EGisvold

Hi peter I have called all of them today and they all say no, UK mainland only, so I'm really stuck! Kind regards Espen  

My wife and I have now found our "dream home" in France, and of course we do need to rent a Van to bring our stuff from Glasgow to Picardy. This seems to be difficult! Do anyone here know a Van company where we could rent a Van that we could pick up in Glasgow, drive to Picardy and then drop off in Dover? We are getting the keys to the house on the 28th June so we are in a hurry!!!!   Kind Regards Espen Gisvold  

Firstly, we do have our own lawyer and will discuss it all with her, but I do like to have some knowledge myself BEFORE I talk with a lawyer - makes it easier to understand what and why they say what they do say. The following scenario is what I THINK will achieve our goals (assumption: property worth about 300,000 Euros) (goals: 1) Secure my wife from being kicked out by my blood line, 2) No inheritence tax for her if I die before her and 3) as little as possible inheritence tax for me if she dies before me) 1. We buy En Tontine 2. My wife owns 75% of the property. Scenario 1: I die before her. She is secured from anybody "kicking her out" and she will not have any inheritance tax to pay (My share is worth 75,000 Euro). So this means goal 1 & 2 is achieved. Scenario 2: She dies before me: I will inherit her share and have to pay inheritance tax on about 150,000 Euros and this is AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. So all the goals are achieved. What others will have to pay in tax when we die is of minor to no interest.   We will of course also set up a joint French will.

Hi All   We have now signed the first contract of the purchase, so here we go. We will keep you up to date on what we find out and what solutions we go for. All solutions will of course have to be made according to what your goals are, ours are in the order of importance: 1. My wife can not be thrown out of the house by my children in the case of me dying before her 2. My wife shal not have to pay ANY inheritance tax in the case of my death 3. I want to pay as little inheritance tax as possible in the case of her death 4. We do NOT care about what Inheritance tax other relatives are subject to after we both are dead.   Might sound crule, but that IS our goals, and it is our priorety. We'll see what our Notar comes up with in the course of the next week ore so, keep on the line, and thanks for all your replyes and comments.   PS Agatha Christie had a story where En Tontine was mentioned a lot to : Murder she saw, and by coincidence I read it over the last week.  

Just to confuse (maybe) more, is it possible to have ‘en tontine’  AND a marriage regime to ‘communaute universelle’. Espen  

Maybe an even better plan is not to die at all!!!!! Thanks for the laugh.

I did not ask because I believe Notaries to be crocks or unfair (I'm sure there are bad apples there as here or anywhere) but because we do have some issues (kids from previous marriages etc) that we want to take care of, AND we want to discus and be explained in English (I might have preferred Norwegian, but I have decided that instead of the best possible solution, I'll go for the best solution possible)   Espen  

My wife and I are in the process of buying a house in France  (Normandy) .  We both have previous marriages behind us. I have 5 children from previous marriages, my wife none. It is important for us to arrange the purchase in such a way that: a) My children can't make any claims in the case of me dying before my wife.b) Minimum Inheritance tax when one of us dies. The property we are expecting to purchase would have a value of approximately 160,000 Euros (This will increase as we develop the property). For the first 6 months to 2 years it would be a secondary home, but long term we intend to live in France permanently.   As far as we have seen there are different options open for us: a) My wife can be sole owner. (Implication: I then would have to pay full inheritance tax) b) We can have a split (let say 80/20 between her and me) and include En Tontine (Implication: My Wife's share would be 80% of 160,000 = 128,000 - within En Tontine?, My share would be 20% 160,000 = 32,000 - within En Tontine, and children would not be able to claim anything, and no inheritance tax) c) Buy it 'Usufruit' and 80/20 (combined with a will). (Implication: My wife would have the right to to stay in the property, but IF she wanted to sell and move, she would have to pay-up my children (e.g. 32,000 Euros)) Is this about right? Kind regardsEspen Gisvold 

Hi,   We are looking for a good englih speaking french laywer in Normandy to help us set up all legal contracts etc. when we buy our house there. Do anyone have an email address to one they have usedand have good references for?   Kind regards Espen Gisvold  

Thanks all I followed one of the links, and found the following, which I thik is very clear (from a gov site):   CHAPTER 3 RESIDENCE TAX   Sufficiently furnished housing premises and their outbuildings (gardens, garages, private parking space) are subject to residence tax (i.e. dwelling tax). This tax is chargeable to anyone who, on 1st January of the year of taxation, has available to him or her taxable premises in the municipality, irrespective of his or her status (owner, tenant, free occupier).   The tax is based on the land register rental value of housing premises determined by surveys of developed land, updated by the authorities. For housing premises used as the taxable persons' main home, this rental value is subject to compulsory reliefs for dependants or to optional reliefs.   The amount of the tax is obtained by multiplying the assessment basis by the rate voted for by each relevant territorial authority for the year concerned.   Modest persons, as defined by law, may qualify for an exemption or an automatic relief, wholly or partly, from residence tax on their main home.   Similarly, under certain conditions, the residence tax is capped depending on the income.   In 2002, the revenue amounted to € 11.44 billion. In 2003, it amounted to € 12.12 billion  

That was what we thought to, but the estate Agent says: " Mr Gisvold, sorry but you are mistaken. 1/ The tax you are talking about is the taxe foncière (the one calculated on the size and state of the property + on the area). The taxe d'habitation is calculated on the personal incomes + personal situation (I called our accountant + the "centre des Impôts" today, even if I had no doubt about what I am saying and they both confirm...). So once I've been absolutely certain of my words, I called the "Centre des Impots de la ville d'Eu, of which depends the house in Rétonval. They confirm the actual owners never paid any taxe d'habitation because it has never been their main residence but we did a simulation. So on the basis of a single person with 20.000€ income a year the taxe d'habitation is AROUND 150€/year." And this do make us wonder, are we far out or they???? Kind regards

We are in the process of trying to find our "dream home" in France (Normandy), and have a property that we think fits the bill very well. We have tried to get the estate agent (blueHomes) to tell us what 'Taxe fonciere' & 'Taxe d'habitation' are. They can give us a clear answer to the first, but not to the second, as they say it depends on (personal) income? Is this right? We cannot see any reference to personal income in all the books and web-sites we have read related to this. Any help would be apriciated.   Kind regards Espen Gisvold