French inheritance law

[parsnips]

If Tonygo would tell us whether or not all their offspring are common to the marriage we could give more focused advice.

[tonygo]

Originally Posted by parsnips

If Tonygo would tell us whether or not all their offspring are common to the marriage we could give more focused advice.

Hi Parnsnips, thank you for previous info. Details of children are 2 from my wife's previous marriage and one child from my previous marriage (my ex wife is the birth mother of my son , whom I adopted on my marraige to his mother)
I have not seen my son for nearly 30 yrs and we would like to bequeath any french property solely to my wife's youngest child.
Hope this helps
many thanks
TonyGo

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by Rony Weissman

Also remember that everyone married under the standard french CBRA regime is protected by a default state sponsored DDV since 2001.

Right, but I'm assuming that this couple are married under UK (or other) law, which may or may not be considered equivalent to the standard French CBRA regime. I know that for Americans, it depends on the laws in place in the state in which the marriage was performed.
Cheers,
Bev

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by tonygo

I have not seen my son for nearly 30 yrs and we would like to bequeath any french property solely to my wife's youngest child.

No can do. Your estate will pass only to your children (natural or adopted). You can't bequeath anything to your wife's child (or children) except for the unallocated portion of your estate (if there is one). And your wife is limited to a 25% share of your estate. With a donation entre époux, she could elect to take your entire estate in usufruit (meaning she'd have use of all assets) but on her death, anything she got from your estate would pass to your son. (If you jointly own the home - or anything else - your son gets your undivided half interest on your death.) There are some options you can insert into a donation that would further protect her interest in your jointly owned home.

Your wife's estate will pass in equal shares to her two children. She is not allowed to privilege either one at the expense of the other.

It may be possible to have your son renounce his inheritance, though if he has children, his renounced share goes to them, and they would have to separately renounce their right to their father's share. (We had a query about this a couple months ago - you might try searching the forum archives.)

Similarly, in your wife's case, if the other child is willing to renounce their share of the inheritance, the entire thing would pass to the younger child. But, I believe that the renunciation can't be done until after the death of the parent.

You really need to talk to a notaire to find out about what your options are.
Cheers,
Bev

[parsnips]

Originally Posted by tonygo

Hi Parnsnips, thank you for previous info. Details of children are 2 from my wife's previous marriage and one child from my previous marriage (my ex wife is the birth mother of my son , whom I adopted on my marraige to his mother)
I have not seen my son for nearly 30 yrs and we would like to bequeath any french property solely to my wife's youngest child.
Hope this helps
many thanks
TonyGo

The best I can suggest is that you purchase your french property in your wife's sole name, should she die first you would have the right to live in the house for life;with a donation entre époux you would have the whole of her estate in Life Interest(Usufruit and Quasi-Usufruit). Your missing son would have no claim on the house, and you can arrange your other assets( possibly using Life Assurance plans)so he would have a minimal claim on them. The only thing left to arrange is that only your wife's youngest inherits the french house on her death. Much depends on the attitude of the elder child; if he/she is cooperative,it is now possible for a reserved heir to renounce in advance their claim to all or PART of an estate, this would be easier if there are other assets that could be used to balance the shares of the two children(this can be done using Life Assurance plans passing to you in life interest and ultimately to another beneficiary-ie the elder child perhaps)
If the elder child is not cooperative, and your wife owns the whole house the children are each entitled to a 1/3 of your wife's estate ,she can will the remaining 1/3 to the youngest and provided her other assets are equal to 1/3 of the total value of her estate she could leave the other 1/3 of the house to the youngest with other assets to the value of 1/3 of her estate to the eldest.
As I always say--discuss with an ENGLISH-FLUENT Notaire--the above are a few ideas ,I'm sure there are other ways.
If you would like more details of Life Assurance you can send me a personal message via this site--I SWEAR I AM NOT A SALESMAN, just somebody with a similar situation to yours.

All the above depends on you NOT changing your marriage regime which if you married in the UK is regarded as "separation des biens" ie. whatever is in your name is all in your estate and all joint assets are split 50/50. So you can see that the more assets in your wife's name, of which you recieve a life- interest ,the better

[tonygo]

I would like to thank everyone who kindly offered advice/comments in response to my query re french inheritance law.
It appears to me that it is a very complex and restrictive piece of legislation that does not afford us the opportunity to dispose of potential french assets exactly as we would wish,
We will, however, be taking professional advice on the matter before arriving at any decision but at least we now have a starting point

tonygo

[tonygo]

Hello, Mrs Tonygo here,
Still doing the research. If I die first and we've bought 'en tontine' then the property passes to Tony as though he'd always owned it outright. Can he then leave the property to his son and my daughter? He would have to name my daughter in a will as she is not a blood relative and therefore would not automatically inherit under the 'tontine'.

It would follow that should I outlive him then I wouldn't have to include Tony's son
and could leave the property to my children.

Is the above correct or am I completely wrong? We're trying to maximise the inheritance for my daughter as she's the one we both wish to safeguard financially on our deaths.
Also buying 'en tontine' would mean that whoever the sole survivor is then they would be free to sell up if so desired as the offsprings inheritance is only secured on the death of both parents.

Is any of this correct or have I completely misinterpreted it?

Jennifer

[Bevdeforges]

Hi Jennifer,
French inheritance law is very strict about line of succession - and those follow blood lines for the most part.

I'm not real familiar with tontines, but as I understand it, it would permit the surviving spouse to assume complete ownership of the house on the death of the first spouse. At that point, however, the inheritance rules kick in. If the house is in his name alone, it goes to his son. If it's in your name, then in undivided joint interest to your children.

He might be able to transfer up to 25% of his estate to your daughter if he has a will, but for inheritance tax, your daughter is treated as a totally unrelated party and draws the highest tax rates. (Can be helped using life insurance.)

In your case, you can specify which assets go to each child using a will, but your estate has to be divided equally amongst all your children. (Unless you can get the other child to renounce their portion, in which case it will go to your remaining daughter.) Even gifts made before your death have to be equally split between the children.

You need to talk to a notaire. It is fiendishly complicated when there are children from different marriages involved and everything revolves around the notion of your marital "regime" - which is assumed based on where and when your current marriage took place. It's possible (though not cheap) to change your marital regime to one more in line with your desires and then there are various sorts of donations and structures for buying a house that might come closer to what you're trying to accomplish.
Cheers,
Bev

[parsnips]

This is a good example of the type of case where there is a danger of all us "experts" bombarding the questioner with so much information, all of it valid, I'm sure, but often weighted by our personal experience, that they end up in a rabbit and snake scenario,terrified to do anything!

It's worth emphasising that in complex situations it is essential to consult a good, preferably recommended, ENGLISH-FLUENT Notaire. But be aware that some Notaires are not very competent, and some are not up-to-date with the latest reforms.

WRITE OUT what you want to achieve with your succession arrangements in plain language and don't be satisfied until 1. you are sure the notaire understands and 2.he has come up with an acceptable solution( bear in mind that you may not be able to get exactly what you ask for); if his solutions are really not to your liking , look for another notaire.
As most notaires give advice free this should not be expensive (ask about fees before making an appointment).