Been chatting with a mixed nationality of friends tonight…
Someone recalled reading of an an incident where French Inheritance Tax was charged, “despite” the UK Inheritance Laws being used (as per the Will)… and then UK Tax was due as well…
So many folk have missed this important point… French ITax has to be allowed for, no matter what !! and it can be quite high !!
(I have no idea about the rights or wrongs of the UK Tax situation though)
I cannot claim to have anything more detailed than that… but I am sure there is info out there.
If French children were challenging the Will of their parents …(of whatever nationality)… who have opted for the Inheritance Law of the land of their birth… I would have expected to read about it… in fact, I would have expected to read a lot and hear a lot about it… but, nothing so far…
Why would have expected to read about it? Do you subscribe to specialist legal journals perhaps?
It has been less than three years since this came into force, and cases can take many years. Plus this is often a very private matter that people do not wish to be spread across newspapers. So I think it is entirely possible that there may have been a case in one of the European countries (I was only using Brit family as an example). But I’m only speculating as to a possible reason why Bill was told there was still an element of uncertainty, as similar has applied to other laws.
Inheritance is such an important subject… certainly here in France… that if/when a problem occurs… it is reported in the National/Local Press… and, yes, I do follow such matters…
You have obviously not noticed the articles where one child is fighting another… or a husband disputes his wife’s testament… etc etc and this is French folk v French folk
If the Brussels IV clause was NOT working for Immigrants… it would have been Hot News.
The french do seem to have a great interest in inheritance, largely because of their forced heirship rules. But Brussels IV is European wide, so cases may be occurring in other countries too.
Hi Fiona,
You have made authentic french wills under UK Law. If as I assume , those wills leave all your assets to the surviving spouse , then that is what will happen - no inheritance tax will be due. The fact that you have a brother with children is irrelevant : any claim your husband’s children had is annulled by his UK law will (if all is left to you).
To be sure ,have a short session with a notaire (preferably one who witnessed the will ), to confirm this.
We have just been to the notaire. As we married without a contract and had previously made wills in France but under English law we are ok in that we have avoided the situation of property inherited by the children. Interestingly under English law you cannot have a situation where your widowed partner can live the rest of their life in the property which the under french goes to the children we may have to pay taxes if the estate goes over the threshold which in our case is unlikely. The most important thing we did is not have a marriage contract as this may have conflicted with the will.
I may have misled/confused folk by talking about French Inheritance Tax…
Of course, that is only payable… according to how the stuff have been left… for instance, if under the Brussells IV you leave your stuff to the Battersea Dogs Home… the Dogs home will have to pay full-whack French Inheritance Tax as there is no French Inheritance Tax-Free-Allowance applicable in their case…
I have read and re-read your post… and I cannot see that Brussells IV is going to cause anything other than “possible” hiccups of which legal-eagle will do what part, when sorting out the Inheritance…
Anyone legally quoting the Brussells IV when making their Will here in France … can leave their stuff to whom they choose.
French Inheritance Tax regulations will apply… that has been made clear from the start…and possibly Inheritance Tax applied in the land-of-birth…
If I have missed or misunderstood a part of that interesting “2016 message”… please do let me know…
Sure you can opt for laws of a specific country. But the point the letter raises is that until there is a body of experience there remains the possibility of challenge. In most cases this is highly unlikely, but for complex family circumstances this could be more serious than a hiccup (and more expensive).
The main thing is to agree with your husband what you would actually like to achieve, then go and see the Notaire and work it out with him. Obviously people like Blevins Franks will be able to help as well, but you would need to pay their fees. Notaire don’t charge for advice!
I am a Scottish Chartered Accountant, so try to keep up with this sort of thing, and the tax free inheritance limits in France do not change under any circumstances. The result being that if you want to leave money to, for example nieces and nephews, then that will be taxed from the first euros of inheritance.
The ways around this seem to be:
Funds in an Assurance Vie can be left to whoever you nominate, with tax benefits
Move the properties to an SCI, and then the shareholding in the SCI will drive where the funds go, so you can issue shares to the people you want to benefit from any property values.
So, start by sitting down and agreeing between you what you would like to happen in an ideal world. It is important to do have a will in France, otherwise the French State will take over, apply standard inheritance laws, and could generate lots of problems for the remaining partner to try and solve.
All sounds very morose, so please do concentrate on enjoying your married life together. And many congratulations!
Thank you! It hadn’t occurred to me that Brexit could muck that up too…and we have left sizeable percentages to UK based charities in our wills. I guess if it happens we will just have to locate others based in Europe with same object. Anyone happen to know an equivalent to War Child?
Hi,
Contrary to what Sandra Shadrach posts , there is a 7967€ IHT abattement for gifts and bequests to nephews and nieces . For the full details of abattements and rates for all degrees of relationship - see here;
Hi Patrick, thanks for the clarification. I don’t pretend to be completely up to date with French tax laws, just a very interested party, as you can imagine.
However, for a nephew or niece, they can inherit only Euros 7,967 free of tax, then 55% goes to the state in inheritance tax after that.
For children, it is Euros 100,000 free of taxes, then a sliding scale on the rate of inheritance tax, which only rises to a maximum of 45% on inheritance valued over 1.8 million.
A huge difference, which is extremely sad for those with no children of their own, but with nieces or nephews they would like to see benefit from their share of marital assets. Looks like Assurance Vie or SCI then - would you agree?
I have named my French ‘partner’ as one of my beneficiares on my Assurance Vie, this way I know that he will not have to pay tax on whatever sum he receives.
I did this after my ex was left 2,000 euros in a friend’s will and had to pay 60% taxes on it !
Easy to change at any time as to who gets what of your money.
