Cantonal guide: Neuchâtel
Much of inheritance law is cantonal – for example where the will is handed in and which taxes apply. Here are the key points for the canton of Neuchâtel.
Handing in and opening the will
In the canton of Neuchâtel, no court or government office is responsible for opening a will; instead it is the notariat: since 1 January 2011, Neuchâtel notaries («notaires») open wills and inheritance contracts («dispositions à cause de mort», dispositions on death) and notify the heirs (Loi sur le traitement des actes à cause de mort, LACDM). A will («testament») or an inheritance contract («pacte successoral») that you find at home, in a bank safe-deposit box or with a third party, you hand in without delay and in the original to a Neuchâtel notary of your choice – even if the document looks incomplete, revoked or probably invalid. Whoever finds or keeps a will is legally obliged to do so; whoever withholds or destroys it is personally liable for the damage, can be held criminally liable and can lose their right to inherit. Holograph wills can only be deposited with a notary in the canton; if the will is deposited there, that notary takes care of the opening and the notification after the death – inform the notariat of the death anyway. The notary notifies any executor («exécuteur testamentaire»), invites that executor and the heirs known to her or him to the opening, and delivers copies of the opened dispositions to the legal and appointed heirs as well as to the executor; legatees receive only the provisions concerning them. This notification starts deadlines running – the renunciation period for appointed heirs, the one-month objection period against their certificate of inheritance, and the period for a contestation. The notary charges according to the cantonal notarial tariff («Arrêté fixant le tarif des émoluments des notaires») – for the opening and notification, per the tariff, CHF 150 to 2'000 in total, plus her fee at the hourly rate and outlays – at the expense of the estate. You find the notaries' offices through the Chambre des notaires neuchâtelois (notairene.ch).
Certificate of inheritance
In the canton of Neuchâtel, only a notary («notaire») issues the certificate of inheritance (certificat d'hérédité) – also called certificat d'héritiers; neither a court nor the administration does so (LACDM). You apply for it – as a legal or an appointed heir – at a Neuchâtel notary of your choice, most simply where the will was opened or where the estate is being handled anyway. The notary checks with the civil-status offices who the deceased person was and who the heirs are; keep the death certificate («acte de décès»), the family record («certificat de famille» or «livret de famille») and any will ready. The certificate of inheritance is a notarial deed and proves your status as an heir to third parties – above all to banks, insurers and the land registry («registre foncier»). Appointed heirs receive it, under federal law, at the earliest one month after the notification of the dispositions, and only if no other heir has raised an objection («opposition») with the notary within that period. Whoever still wants to renounce the inheritance does not apply for a certificate of inheritance. The fee follows the cantonal notarial tariff («Arrêté fixant le tarif des émoluments des notaires»): for a certificate of inheritance, per the tariff, CHF 150 to 2'000, depending on scope and effort; the notary's fee at the hourly rate and outlays are added, for instance for civil-status documents. Ask for a cost estimate at the start, and order as many copies as you need right away.
Renunciation and public inventory
In the canton of Neuchâtel there is no Justice de paix (justice of the peace court). You declare the renunciation («répudiation») at the Tribunal d'instance (court of first instance), at the seat of the Tribunal régional (regional court) of the deceased person's last residence; the guide of the Neuchâtel judiciary expressly assigns renunciations to the Tribunal d'instance – in Neuchâtel (Hôtel de Ville), Boudry (Rue Louis-Favre 39) or La Chaux-de-Fonds (Avenue Léopold-Robert 63, 2nd floor; the guide still gives the old number 10). You submit the declaration in writing, preferably by registered mail; a form for it is available on ne.ch, and the declaration states your details as the declaring person as well as the details of the other heirs. The renunciation is free of charge. The period is three months; for legal heirs it runs from the day you learned of the death, for appointed heirs from the notary's notification of the disposition. For good cause («justes motifs»), the court can extend or restore the period. The renunciation is binding. If you renounce as a legal heir, your position passes to your descendants – they too must renounce; for minor children, the parents declare the renunciation, and if a parent is an heir themselves, there is a conflict of interest, and the Autorité de protection de l'enfant et de l'adulte (APEA, child and adult protection authority) appoints a curator («curateur») for the child. If all the closest heirs renounce, the estate is liquidated by the bankruptcy office. The public inventory (bénéfice d'inventaire), by contrast, you request from the notary, within one month of the same point in time – if there are dispositions on death, from the notary who opened or holds them (LACDM), otherwise from a Neuchâtel notary of your choice. One request counts, under federal law, for all heirs. The notary calls on creditors and debtors with a call to creditors («sommation publique»), published twice in the Feuille officielle (official gazette), draws up the inventory, notifies the heirs of its completion and makes it available for inspection; this starts the one-month period to declare yourself. Whoever accepts under public inventory is liable only for the inventoried debts. The notarial tariff provides for CHF 150 to 5'000 for this, plus fee and outlays, at the expense of the estate. If the estate turns out to be over-indebted, the heirs who requested the inventory bear the costs.
