Wasn’t aware of that, do you have a reference?
We have a complicated family structure and our notaire advised us strongly against writing a French will. To the extent that he wouldn’t do it (although he did help in preparation of a testament mystique to make doubly sure the AV couldn’t be contested).
How can that be when French people resident in France forever use them?
This is what we were told by our notaire. He said he couldn’t legally include the tontine in our new Acte de Vente because we had been french residents for over 10 years and been married for over 10 too (with a fairly complex family structure). We were very surprised and questioned it quite extensively ( and had a translator). I don’t have any law references but when I get the "donation " documents I’ll have a look.
Having a UK Will, drawn up by a French Notaire… enables one to ignore the French Inheritance Rules (as to who gets what…). (there is a certain phrasing, which needs to be correct in order for this to work…)
But (of course) in accordance with French Inheritance Taxation Rules… money inherited by (whoever) will be Taxed by France… as per the above rules… one cannot escape that 
OH and I have both made UK Wills… as described above… done by a very helpful and well-informed Notaire…
EDIT: Our Wills were drawn up in France, by French Notaire, invoking “whatever Law/thingie” to allow us choose “land of our birth/UK Inheritance Rules” to apply so whomever we choose to name, can benefit.
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This is where it gets confusing because we asked about this and were told french inheritance rules cannot be ignored (but the inheritance liability can be reduced by the donation). Any UK assets are not affected.
Pity there’s no french notaires on here to clarify- I was not happy having to pay (€340) to get this donation document drawn up
An example, as it was explained to us…
I can leave everything to our daughter… ignoring other relatives… but our daughter will have to pay Tax on whatever she receives over and above her French-Tax-Free-Inheritance-Allowance
Another example… one can leave Everything/Something to a friend (who is not a relative)… but as there is no French TxFreeInhAllowance for such a non-relative… the Friend would have to pay French Tax on the whole amount received…
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French inheritance TAX rules cannot be ignored, and the donation au dernier vivant is important to ensure that partner gets usufruit of house etc when there are reconstituted families (ie second marriages, step children etc).
Could something have been lost in translation?
A clause tontine becomes invalid if you marry under the séparation des biens regime (which is what most UK marriages are). Otherwise it haunts you forever.
Your input is really intriguing, Mark. Stella has not expressed it correctly - you cannot ignore French law, for inheritance or anything else. Perhaps, as her examples demonstrate, she would have been better to say ‘you can deviate from French law at your peril’. But this was not the reason why I suggested that the OP, Charliedelta, should prepare a French testament (not an English Will, as such). It was because currently she, unlike Stella, has no husband, or children, or any marriage contract.
Back to the Tontine concept of property purchase. There must be something missing from the explanation you heard in translation from your notaire, methinks. There are no 10-year rule limitations. Unless, of course, one of you already owned the house, and you have decided to alter the ownership arrangement , which is not permissable - but you appear to say that this was a new purchase. As Véro said, many French couples use the arrangement. The only limitation that I have ever come across is if you have a large age gap, and the notaire will advise that the Impôts can void the tontine because it was just a tax dodge. It happened to me, and I have benefited from my notaire’s caution.
The only other thing that I can think of is if one of your children also live in France, because this gives them a certain priority in inheritance. Is this the case?
As far as I am aware, there was a special thingie agreed by the ~French Govt… that Brits could opt for the Inheritance Rules of the land of their birth… when disposing of their worldly goods… It was a few years ago… and I will try and locate the relevant bumpf…
It was highlighted that this could NOT apply only to Brits as that would be discrimination against other foreigners living in France…
Thus it was agreed for ALL third worlders
there is a specific wording… in the Will which says that xyz law/regime/whatever is being used… (can’t remember what it was…) but it certainly did exist and I have not heard that this has been rescinded by the French Govt…
I should be interested if anyone can show a link to this NOT now applying…
cheers
Quite correct, Stella - and I did not say otherwise. The “special thingie” was, however, not originated by the French Government, but is part of European Succession Law. The French had to accept it, even tho’ it goes against Napoleonic Law, to a certain extent. It passed into legislation here in 2015.
However, as I pointed out up the thread, last November the French introduced amendments to address certain religious minorities that are important to France, and do not permit women equal Rights. This made French law different to European law, which is supreme. Brussels said ‘we have to look at that’, and consider it’s implications throughout Europe. So the actual French law is effectively in suspension while this is discussed and amended or whatever.
This does not affect your Will, because it is covered by European Law.
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This article seems to cover the basics of the validity of a UK will in France:
I think the most important thing is to make a Will of some kind - dying intestate makes life complicated for everyone (OK you won’t care by that point but your relatives will!)
What you have linked to is an article by a firm of English Solicitors, Chris. The key problem lies in the paragraph which says: "Can the terms of my English Will be carried out in France?
Even though your English Will is recognised as formally valid in France, it may not be possible to carry out all the terms of the Will in France."
Therin lies the caveat. That’s what we are discussing in this thread.
Many are hoping it gets rescinded. A poorly put together piece of legislation. And I for one want Brussels IV back again, as parts of our families will be worse off if it isn’t.
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True - but the author is a specialist international lawyer working for a firm of solicitors who specifically offer help with cross-border legal issues. 
Hmm… can’t even locate our copies of our Wills - drawn up by our local (tried and trusted) Notaire… (but I know he lodged them “officially”… so our “copies” don’t matter)
If/when someone comes up with a def FrGovt link to tell us to do something different, I’ll contact him to review the situation… but, until then I really can’t fret about this…
and, of course, we don’t have an English Will… it’s a French Will … taking advantage of the Laws at the time…
There is nothing to fret about, Stella - and neither is there anything that needs to be reviewed with your notaire. He can’t do anything about it. As Jane Jones correctly points out, we just have to wait until the French government comes back into line with European law (‘Brussels IV’) . . . . this will, of course, take some time.
Is there a link saying that Brussels IV no longer applies for third-worlds in France… ??
Not explicitly, as it is a European financial instrument whose effect has been subsumed by this new “Sharia” law. As far as I know this has also yet to be tested by the courts and I imagine at the moment international successions have carried on as normal as no-one has challenged a will based on it. Murky.
Stella, here is a link which explains the background and difficulties that the French have created - [French Inheritance Law Under EU Investigation | French-Property.com]
I don’t think that you are quite getting the picture as to what is involved. This is not just a problem for ‘third worlds’, as you put it - European Law applies to all countries, and EU members are expected to adopt the regs into their own legislation. The provision that the European Court established was that anybody from anywhere, living in any country in Europe which was not their motherland, must be able to opt for the inheritance rules of their own country if they so chose. This is known as Brussels IV.
European Law is superior to French Law, and was accordingly brought into the Code Civil in 2015. However, as the French-Property.com article explains, in 2021 they proposed certain amendments of their own (which are not in line with Brussels IV). Effectively, therefore, Brussels IV is supreme, and it will require a challenge in the courts to overturn the French legislation, as Jane Jones has said.