Brian & GeriWe are renovating in Limousin and hope to move to

Hi Debra, Teamedup I am really sorry you feel I have misled you. For our part we have the written advice from both a French Notaire and a Barrister, independent the one from the other, and they concur. Should this advice prove false we will be able to sue them for any loss. The answer is unique to OUR situation. Teamedup - I find it difficult to see the relevance of your last post. Getting into harvests and agriculture etc is really obscuring the point. Debra - we should get together over a bottle of wine (or more) and thrash it out together - the 4 of us. Since I am very anxious NOT to mislead I will withdraw from this discussion. Brian

It's probably best now to end this thread because the solution is different for each person. We bought as we did because it suited US. That way would not suit Debra and she bought in a way that best suited her. However ebra's way would not provide the solution that we wanted! Debra is right to say that the survivor cannot dispose of the property without the consent of the majority of owners. A minor causes complications. We have no minors to deal with .... UNLESS one of the children should die and the grandchildren inherit. Hmmmmmmm When you buy a property you buy the bricks and mortar (Nue propriete) AND you obtain (obviously) the use of that property (the usufruit). These are treated together in the vast majority of cases but we separated the way we bought each part. Hence we had a solution which suited us. Should anyone feel in a similar situation please feel free to email us directly. Brian and Geri

Just for clarification It is ONLY the Usufruit which we purchase en tontine with the actual property being purchased en Division. We have been twice advised that the usufruit can most definitly be left to a spouse, or partner, to prevent them being turfed out by the children of the deceased who have inherited the property (naked property). We both have children from previous marriages. Hence, on the death of the first, the property of the deceased passes to the children of that deceased but the usufruit remains with the survivor and NO TAX is payable by the suvivor on the usufruit since it has never been gifted - it was bought at the start en tontine. Buying en tontine does indeed disinherit the children of the first to die. However, if only the usufruit is purchased in this way, the end result is that both sets of children receive their inheritance of the property on the death of each parent with all receiving the USE of the property only on the death of the second. We also understand that no differentiation is made between male and female. Again the caveat - Each case is different. Seek specific advice. Also remember that the law will probably be changed by the time you have to deal with inheritance so all our careful planning may be for nought Brian and Geri

Well ! It all depends on your EXACT situation now AND your precise wishes for the future. We had highly specific requirements and we found a solution. Our Notaire was not aware of this solution!! You need to balance Inheritance tax with succession laws. You need to decide to whom you wish the property to go on the death of the first and on the death of the second. You need to decide NOW what will happen to the survivor on the death of the first and relate their ability to be able to pay taxes OR do you wish ONLY that they have the use of the property. Tax IS payable on usufruit but only if GIFTED on death and it is on a sliding scale related to your age. However if usufruit is dealt with at the time of purchase, when each buys a percentage of the property AND a percentage of the usufruit crossed between each other, then either less or no tax is payable. I see errors in the comments above and I believe that these errors are caused by assuming that situation "A" is the same a situation "B". There are many, many, many variables. At one stage I was asked to go to my local (UK) police station and ask them to provide the Notaire with a letter stating how many years I had been separated!! At first it all seems SO complicated but it is all logical and clearly defined in law, accessible on the Net. It will all fall into place if you study a little. As Geri said above Victoria Headdon has been most helpful. Regards Brian and Geri