Inheritance tax
Spouses and registered partners are exempt from inheritance tax (impôt sur les successions) in the canton of Neuchâtel; partners in a partnership registered under cantonal law are exempt once the partnership has lasted at least two years (LSucc law, Art. 9). Unlike in most cantons, descendants pay inheritance tax here, as do parents and grandparents: 3 percent (Art. 23). Children and parents are entitled to a deduction of CHF 50'000 per share, and only the part above that is taxed (Art. 22); if a child predeceased, the deduction applies to their descendants together, per stirpes (souche). Grandparents and other descendants have no such deduction under the text of the law. In July 2025 (Rapport 25.033), the Conseil d'Etat proposed, as a counter-project to a popular initiative, raising the deduction to CHF 750'000; as of September 2026 this was not yet law – the law currently in force on rsn.ne.ch is decisive. All other recipients pay a fixed rate that rises with the degree of relationship: siblings 15 percent, nieces and nephews 18 percent, their children 21 percent and their further descendants 24 percent; uncles and aunts 20 percent, cousins 23 percent, their descendants 26 percent; relatives by marriage of the first parentela (line of heirs) (alliés de la 1re parentèle, for example sons- and daughters-in-law and stepchildren) 15 percent, relatives by marriage of the second parentela (line of heirs) (alliés de la 2e parentèle, for example sisters- and brothers-in-law) 31 percent; cohabiting partners after at least five years of a shared household 20 percent; all others 45 percent. If someone who is not a child, descendant or parent receives a gift on death of at most CHF 10'000, no tax is due under the text of the law; if the gift exceeds CHF 10'000, the whole amount is taxed, not only the part above that threshold (Art. 9). The deceased person's debts are deducted, as well as a flat CHF 7'500 for funeral and death costs (Art. 14). If an inventory is drawn up, the tax is at least CHF 100 – under the law and the tax administration, regardless of the degree of relationship (qu'importe le lien de parenté). Inheritance tax is a purely cantonal tax; the municipalities do not levy a surcharge. The table of tax rates is on ne.ch, under «Impôt sur les successions et les donations». The Service des contributions (cantonal tax office; rue du Docteur-Coullery 5, 2300 La Chaux-de-Fonds, tel. 032 889 77 77, succession@ne.ch) assesses the tax on the basis of the inheritance tax return (déclaration pour l'impôt sur les successions) for the whole estate and of the inventory. The bill is to be paid within 30 days of notification; you can apply online for payment in instalments. Whoever disagrees files, within 30 days, a written objection (réclamation) by post.
Tax inventory and inheritance tax return
In the canton of Neuchâtel, the tax authority draws up an inventory (inventaire) of the deceased person's assets as at the date of death after every death – under the law (LSucc), as a rule within two months of the death. About two months after the death is reported, the Service des contributions (cantonal tax office) sends the inheritance tax return (déclaration pour l'impôt sur les successions, form F711) to the executor, the heirs' representative, or to an heir. In it you state the assets and debts as at the date of death – accounts, securities, insurance, property, household goods, open invoices, death costs – and who inherits what; for married persons, the assets are first divided according to the marital property regime. According to the tax administration, the return is to be filled in, signed and sent back with the supporting documents within 90 days – the law sets no deadline, the exact deadline is in the covering letter – to the Service des contributions, rue du Docteur-Coullery 5, 2300 La Chaux-de-Fonds (tel. 032 889 77 77, succession@ne.ch); it is extended on request. On this basis, the authority draws up the inventory and delivers the tax assessment; a written objection by post is possible against it within 30 days. Until the inventory is drawn up, heirs and persons administering estate assets may not, under the law, dispose of them without the authority's consent. This tax inventory is not the public inventory (bénéfice d'inventaire) with a call to creditors that you request from the notary. Sealing (apposition des scellés) is ordered by the Tribunal civil of the Tribunal régional (regional court) at the request of an heir; it may also order it if a public inventory has been requested, if heirs are absent or minors, or if a will is found (LI-CC). Rooms and objects left to the persons who lived with the deceased are not sealed but inventoried. A protective inventory under Art. 553 CC is also drawn up by the Tribunal civil; it also covers the known debts, and it can replace the tax inventory. Keep records as at the date of death in a safe place.
The deceased's tax return
With the death, the deceased person's tax liability ends; for the year of death, a last tax return has to be filed for the period from 1 January to the date of death. The tax for the year of death is calculated proportionally to the duration of the tax liability. For this, the Service des contributions (cantonal tax office) sends an interim return (déclaration intermédiaire) – alongside the inheritance tax return; the heirs fill it in and send it back signed. According to the «Instructions générales intermédiaires» of the Service des contributions, this return cannot be prepared with the Clic&Tax software and cannot be filed via the Guichet unique – use the paper form you receive. In it you state income and deductions from 1 January to the date of death and the taxable assets as at the date of death – the same figures you need for the inheritance tax return. The deadline is on the form you receive; you apply for an extension before it runs out using the form «Demande de prolongation de délai» with the Service des contributions (rue du Docteur-Coullery 5, 2301 La Chaux-de-Fonds, or service.contributions@ne.ch). If the deceased person was married or in a registered partnership, both are taxed jointly up to the date of death; the surviving spouse or partner fills in the joint return up to the date of death and receives a separate tax return for the period from the date of death to the end of the year – the annual tax is pro-rated to the duration of the tax liability. For the estate's assets and income, the heirs are liable to declare and pay tax for their share in their own tax return from the date of death onward. The notes from the Service des contributions are in the «Notice 1 – Changements de domicile et décès» and in the «Instructions générales intermédiaires» (ne.ch, Impôts section).
Last checked: September 2026, against the canton's official pages. Is something no longer right? Let us know.
The application prepares; you act. It does not replace legal or tax advice.