At the middle stage of administering a death estate, an estate inventory is carried out. Preparations for this may take up to three months. After that, the estate inventory deed is reviewed.

Estate inventory

What is the estate inventory? What attachments do I need for the estate inventory deed? See the instructions.

The estate inventory is an event at which an estate inventory deed is prepared. The estate inventory deed lists the property and distributees of a death estate. The surviving spouse’s assets and debts must also be specified in the estate inventory deed. It is also a tax declaration used as the basis for levying the inheritance tax. 

The estate inventory deed must be completed within three months of the date of death. However, it is possible to apply for an extension to the time limit from the Finnish Tax Administration if needed. Submit the estate inventory deed to the Tax Administration within one month of its completion.

Reviewing the estate inventory

We also have a duty to know our death estate customers. To identify and verify the individuals authorised to manage the estate’s affairs, we need to have a signed estate inventory deed and all its appendixes. Make sure that you attach all necessary appendices. Submit the estate inventory deed with attachments to us easily or bring it to the nearest OP cooperative bank. After we have received the estate inventory deed and all its appendices, we will review them. This will usually take a few weeks. 

Attachments to the estate inventory

We need the following extracts from the population register along with the signed estate inventory:

  • An unbroken record of the deceased’s family relations from the age of 15
  • An unbroken report on family relationships from the age of 15 of distributees who have deceased in order to determine the next in line for inheritance
  • Reports on family relationships of the spouses or former spouses of the above persons for the duration of the marriage

A report on family relationships is either an extract from the population register in the form of a report on family relationships issued by a parish, or a report on family relationships issued by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (Finnish Digital Agency). The report on family relationships must cover all parishes or population registers in which the persons have been registered during the requested time period. The report on family relationships must indicate the person’s family relationships and changes of residence. A report on the spouse’s family relationships is required for the duration of the marriage as in some situations, the spouses’ joint children are listed only in the register of the other parent. If the Finnish Digital Agency has confirmed the list of distributees given in the estate inventory deed, the reports on family relationships do not generally need to be submitted to us.

Documents related to the sale of an apartment

Did the decedent leave housing company shares or residential property as an inheritance that you are considering selling? You do not need to acquire the documents related to the sale of an apartment in connection with the estate inventory yet, but the sale is considered possible only after the estate inventory deed has been concluded.