Buying property as a family group

[Fitz]

Hi all,

I expect this has been covered before but i am trying to sort out how to purchase our French home and protect everyones interests if/when one of us dies.

My retired mother (i am her only child) and myself will be funding the purchase of the property we will be taking along my partner (we are not married) and her two teenage children.

Is it best to buy the property in my mothers name only (so it passes to me when she dies) or best to buy in my name and my mothers name or even in just my name only ?

I am just trying to sort out the best thing to do long term to save on inheritance tax and the like,we will be living in France full time by the way

Regards Fitz.

  

[Teamedup]

C o c o had a similar situation and I suggested that she look into buying the property in her name in neu propriete and her mother having the usufruit of the property.  Please bear in mind what would happen if you were to die first and certainly a question to ask the notaire. This way if your mother died first then you would automatically own the property and there would be no inheritance tax to pay at all.

You really do need to go over everything with at least one notaire as there may be other options that suite you better. 

[Ron Avery]

[quote]C o c o had a similar situation and I suggested that she look into buying the property in her name in neu propriete and her mother having the usufruit of the property. Please bear in mind what would ...[/quote]

Sound advice from TU, Fitz, but what will also have to be addressed is the position of your partner if you are not married.  French law does not recognise common law partners, you are either married or not.

It will get very complicated were you to die first, if your partner has dependants, if you do nothing, they may have a claim on your French property and if you are not very careful your partner may evict your mother. OR your mother evict your partner

You must discuss this with your Notaire and get the right clauses inserted or taken out of your contract.  Many Notaires advise in these cases that the simple solution is to get married.  You can then do as TU suggested making your mother the beneficiary, should anything happen to you.

If you are married then ignore all of the above

[shermans]

Someone else suggested forming an SCI and buying in the company name which is what I did to avoid problems with inheritance LAW, not tax.  But look at the thread on the legal forum on inheritance law, because there are possible pitfalls with the UK Inland Revenue concerning this and the position is not at all clear.  All I can say that othere than the UK IR issue, it is very easy to do it and very little different from buying in your own name - you all just have shares in the SCI which owns the house and the shares are held in the UK, hence French inheritance law does not apply.  But many notaires are not aware of this and need to be asked to investigate it.  After that, it is plain sailing without any bureaucracy.  But do not make the mistake that I did.  I bought first and then transferred the house into the name of the SCI which meant I incurred all the legal fees a second time.

[Fitz]

Thanks for all the prompt replies were are still searching for the right property at the moment,just trying to look into the best options for us,will follow up all you suggestions.

 

Regards Fitz.