Richardbk
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Posts posted by Richardbk
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[quote]'The only criteria for changing marriage regime is to have agreement from the previous and existing children' Do you have any details, references, typical wording etc in relation to obtaining and s...[/quote]
You should really discuss this with a competent notaire and lawyer who would be able to run through the risks with you - I am not a lawyer or notaire - we have been advised by team a of notaires that our organisation provides to us. All our children are under 18 and in fact they could have made money from converting us to a CU, but they consider that the risk for us and them is too high.The same is the case for colleagues that are unable to get permission from their children >18. You will find much supporting evidence on the web and in the libraries etc. Deal only with notaires that have a real understanding of international marriage, inheritances etc. These you will generally only find in Paris and perhaps a few other large cities.
The main problem here is that the easy change of marriage laws introduced by France for foreigners are not inline with inheritance laws - or rather if taken up in some cases they run the risk of attempting to by pass them either deliberately or inadvertently.
Note also that the use of a tontine clause that is considered to have deliberately disinherited children can also be considered null an void by a judge, assuming that the children take the case to court. Again this is a question of risk. Usually a tontine is used for unmarried couples (not PACS) - it is basically a financial instrument to reduce the tax on transfers - up to the same ceiling as that used for inheritance between husband and wife. It can be used for property but as you say there are substantial tax issues for mid-high value properties.
At the end of the day I guess the only real way around inheritance problems this is to ensure that you continue to have good relationships with your children and are able to talk it through.
best regards
Richard
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"He also said that if we had married with the intention of moving to France and had not made a specific contract in the UK then the french would consider that a marriage without a formal contract was the equivilant of the separation de biens. (In our case, he knew we had no kids when we married.)
But if we had married in the UK without the intention of coming to France, then we could claim that we married under UK terms and that we considered that our marriage was already a CU and would like if officially considered as such by the french"
This is a very interesting angle. The partnership of notaires based in Paris that handle a lot of international issues and one which our organisation uses to advise its staff have said that whilst marriages in scandanvia , holland and a few others are converted by default to CU in france, the default for a UK marriage is always separation of assets (50/50), irrespective of intention. If this could be tested in court the result could be quite far reaching.
On some other points, I think that this difference in approach by notaires by dept or region is probably more to do with the expertise of the notaire in international affairs, rather than by department or region. Is it thus important that you deal with notaires that are experienced in this field.
The only criteria for changing marriage regime is to have agreement from the previous and existing children. For children under 18 a judge would act on their behalf - in france this permission is seldom, if ever, given. Assuming you are able to change the marriage regime, the time period for changing a marriage regime, on moving from a 'hague convention country to another' (e.g UK to France) depends on when you were married. Before 1.9.1992 there is no time limit. After this time you have 10 years on moving to change, which can be done by a notaire. If it is >10 years in the latter case only a judge(much more expensive) can change the regime and this also assumes that you spent at least 1 year in the country of marriage before moving. If you moved within a year, you are deemed to be married in your new country so again only a judge could change the regime.
CU has disadvantages as well. Divorce or separation is extremely difficult and inheritance taxes, paid on the death of the surviving spouse are generally much higher.
My information is the same as Scorpio namely that the norm for marriage in france is separation of assets, simply because they do not how it will turn out. People tend to change to CU much much older in life when they also have their childrens permission. Note that the 2003 change in the law giving surving spouses more protection in terms of being able to remain in the house also mean that for many French consider that CU is no longer a necessity
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Richard
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do they question the point of rote-learning, endless tests and rankings and some of the more questionable methods employed?
Most of the french population seldom question anything, whether it is the education system, the way a doctor talks at you, or even when the apres vente staff send you packing. The system has taught them to accept things and not to question, so as Saligobay says they do not know any different.
