A simple French will

[Val_Douest]

We need to make French wills to complement our English ones (we are now resident in France but have properties in both places). Our situation is very straightforward as we have had our marriage registered under the French regime, have three children of our marriage and no other children or previous marriages. Because under the French regime all the property of the marriage is communal, it will all pass to whichever of us survives. After that either survivor would wish everything to be divided equally among the children (or if any of them should predecease the surviving parent, then that share would pass to any children - none at present - instead). All that fits in quite tidily with the French inheritance laws.

We would be quite happy with simple holographic wills handwritten in French and deposited with our Notaire. However, our French is probably not good enough to use for a legal document and we don't want any complications creeping in through unwitting ambiguities; our Notaire speaks no English.

It seems somewhat over the top to engage a bilingual solicitor for such an apparently simple task. Has anyone in France come across the sort of form used for uncomplicated wills in the UK, usually available from stationers? Or can anyone recommend someone who would translate a very basic will from English to French in words which woiuld be acceptable here? I know that in England there is a whole separate legal language - maybe that is not the case here and for a holographic will perhaps ordinary French is OK if the meaning is clear.

Any advice or shared experiences will be very welcome. We need to update our English wills and our solicitor wants to refer to property covered by our (as yet nonexistent) wills in France.

[Tonyf]

i have sent a private message to you>

[Richardbk]

I believe you do not need to write your will in French.It can be in any language in standard text. It will be translated at the neccessary time. I was told you can even write it on a lump of concrete with a spray can and it would still be legal.

Remember there are 3 types of French marriage regime - make sure you have the correct one for your circumstances in terms of balancing inheritance taxes vs protecting the surviving partner.

If you are resident in France there is no need to keep an English will since everything now comes under French inheritance law. In most cases it is much simpler to override the previous English will and it will certainly probate problems.


regs

Richard

[Lautrec]

Hi Val,

Just check it out!. I think that if your husband should be taken before you, one half of his estate would pass to the three children. Although you may say that they would not take anything from you, it has been known to happen, which certainly would make life complicated. I understand this to be, but I might have got it wrong!

[Teamedup]

Where and how did you change your marriage regime. It isn't permitted in France if the children are minor. And it can be contested by the children too if it is done and one of you die and they hadn't given permission.

The french get in rare messes with inheritance.

I realise that you have probably had legal advice about this already, but if it was in the UK, I'm not sure if the french would consider that this had been done properly. You should perhaps discuss all this with a couple of notaires.