Marriage regime

[kfeaton]

We notice that people quote a change of "marriage regime", what does this actually mean? We were married abroad in the Seychelles a service that was conducted in french, which our Notaire commented on at the time of completion. Does this "marriage regime " only apply to marriages in the UK?

Karen & Frazer

[Chrissid]

The marriage regime is important in France because it defines your rights in case of divorce or death of one partner. The two regimes in France are:
1. Separation des Biens, which means that all assets acquired before the marriage or through inheritance during the marriage remain the private property of each partner, and assets acquired during the marriage belong to both partners. and
2. Communaute Universelle which means that all assets are owned jointly.
French people tend to declare their regime in the Carnet de Famille. As the UK legal system doesn't recognise prenuptial agreements these regimes don't apply there. However, everybody who got married in the UK is regarded as being married under the regime of Separation des Biens in France.
The whole question of Marriage Regimes becomes interesting if you are a family with young children in France and one of the partners dies. Under Separation des Biens the surviving spouse pays inheritance tax and has to share the inheritance with the children. If the children are under age, the surviving partner would have to obtain a court order in order to sell the house.
If your regime is that of the Communaute Universelle the surviving partner gets everything without paying any tax.
I hope I have explained this well and no doubt, if there are any mistakes someone will correct me.

Kind regards,
Christiane
www.francesw.com