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Richard
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[quote]We changed our Marriage regime to the CU and did not get permission from Husband's children from previous marriage and was told by our French Notaire and our (--) UK based Solicitor and Agent that whe...[/quote]
I am afraid that even though you have spent a lot a money you have been given very dodgy advice. Technically you can change the regime without asking permission. I.e there is no form to fill in. However, your children can request to a french judge that the change of marriage was illegal as it deprived them of their inheritance rights. It is almost certain than in such a case they would win as there are similar cases. Remember that not all notaires and many UK based notaires are not experts in inheritance and international situations.
For children under 18 it is also technically possible to change a marriage regime, but again this is inadvisable, since again you are depriving them, of a right without them having a legal say. In addition this is a possibility that is not available to French citizens. Similarly on reaching 18 they could contest the regime change.
Schemes that do not involve the children in the process are considered as basically trying to circumvent the system and are treated accordingly. Consequently French courts and judges pratically always side with the children, upholding the basic principals of inheritance under french law.
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Richard
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[quote]We bought a free to air (numerique) sat system last year. We set up the dish connected the box and spent about 6 hours adjusting the dish till we recieved a good signal (we cpuld choose between Astra...[/quote]
Seems to me that you are pointing at the wrong satellite, either at 13deg east or the old SKY satellites at 19.2deg east. for SKY/BBC you need 28.2 deg east (of south). The old astra satellites at 19.2deg east are used for Canal +, amongst other things. For about 20euros you can buy a cheap dish alignment device that goes inline in the cable with an earpiece to help you align the dish. In the north east quarter of france a small SKY mini dish will work fine, but for most other areas a 80cm dish is needed. Here in the south west even with a 80cm dish I notice that the dish needs to be very acurately aligned to be able to get the BBC during poor weather conditions.
It is likely that your new box is not pretuned to the FTA channels on 28.2E (BBC etc) so you will have to tune manually. check out http://www.lyngsat.com/astra2d.html for the tunning parameters and also check the astra 2a and 2b fequencies for anything else in the clear (marked as 'F'. There is a frequency(e.g 10773 or 10.733), polarisation(Horizontal or Vertical H/V) a symbol rate (e.g 22.0 or 22000) and an FEC error correction (e.g 5/6) parameter that need to be manually entered for each channel.
BTW you could use the other pages of the above web site to compare channels and work out which satellite you are actually pointing at. From your descriptions it would seem that you are currently pointing to either astra at 19.2degE or the hotbird satellites at 13deg east http://www.lyngsat.com/hotbird.html- if so shift the dish anti clockwise by the required amount and adjust downwards slightly.
There may also be a problem in that the receiver may not have a signal strength meter, or if it is it is set to a channel not on 28.2E (or perhaps there is no tuning meter at all)- in this case your'll have to set up the dish and then play around with the manual tuning - for this you will definetely need some form of dish alignment gadget to fist get the dish properly aligned.
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Richard
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[quote]If I took a double scart connector from the UK, will it work with a French TV? I want to take a dvd player but the sat box uses a scart too.Thanks[/quote]
what do you mean by double scart? If it is simply a 1 into 2 connector/adapter without a switch between the 2 input sourcesif will give poor results as the loading/interaction of two devices on the same single scart will reduce the signal quality.
I don't think you're going to have a problem. Most French TVs have at least 2 scarts, and many have 3. In addition they usually have other additonal connections for RGB(red green blue) or video+audio(yellow, red white) via the small RCA plugs. I would guess that your DVD probably also has these types of connections so if neccessary use these instead.
regs
Richard -
[quote]So - basically, from a ""business"" point of view - working on the basis that when a couple buy a house in france - and working on a 50/50 purchase basis - when one of the couple pass away - having ch...[/quote]
The main difference is culture, which many brits find hard to understand. This is not the UK ! - In france it is considered normal that your blood lines have more priority than the spouse or partner ! The fact that in the UK you can disinherit the whole family and leave it to the cat is considered very strange by the French.
If you buy via a UK company, the UK tax man may see it as a benefit in kind and you may be taxed on it. If you are resident in France and are the sole directors with income coming only from france the company could be considered within your worldwide assets and as such would still come under French inheritance law.
