Making a will as a single person

[tuppence]

Hi,

I've only just got round to thinking about doing this after 2 years residence in France. I made a will in the UK years ago but already 2 of the 'heirs' have passed away. Can someone inform me about the in inheritance laws in France (I have no children) don't have much to do with remainder of family and would ideally like to leave the bulk to some very dear friends. Can this be done? And is it easily done?

Many thanks

tuppence

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all Forum members!!

[cooperlola]

Very easy.  You go and see a notaire who will write a pro-forma will according to your requirements.  You write this out in your own handwriting and sign it, then you can give him a copy  for safe-keeping but if it's in an obvious place in your home, that will be fine.  Alternatively, you could write a copy for your main beneficiary and let them keep it too.  You can leave your stuff to whomever you wish but they will pay about 60% tax on it - that is the main problem if you have no close blood relatives to leave your stuff to. 

I believe you can do this without a notaire but we (who are also leaving everything to non-relatives as we have no close family) found it the simplest way and it cost us about 60€ to do both.

[AnOther]

Hi tuppence, I think if there are living relatives, be they antecedent or decendent, then giving away leaving one's worldly goods or leaving them to the local cat home is not quite as simple as you might hope.

As a starter for 10 you could do worse than have a read HERE

Merry Christmas

[AnOther]

Our post's crossed Coops but can you disenfranchise other than immediate relatives ?

[parsnips]

[quote user="AnOther"]Our post's crossed Coops but can you disenfranchise other than immediate relatives ?

[/quote]

Hi,

      You can disinherit all non-reserved heirs with a will . Since the recent reforms ,only the children are reserved heirs, and sometimes the grandchildren where the child is deceased or has renounced his heritage in favour of his child(ren).  All other relatives who would inherit where a will did not exist can be excluded by a will.

[AnOther]

Seems I'm somewhat behind the times then but in my defence, as one half of a seemingly unfashionable 42 year old 1st and only marriage with 2 natural progeny, both of whom are very much still in the bosom of the family, who gets what at the end of the day has not figured greatly in our minds [:)]