We have contacted you

If Westrich Gen SA has contacted you, it is safe to assume that you are one of the heirs the Company is looking for.Westrich Gen SA does not in any event contact anyone if it is not certain of their identity and therefore of their rights.

There is no reason for you to be concerned : in no event will you be asked for money. If the contract you have received is entitled “inheritance revelation contract”, which is most often the case, this means that the Company is going to inform you from whom you have inherited, take care of the formalities, then deduct a percentage from the amount you actually receive in return for its work. If the case is not successfully settled, you will not owe anything to anyone.

The process is the same for a contract of representation, unless you know the name of the deceased from the outset. In this case, the service provided by Westrich Gen SA mainly concerns the assertion of your rights, with the presentation of relevant proof, and above all the search for all the other heirs. In effect, nothing can be done without the full list of heirs.

In all cases, the steps to be taken after receipt of the contract are as follows:

Westrich Gen SA proposes the contract, which is signed and returned to it.
When all the contracts have been signed, Westrich Gen SA writes to all the heirs to inform them of the name of the deceased and to submit a proxy in order to settle the estate. In certain cases, Westrich Gen SA may be required to request copies of certain documents.
When all the proxies have been signed and returned, possibly accompanied by documents, the file is organised before being addressed to the notary or lawyer who will then settle the estate.
With the notary: an affidavit is prepared, then signed by the Westrich Gen SA representative appointed by the heirs. The same applies for the declaration of estate.
If necessary, an inventory of moveable property is drawn up, and any real estate property is visited and evaluated. Naturally, the heirs will be informed of and may participate in this procedure. They may also, by common agreement, retrieve items of moveable property.
If necessary, and with your authorisation, Westrich Gen will have the furniture of the deceased collected. If it has a market value, it will be sold. In the same way, it is with your authorisation that any securities will be liquidated.
The notary or the lawyer pays the inheritance tax calculated by the Registration.
The amounts generated by the sales and liquidations are collected by the notary or the lawyer, who establishes a statement which will be approved by the Westrich Gen SA representative appointed by the heirs.
Westrich Gen SA addresses an individual statement to be signed to each heir.
On receipt of the statements signed by all the heirs, the funds are transferred to them, after prior deduction of the fees of Westrich Gen SA. The amounts collected are no longer subject to any deduction and do not have to be declared to the Contributions Administration : see point 7.

On average, the whole process takes between eight months for straightforward files and two and a half years for fairly complex files, without this being an absolute rule. Certain files take several years to settle, for example if heirs do not reply to the letter or, worse still, if some die during the process.

You will not be requested in any event to advance any sum of money, at any stage of the operations described above.

As a general rule, the quicker the heirs, including you, reply, the quicker the file will be settled.