As I have said the French have blocked every loop hole on this one - Unless you are under a community marriage regime or use a tontine(there is a limit to the amount that can be freely transferred with a tontine), the only real option is to be outside france for >183 days/year and use a French SCI as a holding company.
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Richard
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Yes they do, if the process has already started you will need to go via your lawyer. If not you can try to deal directly with the other party.
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Richard
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I can't comment on particular schools, but we recently moved temporarily from Ile de France (77) to the Tarn(81). Even through previously we were in a quite rural area, the big difference we have noticed out in the provinces is how spread out everything is. Towns that seem close on the map can be hours away due to small winding roads and slow RNs. Trips to large hypermarkets and Centre Commericals, and schools that use to take 20mins, now take 45-60mins. This can make a big difference if your having to ferry kids back and forth as most colleges are now located in the towns. Even taking the bus your'll kids will probably have to be up at before 6h30 and not be back home to 18h30+ in the evening. Wherever your going to live it is therefore wise to check out the journey times during the rush hour(not during the holiday period) and check the Mairie/School for school bus/train schedules.
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Richard -
Throughout the procedure, the Gendarmes remain in constant contact with the procurator, advising him of any responses to questions and information given to them. The Gendarmes certainly do not act as arbitrators or seekers of the truth. They are there to put their findings to the accused and to record their answer. I think that might be akin to working for the prosecution.
The difference is that it is the gendarmes do not seek out the evidence, without the direction of the prosecutor. The role is quite different, which is often why many gendarmes don't actually know much of the law, except the basics.
So, what directive/regulation/treaty etc does the UK director, living and working in France quote to the gendarmes when nicked?
If course it depends what your in for - If you have a legit setup and are not trying to dodge the tax and and social costs then you have nothing to fear. However, in my experience few foriegners seem to understand french employment laws in respect of trade registrations, director obligations/liability and delit de marchandage(even French companies have problem with this one). These are probably the biggest problems for legitimate companies and many can and do lead to custodial sentences.
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Richard
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[quote]I have been happily married for 20 years second time around. I have children from my first marriage who deliberately cut themselves off from me 25 years ago. Do I understand from previous postings t...[/quote]
unfortunately if you own property in france and are resident in france there is nothing you can do about it. There are no loop holes, e.g trusts are not recognised etc etc. Your previous children have a right to your share of the property and if residence, all other assets in your name. If you are not resident in france you can by via an SCI company( more admin and cost) and the property does not come under French inheritance laws and neither do the other assets. If you change your marriage regime you could in effect pass the property to your wife, but here you need permission of your children.
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Richard
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European Law may say what it likes. I am afraid, the french system has little regard for this and quoting any EU treaties in the gendarmerie will not help.
This is simply not true if you know how and where to get assistance. 1) Gendarmes do not work for the prosecution , as in the UK, 2) the European Commission has various assistance and lines for complaints to ensure that directives are upheld. They will take up the case directly with the relevant French department without cost to you - and if necessary they will take the case to European court - again without cost to you. The main thing is to be sure you understand the scope of EU legislation - anything not covered will come under national law.
In respect of the original question. If it is a registered Ltd company, in the terms of company law, company taxes, accounts etc, the law of the country in which the company is registered is the governing law. There is a recent case history in the European court on this. However,for employees, tax and social charges depends on where they have their 'bum on the seat' when doing the work and/or where you reside for the majority of the year.
The additional complication of one man band companies is that most EU countries are still able to lump these together - I.e the companies earning are in effect your earnings - I.e as the UK as done in relation to one man band Ltd companies and IRS35 - which has in effect killed the possibility for these people to pay themselves large 'salaries' in dividends. If you live in france, work in france for your own UK company, with no other work/employers in other countries you will indeed have to be registered in France. You will be treated as operating an offshore company and all earnings will be attributed to you individually.
