Hi. I'm wondering if anyone can help:
For the last few years my parents (British citizens) have divided their time between France and England, with a house in each country. My father died four weeks ago, in England. The following week I made a trip to France to sort out some of their affairs there. I went into my father's branch of Credit Agricole to let them know he'd died, and to confirm that the joint account he held with my mother could carry on operating in her name only - as has happened painlessly with their British bank. The bank employee (not their interlocuteur, who is on mat leave) took a copy of the (British) death certificate, made a few changes on the computer and said it was all sorted. Easy, right?
Now the bank has written to my mother asking for a copy of Dad's will, a signed letter from each of his (three) daughters, stating that they are happy for our mother to take over the account, and a letter from a solicitor confirming that our parents had only three children! What a performance! Does anyone know an easy way round all this? The problem is compounded by the fact that one of my sisters is estranged from the family, so contacting her will be at best difficult, and maybe impossible.
What's really daft is that the ban haven't said that Mum can't carry on using the account in the meantime. On the contrary, they are sending her a new card and new online login password. So if the aim is to protect Dad's estate from his grasping widow (not), it isn't working!
I'm also concerned about the house ownership. I am already the 'nue proprietaire' and I was originally told that situation will remain unchanged until my mother dies. So I'm not anticipating any hassles on that score at this point (hmm!). Do I have to contact someone to let them know, though?
Many thanks,
Gill
Thanks, Ben, that's really helpful. When my parents signed the French house over to me it was with the usufruit stipulation. Unfortunately, so far, I haven't been able to lay my hands on any documents relating to that. With luck their notaire has a copy. Meanwhile, I don't think my father's (English) will mentions all this, although it does say that he leaves everything to my mother. I'm sure we'll work it out in the end. I'll let you all know if any lessons come out of it.
There is no simple way around this. Under French law, provided that all children are from the same father, each child has the statutory right to it's share in the heritage, even if your mother is still alive.
A will can stipulate that the mother will benefit from the right of "ursufruct" (ursufruit), blocking the children's right to claim their part immediately. If this is not regulated by the will then a "declaration sur l'honneur" is needed from each child in order to de-block their parts (including that on bank-accounts) so your mother can have the full use of the heritage. Hence the current requirements from your bank.
In your case where one of your sister is hard to contact, you still need to provide the documents from the other sisters and yourselves, and the bank could then be persuaded to block the part that is legally for that sister (or give it in deposit to a 'notaire") and have the rest available for your mother.
Under the marriage regime we undertook, the surviving spouse is the outright owner of the house and has total freedom to do with it as they want. It does not involve the right of usufruit.
Thanks, Jane. As I understand it, the inheritance of the house is as you describe. Although I am nominally the owner, I can't actually claim the house until both my parents are dead. On my trip to the bank, all seemed to be straightforward with the bank account, too, so I don't know why they are now asking for all this complex paperwork.
A joint bank account in France can carry on as normal if both signatories had the right to operate the account on their own accord.
I am not sure about your other question, as we changed our marriage regime when we bought our house so that either of us will inherit without the children being involved until we both go!