The Bruges State Archives has a series of West Flemish inheritance declarations (on microfilm) ranging from the French period to 1914.

According to a very approximate estimate, there are approximately 120,000 declarations, of which several thousand are registered at https://www.vrijwilligesrrab.be (in the main menu under 'Administration after 1814').

These declarations are interesting from various points of view, for example:- genealogical: unknown or presumed lost relatives are found there;- economisch: in welk bedrijf had de overledene aandelen, bij welke bank had hij zijn geld geplaatst?

There are only inheritance tax returns for those who had any movable or fixed assets; In the nineteenth century, the vast majority of the population had hardly any property and therefore there are no tax returns for them.

An extensive article on this subject appeared in 'Vlaamse Stam', 2009, 45(6). p.549-572: 'Erfenisregeling in de moderne tijden: de erfenisaangifte als bron voor historisch en genealogisch onderzoek'.

It is unlikely that inheritance inheritence declarations will become available via the Internet in the foreseeable future. So it is an opportunity to visit the State Archives. The search can be time-consuming: sometimes a declaration is submitted after a few months, sometimes it takes several years. So several microfilms have to be viewed.

Some volunteers from the Bruges State Archives have started analyzing the films of the Bruges district for the year 1914. As this work progresses (the more helpers there are, the faster it will be completed...) they will be posted here on this website it can be quickly checked whether there is a declaration for someone and on which microfilm that deed is registered.

In the vast majority of cases, the place of death is the same as the place of residence. If not, this will be stated in the comments.

In Courtrai there is also a collection of microfilms of inheritance declarations and have already been recorded here.

See also:
- Familiekunde Vlaanderen - section Roeselare has published an inventory.
- A solid text with explanation is available in the Courtrai archive.

In the book 'De Provincieraad van West-Vlaanderen' van Luc Schepens (1976)' it is stated that the inheritance declarations of the Gistel, Ypres, Ostend, Poperinge and Kortrijk-stad offices were destroyed due to war conditions.