BTW The new proposed European Commission Bolkenstein directive aims to remove all these barriers, such that a company may work anywhere in the EU without the need for local registration and carrying the salary and social contributions of the country of registration - hence this is causing big reactions in France at the moment e.g the unions/socialist see it as the collapse of France and its social structure For some reason they have also linked this to saying NON to the EU constitution , but in fact the constitution has nothing to say on this and in fact would enable France to have a bigger say in creating a common corporate framework (i.e watering down such directives) - hence why the brits are against it
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Richard -
If you have one fitted, there may be a time limit on the duration of an external siren,but apart from that if you buy one in France it will be OK. In terms of 'best practice' and alarm installation guides this really depends on whether it makes a difference to your house insurance - generally it does not.
Last year we had a surveillance alarm system fitted by ADT www.adt-securite.fr with 24hr monitoring to our house in Ile de France. Everything else was basic common sense. The main alarm unit is protected by a sensor and power and telephone connections are hidden. The rest is fairly straight forward these days since most alarms are wireless. We have either window/door sensors or infrared for rooms with possible entry points. If you have a large dog that will stay in the house, special infrared sensors are required for the places he will go. In addition this is a monitored system so there are only internal sirens ; to kill the ear drums - few people actually react to an external alarm.
They suggested there was no point having sensors upstairs - something like 85% of all break ins are via the front door and in any case all potential theives will always try to visit all rooms of the house.
Some monitoring companies actually send somebody around to your house, but the most effective in a rural/semi rural area is simply to have a list of good friends and neighbors that the system can alert automatically by telephone and who can go round and check to see if there is a real problem.
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Richard
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[quote]I love that south western accent much more than ordinary french and I'm pretty sure that I would have picked it up quite easily. Today I'm quite happy with my little english accent though.[/quote]
There is south west and south west. In Toulouse and main towns it is quite easy to understand - the real accent is with the famers and village locals. This is much more problematic, but there again most French from other regions can't understand it either.
We recently stayed a few days in Lyon. At the hotel the receptionist asked where we were from - on replying from Toulouse, she remarked - ah that explains your 'petit accent'
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Richard
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[quote]There's a lot of sense in what you say, Richard. In the Middle East and Asia obesity amongst adults is often explained as being due to the culture of eating a huge meal very late at night and then go...[/quote]
On the issue of MILs I have a number of collegues, in Brit/french and french/french marriages, were the vous/tu has periodically changed. I.e it has started with vous - moved to tu and then gone back to vous - all initiated by the MIL - in some cases this cycle has happened several of times - it seems related to the number 'disagreements' (even very minor) that you have.
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Richard
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Will insurance cover the car and driver in France whlst the car is still unregistered
You take out a full 12 month insurance based on the previous registration number. However, you should register ASAP(within a couple of weeks) , since the address on the insurance paper needs to match the carte gris address -otherwise on the spot fine. For this reason in addition to carrying around with you the carte gris, insurance certificate and CT document, you will also need to keep with you the sales invoice. Should you get stopped, this is to prove it has just been bought and you are going through the registration process.
When it is properly registered you simply inform the insurance company (send copy of carte gris) to get a new updated insurance document - there is no charge/penalty for this update.
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Richard -
[quote]could anyone clarify if it is the seller who has to supply the certificate of non gage or the buyer. For instance if I buy a car from a private individual in France, and they do not give me this certi...[/quote]
Usually the buyer will provide it, but it is not obligatory and not obligatory for registration. Its mainly for your own piece of mind, to make sure there is no outstanding finance or fines etc. Before buying a car it is worth getting a copy of the carte gris and using the internet address above in order to verify the vehicle's status.
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Richard
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The tax is relatively easy to sort out, but it will need to be paid before you can register in France. The registration is also straigntforward and should be done within a couple of weeks as the vehicle will usually be issued with temporary (2 week) regisration document and plates. They will provide you with a European confomity certificate. Make sure this is filled in for registration in France as it will include the CV fiscal. In theory Prefectures should accept the European certificate for registration directly , but some try to play stupid or simply refuse so if neccessary speak to the supervisor . If this doesn't work you will need to get the French version from the French HQ of the manufacturer, speak to their homologation dept - which is also very quick.
