Inheritance Dodging!

[Fowlers19]

Is it possible to purchase a property in the names of myself my wife and my two adult children. The thought is when we die they will still be the owners of the property so does this get round the inheritance tax. Or will it reduce the liability as we only owned 25% of the property. Or is there a better way to avoid Inheritance tax and death duties?

[Richardbk]

yes, should be possible, but you must discuss with a notaire. They can also do a simulation of the expected inheritance tax situation .The level of tax will of course depend on the value of the property. For spouses tax starts at euro75K and for your children it is 50K (I think!). If they are the only priority heirs, then as long as 33%(their eventual inheritance rights each) of your 25% does not go above the above thresholds then there would be no tax.  The notaire may also suggest using a SCI, a special type of property company(almost zero running costs) for doing this. In addition to being a more flexible option for multiple owners it has the advantage that if a shareholder is not resident in france then his/her shares do not come under French property inheritance laws.

regs

Richard