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Dave, Have sent you a PM. Cheers. Brian 11500     Thanks Brian, very helpful . Dave

NB do not wait till you are resident in France because the tax free lump sum is taxable as income last time I looked at the rules.        Yes I saw that on a previous thread as I read through the older postings. That is one thing I have already planned. I will take the lump sum, retirement package. Then sell the house in the UK, pay off the mortgage before moving to France to rent a place to start with whilst we search for the right property. After watching the programme on ITV tonight on Pensions, I think it made up my mind for me, take as much as you can as a lump sum whislt the pension fund is still healthy. I am luckily enough to be on a final salary pension scheme, but our company has now stopped this for new employees. Thanks for all the advice, really appreciated. Dave

Hi All Am new to this wonderful forum, and have made a few postings on other subjects on this very informative site. We (my partner and I) are in the "doing our homework stage" of selling up and moving to France, possibly/probably next year. I qualify for SER (special early retirement) from May this year (age 50), and with the change to the UK pension lump sum laws of last April, means a greater lump sum tax free can be taken. My partner's only source of income is DLA (higher rate) which ceases the moment we leave the UK. So if/when we move, our only source of income would be my company (not civil service) pension. With these new pension laws, I can get a far greater lump sum if I commute some of my annual pension (multiplied by a 12.5 commutation factor)which will  reduce my annual pension. I will use a large slice of the lump sum + the equity from our house in the UK (recently divorced and have an £100.000 mortgage) to purchase outright a home in France. My question is, would it be to my advantage (tax wise) to have a larger lump sum, thus money in the Bank (in the UK or france) which was tax free upon takin early retirement, with a lower annual pension (approx £16.000) or a smaller lump sum (after purchasing the property in France) with a larger annual pension of say £20.000. Any advice from someone in a similar position would be much appreciated. I have seen an "Independant F A" in the UK, but couldn't answer my question, as does not deal with overseas Tax Laws. Dave

Thanks for that We'd only had contact from Newcastle. Perhaps we should try contacting Blackpool as well. but guess the answer will be no different.   Dave

Again Many thanks for the useful answers. We are not looking for the same benefit as in the UK, and don't expect it. It's mainly the cost of the regular (once/twice per month) blood tests and the daily Warfarin (currently 8Mg per day) we are concerned about. As once I take the early retirement and loose the DLA, we would have lost a massive ammount of income. As for cost towards home adaptations, we have discussed that already. And if/when we take the plunge, we will look for a property that will have a ground floor bedroom and bathroom as a pre requisite, as partner cannot do stairs. That will leave me to do  the runing up and down stairs looking after the upstairs bedrooms .

Hi All Many thanks for your replies. We have already contacted the DWP in Newcastle, and you are correct about the DLA. But my partner will not recieve any in France as she has only developed her illness two years ago. She does not receive Incapacity or Income support due to my earnings. So, in essence, when I retire and if/when we move to France, it will be a huge loss in income, plus the aditional costs of her regular blood tests and Warfarin prescriptions,thus the possibility of a part time (do it as and when we want) B&B just to help out a little. You can see why we're doing our homework before we move out there. The DWP basiclly told us that you will not know what sort of benefit you will get (if any) until you move out there (unlike the UK, where every Tom, Dick and Harry knows and Expects benefits as soon as they step off the plane ). The only thing they did say, was that if you receieve Incapacity benefit in the UK, it will continue in France. Dave

Hi All   Have been reading thoroughly posts in this excellent forum, but cannot find all the answers to our particular concerns, and wonder if there is anyone on here in the same or similar predicament as us.  My partner and I are in the “doing our homework” stage of up and moving to France, lock stock and barrel.   My Partner currently receives the Maximum DLA which is her ONLY source of income and also a blue badge holder. I will (hopefully) be taking “Special Early Retirement” at the age of 50 later this year, and the lump sum, along with the residue from the sale of our house will pay for a property in France.   Because I am retiring very early, I will only be on a fairly low pension and this will be our only source of income, unless we buy a slightly bigger than needed property and do a part time B & B, Chambres d’hote. But this will be more of a hobby to help keep my sanity rather than looking at generating an income.   My partner has to have regular blood tests in the UK (every two weeks on average) to monitor the Warfarin she has to take to control her DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) and because she is on Max DLA, has her prescriptions paid for.   Now I know (rightly or wrongly) that her DLA stops the moment we move to France, so she will in effect have NO income at all.   I understand that we have to make an appointment to see the COTOREP to have her disability re assessed, and this leads me to the following questions.   Does my partner have to pay for her own blood test at the hospital/clinic? Does she also have to pay for her prescription of Warfarin ? Can she claim any type of benefit at all, or help towards these costs ? If she has to take out health care  insurance for the above, can anyone recommend a company that Would take her on with her current disability.   Many thanks   Dave