he was featured in the Who's who Legal Sports & Entertainment.

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Jan Stijns

Construction law Administrative law Estates

Jan Stijns graduated in 1987 as master of law at KU Leuven. In 2009 he also graduated as bachelor in philosophy at KU Leuven.

Jan entered the association in 1987. He is specialized in family property law and has specific attention for patrimonial law (real estate) and succession planning / taxability. He is also specialized in the fields of construction law and administrative law.

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Joris De Roo

Corporate law Commercial & economic law

Joris De Roo graduated in 1992 as master of law at KU Leuven.

Immediately after his studies, Joris entered the association and in 1998 he became partner. He specializes in commercial and economic law and corporate law. He is also specialized in estate planning.

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Kris Maes

Labour and social law Civil law

Kris Maes graduated as master of law at KU Leuven.

He is a member of the Bar Association of Leuven and Dendermonde.

Kris provides assistance and advice to individuals and companies on the subject of (individual and collective) labour law and social security. He is especially interested in providing thorough and permanent assistance on the subject of HR management. He is regularly invited as a guest speaker in seminars.

In the event of litigation, he prefers to come to a detailed and balanced solution after clear negotiations. But when legal proceedings are required, he is prepared to go to any length.

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Alexis Lefebvre

Commercial & economic law Tax law

Alexis Lefebvre started his studies at FUNDP in Namur and graduated as master of law at UCL in Louvain-la-Neuve. After his education, Alexis entered the association.

He is specialized in litigation and providing assistance and advice in the fields of tax law, on the one hand, and economic, commercial and contract law, on the other hand.

He is a member of the Bar Association of Brussels and Leuven.

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Frederiek Baudoncq

Civil law Arbitration and mediation Travel law Liability, insurance and traffic law

Frederiek Baudoncq is a member of the Bar Association of Leuven since 1998. From 1999 to 2005, he was part time assistant at the faculty of law of KU Leuven, department property and liability law.

He is (co) author of several books and contributions to books and articles and is a member of the editorial staff of three law journals. He completed the training to become a lawyer at the Supreme Court of Belgium, the Court of Cassation.

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Alexis Hallemans

Intellectual property, ICT and GDPR, media law Commercial & economic law

Alexis Hallemans studied law in Namur (FUNDP), Belgium, at the Univeristy of Leuven and in Saarbrücken (Germany). He is a lawyer since 2003. He also obtained a LL.M degree European law in Germany and an additional Masters in intellectual property and IT law at the University of Brussels. He specializes in these subjects in which he has pleaded before the Court of Justice of the EU and the Constitutional Court in Belgium. He is recommended for these subjects in Belgium (Legal 500, Tier 2).

For several years now he is a Board member of the German, Belgian and Luxemburg Chamber of Commerce AHK DEBELUX. Alexis fluently speaks Dutch, French, German and English. This allowed him to develop a strong experience and track record in legally assisting international companies in Belgium, particularly German companies.

Alexis worked in large international law firms in Belgium and Germany (CMS Hasche Sigle) before joining Nelissen Grade as a partner in the department IP, IT and commercial law.

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Joke Decabooter

Persons and family law Arbitration and mediation

Joke Decabooter obtained her master law degree at the Catholic University of Leuven in 2011. During her master years, Joke mainly focused on civil law, specialising in family law, family property law and liability law.

After her studies, Joke immediately joined the Bar Association of Leuven, as well as our firm. Based on her interest in private law, she mainly focuses on support, procedures and advice regarding all aspects of family law, as well as settlements and divisions. Nationality issues also fall within her expertise.

In 2015, Joke obtained her notarial profession master at the Free University of Brussels. Since 2019 she is recognized as mediator in family matters.

From the 2019-2020 academic year, Joke will be affiliated with the Catholic University of Leuven as a law assistant at the Institute for Family Law.

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Karen Niesten

Tax law Commercial & economic law Estate planning

Karen Niesten obtained her Master's degree in Law at the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) in 2012 and then completed an additional Master's degree in Taxation at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB).

In 2013, she joined the Nelissen Grade office and the Leuven Bar.

Karen also completed a management programme at Solvay Business School of Economics and Management in Brussels and attended courses in Dutch taxation and inheritance law at the University of Maastricht.

Karen focuses on leading and developing the expert groups for tax law and estate planning.

On the one hand Karen focuses on financial and tax advice, including estate planning. On the other hand, she performs dispute resolution and litigation in various tax fields for the administrative authorities and tax courts in Belgium. In cooperation with Frederiek Baudoncq, she also conducts proceedings before the Court of Cassation.

From her tax background, she also supports the corporate law department.