BTW cheapest new cars in European tend to be Denmark and Holland. Belgium is also usually cheaper and the advantage of Belgium is that they can usually provide the French conformity certificate directly.
A word of warning - ensure you compare like with like , options tend to be very different between countries. In addition a trick we have used is to get a quote(you always need paper evidence) from say Holland and then use this to negotiate with a dealer in France. They can not usually get down to the exact same price but it is surprising how far they can come - often down to a level where it is not worth the hassle of buying abroad.
best regards
Richard
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... and in addition most of their functions have been moved to the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.
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Richard
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Another difference is eating the main meal of the day at lunchtime
There is something to be said for this approach, particularly if you are dieting or trying to maintain your weight. It tends to enable the body to better regulate its metabolism, as much of what is consumed in the way of protein/carbohydrate is actually turned to sugar and burnt off the following morning, reducing hunger pangs up to the next mid day meal, thus there is less tendency to snack. If you snack at lunch time, particularly on too much processed sugar or overdo it on the bread, rather than proteins and salads (i.e sandwiches every day ) the body tend to turn this to sugar and use it more quickly, resulting in hunger pangs - leading to snacking late afternoon. In addition eating a large meal in the evening tends to not be burnt of so efficiently - at least this is what a dietician told me - 2 months ago and so far I have lost nearly 9kilos simply by eating properly at lunchtime and reducing the evening meal. Is this perhaps the real reason that the French are not so obese as the Brits perhaps.
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Richard -
you need a phone adapter with a 'bell capacitor'. This can either be in the form of a UK master socket - not very elegant , unless you are going to permanently fix it to the wall just for UK phones, or an inline adapter . e.g see below
solution 1) http://www.revealcable.co.uk/acatalog/Telephone_Country_Adapters.html
solution 2)
A slightly cheaper is to get 1) a UK to RJ11 adapter ( with bell capacitor) e.g
http://www.revealcable.co.uk/acatalog/RJ11_cables_and_connectors.html
and then buy 2) a French/RJ11 (computer) telephone plug from the local french supermarket. Plug 2) into the France telecom socket, plug 1) into 2), and then plug the fax in into 1)
BTW I have no connections with the above site
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Richard -
The difference to understand is that France considers agriculture and food production intertwined with politics, social cohesion and national security and consequently there is a price to be paid for this. In Britain and elsewhere it is considered as simply another business where failure or survival are based solely on market principals.
BTW France must be one of the few countries where there is a minister responsible for social cohesion.
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Richard
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Putting your kids of 4 and 2 into maternelle can not be compared with putting a child of 14 into Lycee or College. At 14 the language will be only one of the major obstacles the 2nd is the French system itself and the 3rd is that this is an age when teenagers are entering a period of emotional and hormonal turmoil. Of course each one is different ; they will sink or swim , but from my experience of many of my work collegues(from various EU countries) is that the majority will not swim. By all means stay positive, but the odds are not good, so but make sure you have a fallback plan it is doesn't work out.
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Richard -
I am afraid that at 14+ the odds are stacked against you. Depending on where you are exactly in the Tarn , there is the International (British School) in Toulouse(Colombiers). I have accounts that its OK, (i.e not brilliant) but I think this would be a better solution that trying to put her into the French system at this age.
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Richard
What do the French think?
in French Education
Posted
[quote]Most condescending generalizations I've ever heard. Do you people actually KNOW any French people or is it all based on what you read in the English News? The French questioned the Bush war on Iraq (B...[/quote]
been here 11 years. Working for an international organisation and now here in the SW building aircraft. I interview and hire people(professionals) manage international projects(european) We hire from all over Europe including France. There are strengths in the French system such as formal processing and deductive analysis, but in terms of innovation and lateral thinking there are other nationalities that are generally much better. A mixed international team can be very effective using the strengths of people and their educational background. These are of course perhaps generalities but are well documented in various cultural studies research that are used by many international business use to train staff.
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Richard