Dualism of Authority between Notaries and the Heritage Hall in Issuing Certificates of Inheritance Rights in Indonesia: A Normative Study on Legal Certainty and Protection

Astrid Athina Indradewi (Faculty of Law, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia)
Rumi Suwardiyati (Faculty of Law, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia)
Evelyn Hutami Gunawarman (School of Law, Singapore Management University, Singapore)

LamLaj
Vol. 11 No. 2 (2026): September

Death is not merely a biological event but a legal event that transfers a decedent’s assets to the heirs. In Indonesian practice, the Certificate of Inheritance Rights (Surat Keterangan Hak Waris/SKHW) proves who is lawfully entitled as an heir and is an administrative prerequisite for the transfer of land rights, banking transactions, and taxation matters. Its position is therefore bound to the legal certainty and legal protection guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution. Indonesia’s pluralistic inheritance system, however, has dispersed the authority to issue SKHW among village and sub-district heads, notaries, and the Heritage Hall (Balai Harta Peninggalan/BHP). Regulation of the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency Number 16 of 2021, which opens BHP issuance to all Indonesian citizens, was intended to eliminate discrimination based on population groups, yet it produces a normative anomaly by introducing overlapping authority between notaries and the BHP within a system that simultaneously claims equality and legal uniformity. This research analyses that legal basis, examines the implications of the dualism for legal certainty and legal protection, and formulates a normative solution for integrating SKHW issuance nationally. It employs normative legal research with statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches, examining the Burgerlijk Wetboek, the Notary Office Act, and land regulations, and comparing the laws of Singapore and the Netherlands. The study finds that (i) sectoral regulations governing notaries and the BHP are normatively disharmonious, leaving the boundaries of authority unclear; (ii) the absence of centralised national registration and verification permits multiple certificates for the same decedent; and (iii) a weak supervisory framework aggravates legal uncertainty and erodes the protection of heirs’ rights. The dualism therefore does not merely duplicate administration but structurally weakens legal certainty and legal protection. The study proposes an integrated national SKHW system, clarified institutional authority, and strengthened supervision.