No need for a Will

[Val_Douest]

Some time ago I posted a question about making a simple Will in France. Lots of helpful replies, and eventually we went along to see the Notaire who dealt with the house purchase and also arranged the change of our marriage regime to a Communaut Universelle. The idea was to obtain from him a simple form of words which we could use as a basis for holographic wills. We were surprised when he told us there is no need to make Wills. Because of our marriage contract, all property will pass to the surviving spouse on the death of the other. Because of French inheritance law, all the property will then pass in equal shares to our children on the death of the remaining spouse - exactly as we would wish anyway. In other words, because it is all cut and dried, there is no point in reiterating this in a Will. This advice has since been confirmed by another Notaire.

I realise our situation is fairly straightforward (only marriage for us both, 3 children of the marriage - no other children) but there may be others in a similar position and with a Communaut Universelle who find it reassuring. If so they would of course still be well advised to check with their Notaire; there was no charge for the consultation, presumably because he is an employee of the state rather than an independent professional as in the UK. Having had a father who died very young in England without having made a Will, and having seen the problems this created for my mother, I have always had a horror of intestacy but am now reassured that things are very different here in France.

[Teamedup]

I agree that with communaute universelle there is no need for a will.

The problem could arise if your children are major and were not consulted about your change of marriage regime. As RichardBK has recently said, unchartered waters really and children could take their surviving parent to court to reclaim their inheritance after the death of the first parent. They will after all get stung badly for inheritance tax if they wait for both parents to die.
And under french law it is their right to have the biens from their parents as soon as they die and not have to wait.

[Jackie]

LAST EDITED ON 07-Aug-04 AT 12:06 PM (BST)

We have the same contract but no children. My concern would be if we both got wiped out at the same time, what would happen then? Our British wills in that case give our estate to charities but maybe that would not be honoured in France, would the State get it all? We do have one or two surviving relatives in various countries at the moment.............John in 79

[Richardbk]

LAST EDITED ON 09-Aug-04 AT 09:27 AM (BST)

the main problem will be if you both died together, leaving the children (young ?). You should have a will to indicate what will happen to them, since the default in france is to have a 'family meeting' of both side with a judge to decide.

All this can be avoided by having a simple clause in a will that indicates who would take the chidlren in this event. The judge is then oblidged to follow what is written.


The will can also be used to leave any specific individual items to particular people/family.


regs

Richard