Mrs Trellis

Am I correct to think it is now possible to change insurance companies without waiting till the end of the year? I am so fed up with mine. Previously they have been good but recently I emailed as I wasn't sure whether to pay some bills and claim them back, or send them to the insurance company. No reply (the first was early February and included scans of the bills)) plus two more. So I phoned and was told to pay and then send them the bills. I did so, and wrote saying I was not happy with a company that ignores emails from clients (they have replied in the past). That was three weeks ago; so far no reply, no reimbursement. Since then OH also went to Urgences with chest pain and we received bills amounting to about 200 euros. I haven't paid yet! Two weeks ago I sent the hospital copies of his Carte Vitale and insurance - which he showed them at the time. Guess what? No response. Of course, I don't want to change companies before they have paid the outstanding bills but I really am not impressed with their service. Axa has a local office, at least I could go down and talk to them!

I've just remembered that I went to a talk on how French inheritance tax affects foreigners. It was by someone from a company that has offered financial advice here for many years. There was no mention at all of this ten year rule!

Thanks Parsnips, that sounds the best route. Funny I've never heard anyone mention all this before! Must go and see our new young notaire. I didn't know you can register a car in both names - though after the driving licence fiasco I really don't fancy ever braving the Prefecture again. I know that a friend who had been widowed several years, remembered she hadn't changed her address for her car when she moved . When she went to correct this she was told her step children had to give permission for her to own the now elderly car.

I'm not sure the change in inheritance law will affect us, as we are married, the house is en tontine and our children will inherit anything that's left - which is what we want. When one of us dies, will any money in the bank be split between the survivor and the children?

There are people who live in France 90% or more of the year but are not in the system so their relatives would say they are just on holiday here.

This sounds horribly complicated and I've never heard anyone mention it before. But it says 'If the nationality of that state...' so why does it apply to British people in France who have kept British nationality? I though French inheritance rules applied to all residents, though from next August they can request to have their estate distributed according to a will made in the country they came from. It makes me wish we'd done like so many Brits and lived in France under the radar. So much simpler!

I thought the tontine meant the survivor owns the whole property? Surely they'd have 50% even without a tontine? (Unless there are more than 2 children I suppose.)

I hadn't thought of made to measure gates but could investigate. Bricodepot has cheap ones but the quality may not be too high. What I am interested in is the cost of the work, if anyone has had a similar job done.

We are planning to have gates put across the entrance to our property. The driveway slopes downwards and we want a small breezeblock wall on one side in which to insert a postbox. I'm getting someone to come and give us a devi but have no idea what price range to expect for this work, excluding the cost of gates which obviously can vary a lot. Any ideas?

A friend has transparent fencing on the edge of her pool area - there is a steep drop the other side. Not sure how expensive and whether it's toughened glass or some sort of acrylic, but it would certainly let the light through.

Thanks for supportive and informative posts. I feel OK at the moment about thinking about such matters and if we are very lucky it might not be for a long time. I'd never thought before about funeral directors taking advantage. Last year when a friend's partner died, the village funeral guy was horrible. He said at one point the body would have to be buried, then dug up for the cremation because it would be more than 6 days. Wrong, 6 working days, which was OK. He wrote down the date and time and my friend informed us all; then phoned back and said it would be the day before! A couple of days after the cremation, he phoned to complain she hadn't fetched the ashes from the crematorium - which according to comments here, is illegal. I obviously didn't see the bill and can't ask - no point now - but my friend has very little money and is now having to sell the house.

Sorry to be gloomy but my thoughts turned to funerals as OH's cancer is back and outlook is bleak. Looking on Anglo Info I came across an item in English from Association Française d'Information Funéraire. It gives dire warning of bad practice such as double billing, excessive charges, inadequate estimates, insistence on embalming - and has a helpline you can phone to check an estimate before agreeing. All very depressing as it's cheating bereaved people who probably aren't thinking clearly and feel it inappropriate to argue about money. Last year an elderly friend whose partner died was treated very badly and unsympathetically by the village funeral people..

Does anyone know what the rules are in France when a group of people buys tickets regularly for the Euromillions lottery? We need some sort of contract but if we were lucky, would it be legal? And there would be tax...

Might do. What's the French for scam? There is a number on the letter, but if it's a scam, that won't help.

