QUESTION
As
regards recent Connexion articles on changes to inheritance law (to
begin this year), am I correct in assuming that the changes would not
affect a couple like ourselves who spend less than half of the year
in our French home and have no intention of becoming French
residents? We have a "tontine" clause in the title deeds
which should protect the position of the surviving partner but when
the surviving partner dies I assume French law will still apply? This
should not cause us a problem as things stand at present as we would
want our children to inherit jointly.
R.B.
ANSWER
Given
that you are UK resident and that your French property is just a
holiday home, I confirm it is our current understanding that the EU
Succession Regulation will not change how your French estate will be
dealt with on the death of the first of you.
The
tontine clause will certainly protect the survivor of you as this
will result in the survivor being deemed to have been the sole owner
of the property from the original date of acquisition and the
survivor will have full ownership and control of the property.
This
will, in due course, on the death of the survivor of you ensure your
children (assuming they are children who are common to your marriage)
ultimately inherit the property in equal shares.
The
formalities on the first death are also simpler as there is no formal
requirement for a Declaration of ownership (une Attestation
Immobilière) to be drawn up and lodged with the French Land
Registry. This saves time and money! It is still necessary however
for a French Tax Declaration to be prepared by a French notary and
lodged with the French Tax Authority even if there is no inheritance
tax payable which would be the case if the property is owned by you
as a married couple.
Just
one note of caution however – please do check that your French
title deed (l’acte de vente)
does indeed contain a tontine provision as in the past we have had
clients who came to us telling us they had asked for it to be
included in their purchase deed but when we examined the deed there
was no such provision and the clients simply owned “en indivision”
which equates to owning as tenants in common under English &
Welsh law.
The
tontine provision will sometimes be identifiable in the title deed
under the heading
“Pacte
tontinier” however more often
there is no actual reference to the word “tontine”
and the clause is included by reference to the following words “une
clause d’accroissement”.
Barbara
Heslop
15
January 2015
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