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Inheriting a French house


Spidworthy
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Can anyone perhaps advise on what inheriting a French house involves?

We are drafting a French will in what is a very simple family situation -- we have no former spouses and no children. In the event of the death of both of us, we want our French (primary) home to go to a sibling in the Netherlands.

That beneficiary would ultimately sell the house. However he is worried that he would first have to pay French succession taxes or similar in advance (and is this much on a modest house currently worth less than EUR 150k?), on actually inheriting the house, leaving him considerably out of pocket until the house can finally be sold.

Is this the case, or could he first sell the house and then pay any taxes due? Thanks for the help!
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I believe there is a short window in which to pay the tax, 6 months comes to mind. Beyond that, if necessary it's usually possible to pay in instalments but interest would be added. As you are probably aware, selling a property in France can take years, literally.

The percentage tax would depend on the exact relationship but for brothers and sisters I think it's normally 35 per cent. But it also depends how the house is owned. Worst case scenario, if the partner whose relative the sibling is dies first and the house becomes the sole property of the unrelated partner, and then passes to the unrelated sibling, tax would be at the rate for non relatives which I believe is 60 per cent.

You really do need to discuss this with a notaire.
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 I have found the link below to be a good source of information on taxes, it is fairly up to date and I have found the information accurate.

[url]https://www.french-property.com/guides/france/finance-taxation/inheritance/[/url]

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Many thanks indeed for the information and links -- even if you were the bearer of bad news :-) . So it's not looking good then, and this rather strange system also goes some way to explaining why so many French properties are simply abandoned on the death of their owners, I would think.

Having to pay 35% or more of the market value upfront certainly narrows our options of who to leave our French home to, and few family members (especially outside France) would be too keen to take on that burden in the hope of being able to sell the home -- eventually. So we are going to have to rethink the options for our French will. What arrangements have other Brit members of this forum made about passing on their properties when they pop their clogs, I wonder?
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I suppose you could sell your house "en viager", either right now or else on the death of the first of you. Had you looked at that option?

The purchaser would have to pay you a lump sum, and then a decent monthly pension for life.

Then you could give away the cash in your lifetime perhaps.

Angela
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[quote user="Spidworthy"]Yes that is certainly one option -- if we die at separate times. Our concern at the moment is more about what happens if both of us are run over by a number vingt-sept bus together, meeting our maker simultaneously.[/quote]

Hi,

      The viager would be a good option regardless of the sequence of dying.  If you each sell your parts for a pension plus a lump sum , you can put the lump sums into a french life assurance plan, with anyone you wish as beneficiary (tax free up to 152 000€ , provided you invest before age 70. - 30 500€ after that age)  the money remains available to you ,if needed.

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  • 1 year later...
Inheriting property is not an easy process. I know that you might have done with the property inheritance. Still, I would like to contribute my views and my friend recently inherited the property after hiring a lawyer Bechara Tarabay. We hardly have any idea about inheritance and real estate law. So it is better to contact a lawyer who can guide us in the right direction. There are many lawyers who provide the right solution. Many additional resources are available on the internet that can help us to know about lawyers.
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