A letter with no letterhead arrived from 'Votre Conseiller TPN'). It says he fulfils the conditions to benefit from help with paying our electricity bill, thanks to a special tariff 'produit de premiere necessite' (TPN. The enclosed form has an edf heading but the return envelope is to Tarifs Sociaux Energies. The odd thing is, it is not properly addressed - doesn't give the name of the Chemin, and the EDF bills for this house are addressed to me but this letter was to my husband. But the client number is correct. Is it a scam of some sort? We do not receive any benefits and I don't know why we should get any help with our bills.

We adopted an old dog who was already blind in one eye due to cataract. Our vet said it would be hundreds of euros for an operation, but not all cases are suitable. The dog manages pretty well, sometimes bumps into things and we bump into him as forget he doesn't see us coming. The other eye has a cataract coming. He does seem to follow our other dog when outside.

A lot of properties are sold on leboncoin.fr and I don't think it costs much to advertise there. Friends who'd had their house on the market 3 years, sold this way. Just tried to look at it, and it just goes round in circles, select immobiliers, select area, search and it goes back to the home page! I remember it did this before, and I can't remember why it does or how to get into the site.

Good! Mine was nice (used mascarpone as crème fraiche is a bit sour). but I'm sure your baked one was better. Thanks for the recipes! What would you say is curd cheese in French>

I must have a look, I was looking for tins like the evap. I love baked cheesecake and will try it some time but I was looking for the lazy no-bake version today!

I couldn't decide where to post, as this doesn't come under French food and wine. I want to make a lemon cheesecake to have a choice alongside Christmas pudding. . Every recipe I look at requires double cream and/or condensed milk - neither of which I can buy here. We have evap. I think we've seen condensed milk in a supermarket, but not locally. And I don't use gelatine. It's getting a bit late to come up with another easy dessert.....

! Good idea, something along the lines of snakes and ladders, with no ladders.

I don't beleeeeve it! A couple of weeks ago (3.5 months after applying) I got a letter saying I can't have my French driving licence because I need a medical. Also I hadn't given evidence of my maiden name. And thirdly I had not given evidence of living in France for 6 months.( I gave them an edf bill in my name dated last year.) . The stroppy woman at the prefecture looked at all our paper work and did not say I needed a medical, nor proof of maiden name. A week later my husband received a letter saying his licence was ready for collection. Today we trekked again to Montauban and OH could not get his licence because he hadn't got the green bit of the UK licence. (Had never replaced it in his wallet after the last visit and saw another bit of green paper and assumed.) When I asked why I need a medical when I didn't want to pull a trailer or drive anything except a car. I was told my UK licence said I could (I didn't know that and had never asked for it) and the French one has to have the same categories. I pointed out friends had not been asked to get a medical. "The rules have changed.". How can they complain that I haven't provided something that wasn't required at the time of application? The snotty women said, "Well then, you'll just have to keep your British licence." I grabbed my papers and left before I said something rude. Friends who applied over 6 months ago have still heard nothing.

Big Mac, that is so horrendously patronising and sexist - it has to be tongue-in-cheek, surely....?

Why on earth would anyone appoint a teaching assistant who won't show her face. (Maybe she didn't hide it at the interview, which would have been dishonest.) Unfortunately not all western women respect the customs of other countries. I cringe at the memory of an older Brit wearing a revealing tiny top at a Moroccan airport. And a friend's teenage daughter and pals begged to come home from Tunisia after wearing UK skimpy fashion and then being constantly bothered by men.

Happy to report we had a big bonfire, 7 friends joined us to sit round the fire and enjoy mulled wine, pumpkin soup and parkin. A French friend said he'd not heard of a bonfire ban. The only neighbour is 95 and I asked her son to warn her she might notice a bonfire if she looked out. He didn't mention a ban. I will ask someone at the Mairie some time but have not heard of anyone in trouble for having a bonfire. I guess recycling is greener but bonfires are easier! And clear the ground. We didn't get fireworks, though OH found cheapish ones on the Internet, it was too late to order. Just as well as I remember one of our dogs is terrified of thunder, even leaves the room if someone claps. One friend, just back from UK said it was good to be away from constant firework noise. I used to feel the same - I enjoy fireworks but it goes on for weeks over there. I always worry about animals and birds being frightened.