French Inheritance Law

[ClareS79]

Please help, as my friend is getting so much conflicting advice.

Her father died 2 years ago and was domiciled in the UK. He had property in France and limited wealth in the UK. He had no Wills. He was separated from his spouse but not fully divorced (all but signed).

Letters of Administration were gained in England for him, and his spouse inherited his English estate.

Re. his French estate, my friend has been told that her and her sister are entitled to 75% of it, and his spouse is entitled to the remaining 25%. However, the estate is nowhere near finalised and his spouse is now deceased. Her children, the stepchildren of my friend's father are now saying they are entitled to the 25% their mother would have inherited. They are also saying that the french estate should pay for the costs of the english estate.

My friend is at her wits end as her father's funeral has not even been paid yet, even though the english estate (solicitors now acting for the stepchildren) has enough money on account.

I know this is all a little confusing, but please could someone give us some advice on what happens to a French estate if the surviving spouse dies before the estate is finalized? Any links to actual law we could quote would also be fantastic!

Many thanks in advance for any assistance you may be able to offer us.

[NormanH]

She really should consult a Notaire.

The rules and links to the actual legal textes are explained here:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_des_successions_en_France#Textes_applicables

[idun]

Firstly I would send the bill for the Father's funeral to the solicitor dealing with the estate and let him sort it out. As english law goes, it was for his wife to pay that bill and she should have done, she did, after all, get all the money.

Re the french estate, well they are under french law and I should get a notaire to deal with it, as NH suggested. I would imagine that as his wife, and he were not divorced that she would be entitled to the 25% and in consequence her heritiers would inherit that.

[EuroTrash]

As said - you need to consult a notaire about the French estate.

It will all depend on what clauses were or were not inserted into the purchase contract at the time when her father bought the property in France. Did he buy it jointly with his wife, is she named on the deeds?

Basically, in the absence of any legal provisions to the contrary, if the spouse inherited part of the estate, then that share would indeed pass to her children after her death. An estate always passes down the bloodline; under Napoleonic law, which is what the French laws of succession are based on, children are 'protected heirs' and cannot be disinherited, even if their parents hate them and would prefer not to leave them a penny. So if part of the estate passed to her on your friend's father's death, then even if she died the next day, from the moment she inherited it onwards that share belongs to her bloodline

It's just unfortunate for your friend that her father died before the spouse.

Not sure what 'the French estate should pay for the costs of the English estate' means.

Re the English estate, who is the executor? If the solicitor is acting as 'executor' (for which he will pay himself a very large fee, out of the estate), it is up to him to settle the funeral costs out of the estate. If your friend isn't the executor, which it sounds like she isn't, she needn't worry about it. Since you say she has 'inherited', yet she clearly doesn't have access to the funds yet, it sounds like it hasn't all been wound up. Two years is a long time but it can take longer than that, especially if there is no will and the executor is having to track down insurance policies, bank accounts, pensions, etc, etc.

But if the solicitor is her father's executor, he shouldn't be 'acting' for any individual(s). He should be executing the estate as the law requires.

It is very unfortunate that her father didn't make a will. Dying intestate makes it messy for those left behind.

[ClareS79]

Thank you all for your answers. Not what we really wanted to hear, but appreciated nonetheless.