Colin Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 Can anyone help me please. I have become so confused. My wife and me are seriously considering retiring to France, we have our house up for sale currently and have decided on the area we want to move to after many visits to France. The one concern we both have is this. I have 4 children from my first marriage which ended nearly 30 years ago, my wife and me have one child together. All children are grown up, married, and 4 out of the 5 have children of their own. I cannot put this any other way so please try to understand. For historic personal domestic reasons, I want to be able to ensure that none of the 4 children from my first marriage can lay a claim to any property we might buy in France. I am 64 years old, in good health thankfully, my wife is 53. Is there any way I can protect her from being at the mercy of my 4 children from my first marriage. Only one has kept in regular contact with me consistently for the past 30 years and she understands and agrees I need to protect my wife and our daughter (who is much younger than the other children.4).The other three would undoubtable 'take her to the cleaners' if they had the chance. Would her future and that of our daughter be protected if my wife bought the house in her name only? or do the inheritance laws in France mean that our dream of retiring there should remain just that, a dream? Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 Hi Colin, I expect that there will be some lengthy replies to this, but your last question is easy.If your wife buys the house in her name only, it's hers, nothing to do with you or your other children, but of course legally you would have no rights to it or any say in what happens to it at any time. If she should die first it would go to the child that is "hers" and either of her parents should they be alive, you would have nothing. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 The only way round it that I can think of is that you get your wife to buy the house in France totally in her name. Transfer the money from her own bank account in the UK to her own bank account in France to pay for it. Try and keep out of the process and out of the Notaires office !I would not for one minute suggest this is fool proof and obviously you seek professional advice before you do anything . Sorry Chris, you managed to get your thoughts together quicker than me ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 The reason that Beryl said that your wife has to transfer the money from her own UK bank account to the notaire is because if any of your children thought that you paid for the house in any way, they might put in a claim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 Not just that, Cathy but every official that I have met so far, insists on by passing me and dealing with my husband. I am sure that even in the posters wife went into the Notaire's with a sackful of money, they would still address everything to her husband if he is present. I remember reading a post some time ago to the effect that a married woman doesn't really exist in her own right in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted May 29, 2006 Author Share Posted May 29, 2006 Chris, so many thanks to you. It seems the dream can still be on. Of course we will seek the necessary legal advise first but the solution does seem to be there. Thanks again. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil the Francophile Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 There is a lot of stuff related to this in the thread I started, but briefly:If you buy in joint names a clause tontine in the purchase documents has the effect of disinheriting the children from your first marriage completely should you die first, and ownership passes to your wife. Your daughter would then be the only inheritor. The downside is that your wife would be liable for inheritance tax, as would your daughter ultimately.If the house is in your wife's name only, your daughter from that marriage would inherit should your wife die first, and you would not necessarily have any rights at all.As a matter of interest, we did this with our first house purchase (a holiday home in the Dordogne). My (second) wife bought the place in her name only. The notaire was quite happy to do that. I was identified in the documents, but was not party to the purchase, or the sale. That was fine for a short term thing, but we did not feel the same about a permanent move.Bonne chance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hastobe Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 [quote user="Phil the Francophile"] The downside is that your wife would be liable for inheritance tax, as would your daughter ultimately.[/quote]Depending on your circumstances making a payment of IHT on the firstdeath can reduce the overall tax on the estate as this first payment ofIHT will be reduced by the nil rate bands available to the spouse,children etc. It depends what your desired outcome is. Just as an aside I have seen many UK tax payers get just as riled overUK inheritance tax law. Most UK IHT planning involves giving awaypart of your estate before your death (in some shape or form). The number of individuals who would rather pay 40% tax than entertainthe idea of giving either their children or their spouses a share intheir property / company / investments etc is pretty high [;-)]The expression over my dead body.....Kathie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now