It seems our Notaire is not going to get around to writing full wills for us, having done basic “leave it to survivor” wills pro tem.
In the UK one has for decades been able to make wills oneself; has anyone come across any paper or PC-based products for creating French wills? (We have NO children or other close relatives to whom we would leave the bulk of our estates should we both die.)
Many thanks.
You make a 'testament olographe ’ if you google it you will have lots of examples and ‘modèles’ popping up. Follow the rules carefully, though.
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Hi we asked our Notaire in November last year to come up with new wills incorporating the use of English Law on Wills. (You can’t disinherit your children in France). To date, no response or will from him and now that Brexit has happened we are not over bothered to chase him up. Just wasted our time really going through what we wanted with him. The new law that allowed you to utilise your native country law on succession was an EU law. Given Brexit vote, we think that perhaps it won’t matter anyway as they will no longer be part of the EU unless Mrs May allows that bit of law to be enshrined into UK law. So in the meantime we are going to write our own wills and wishes down and try as best we can to ensure our wishes are adhered to. I will take a look at the testament olographe it sounds interesting.
Thanks Véronique, I shall have a good look at that.
Alan
my local Notaire told me to just write down the testament which they would keep on file and have registered with the state when I die, Since I don’t have any children and my husband died a couple of years ago, this seemed an easy way to go about it. I have an extra copy on file at my bank which carries my “death” insurance policy. between the 2 , they should be able to figure it out if I get hit by a bus anytime soon, My husband died intestate which aside from the usual french paperwork was very straight forward. As his wife, all assets went to me since no children were involved,
I know notaires can draw up wills, but does anyone know how much a notaire can advise about how to draw it up, especially taking into account a best solution for a will that is fiscally advantageous?
Or is this information better sourced from elsewhere and leave the notaire just for drawing up the final copy. And if elsewhere, where? Thanks.
You don’t need a notaire, you can do a testament olographe - just comply very strictly with the rules.
Testament : quelles sont les règles à respecter ? | economie.gouv.fr.
Yes thanks, I’m aware of that option and it’s probably what I’ll do. But it would be helpful to have legal, and above all fiscal advise to help make a will that makes good sense. Would you suggest a notaire to help with this or other methods/sources?? Thanks.
Thanks for that document vero, looks helpful.
If you are going to be making a French will then the code civil allocates who gets what proportion of the estate, but you can decide that eg child X gets the reliquary containing st Fiacre’s toe while child Y gets your collection of mediaeval prosthetic noses. Meanwhile your wife gets whatever it is you decide and Leonardo’s sketchbook goes off to auction.
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I don’t have any children, it would be shared between various different people, some blood relatives, some not, some French citizens, some not. Some to charity also, but the right charities need to be chosen for personal and fiscal reasons. Some of the resources are in French accounts or property, others are outside of France. I feel I need some help to get it all right or at least I need to study a lot more about how it all works. Is there any good reason to make an appointment with a notaire or not really? Or better an accountant? Or better just research it all on internet?
In your circs you would probably need to see a notaire.
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Getting this type of advise from a notaire is a free service or the meeting would be charged at an hourly rate?
Advice is usually free, they charge to draw up legal documents though
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Notaires also do free consultations as a public service, if you look on your chambre des notaires local site, or that of your local maison de la justice et du droit, they should have a list of permanences. At least that way you would know which tree to bark up.
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I’m sure you are aware, but it’s worth mentioning again that leaving anything to non-relatives (even step children) attracts 60% tax above the allowance of a bit under 1600€.
The tax is also payable within, I think, 6 months, regardless of whether the beneficiary has the money or not e.g. if they are left property as opposed to actual cash.
AFAIAA the nationality of a recipient is not relevant.
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Thanks Badger. Yes, I need to get together a lot of information of the type you’re giving me. A meeting with a notaire would be a good start. But I need to search further too, websites etc. And if giving to charities, the right charities need to be chosen (the ones I want to benefit obviously, but also the ones that might be fiscally advantageous). None of this is urgent, but if I’m going to do it, it needs to be well prepared in advance of actually writing the document.
Again, from memory, I think that charities do not attract tax but I’m guessing they may need to be French ones.
EDIT: I used the term "charities” inaccurately - see here.
I need to research this a lot more, but I think yes, they do attract tax, but certainly they need to be French ones to be less taxed.