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Buying a House - Legal issues?


Di
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Hi

I am buying a house in France for myself and my partner and we intend to live there permanently. I have no children, my partner has 3.  The house will be in my name only.

Can anyone tell me the legal implications of this.  We would probably have a bank account each to receive income from the UK and then transfer funds into a joint bank account, would this be wise regarding inheritance, tax etc?  I'm not sure where to start.  We didn't think too much of it, but after reading a lot of threads on the forum I'm beginning to think we need to sort everything out as much as we can before we get to France, or perhaps its better to speak to the Notaire when we arrive.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Di

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You have done exactly what we have done.  The house is in my name so that my husband's children will have no claim on it.  If I die first, my husband gets the house but will presumably have to pay inheritance tax on it.  I checked our wills with our notaire so that he was in agreement with our wishes/plans.  However - one big difference - we are married.  As you say "partner", my instinctive reaction is that your other half and his heirs would have no claim on your property anyway, but someone else will almost certainly come in with a more knowledgeable view.  And what do you want to happen if you die first?  Always get some proper legal advice.

Chrissie (81)

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Legally Chrissie is right. If you died first your partner and his children would have no rights to the house. The rules of la reserve hereditaire would have the notaire searching for your parents, siblings, and neices and nephews for them to inherit. Inheritance tax would be payable too.

You can make a will, but the conditions of any will cannot overcome la reserve hereditaire, and if they do they will be ignored.

Talk to a good legal eagle before you sign anything. We did, which is why we opted out of buying at all (see my thread).

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Hi

Thanks for your comments.

We have wills in the UK and thought we would make out wills in France to cover the french property.  I know that my family will insist that Jim continues to live in the house if he wishes, but I wanted to leave the house to him if I die first.  Can this not be done under any circumstances?

Thanks

Di

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  • 2 weeks later...
Our situation is slightly different: gay couple (thus unmarried!) buying a house in joint names. I have 1 parent alive and my partner has both his.

We have done (or rather are about to send them off for registration with the notaire) wills which say that, in my case, I designate my partner as "légataire universel".

The "héritiers réservataires" cannot be done out, but a clause in the will says that it will be for my partner to "désinteresser en valeur" (i.e. pay them off) any of remaining parents.

I.e., if I die tomorrow, my mum would own a quarter of my half-share in the house, my partner the rest of my share BUT he has the chance to just buy off my mum's share.

Seems fair to me! :-)
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Those are new variations (to me) on buying as an unmarried couple. It sounds like you are getting the ownership sorted out to your satisfaction.

Have you come up with a plan for the inheritance tax (estate tax / death duties)?
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It seems that these duties are unavoidable. My partner would be due in any case to pay the 60% (I think) death duty on the share he would inherit (i.e. 60% of his inherited 75% of my half share if I died, 60% of my inherited 50% of his half share if he died - All this assuming our respective parents survive us).

Doing a PACS would mean we would have a allowance and have a reduced tax rate. Might do that or might wait until the CP gains recognition in France!
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