# Money due on death of spouse



## Secondtimeround

Hypothetically. Own a house in France no mortgage worth €400,000.00 in both spouse names 50/50. One adult child. How much does the one spouse need to pay on death of the other? Thanks


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## Secondtimeround

Think I might have found it out anything above €30,000 is it 0.684% of total so around €2736,00 ?


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## EuroTrash

Are you asking about succession tax?
There is no succession tax between spice.


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## Secondtimeround

EuroTrash said:


> Are you asking about succession tax?
> There is no succession tax between spice.


That’s good. We were married and both signed the deeds at the time of the sale and it is owned 50/50 does it need to state en tontine or is owning it 50/50 in this way enough?


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## Secondtimeround

Secondtimeround said:


> That’s good. We were married and both signed the deeds at the time of the sale and it is owned 50/50 does it need to state en tontine or is owning it 50/50 in this way enough?


Asking about the notaries fee to do the paperwork?


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## EuroTrash

Ah.
Sorry, it was not clear to me what you were asking.


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## Poloss

The deceased spouse's 50% can only be freely inherited by the surviving spouse
if the couple have previously established a contract known as "don entre époux" with a notaire. 

Otherwise the 50% will be inherited by the deceased spouse's children from current or previous unions.
This can hamper plans to sell the property


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## Bevdeforges

One caveat here - the surviving spouse usually retains the right to remain in the home - even while the heirs take over the actual ownership of their share of the property.


Secondtimeround said:


> We were married and both signed the deeds at the time of the sale and it is owned 50/50 does it need to state en tontine or is owning it 50/50 in this way enough?


I wonder exactly what you mean by this statement. In France, the actual ownership of the family home depends on not only what statements were made at the date of purchase but also what is deemed to be the couple's "regime de mariage" and then in some cases, who actually provided the funds to pay for the house (or pay off the mortgage). It also depends quite a bit on the adult child in the situation - the child of both spouses, or the child from a previous relationship of one or the other. 

If you have concerns about who inherits what it may be worth your while to take an appointment with a notaire to discuss and understand your situation. The laws related to what and how a spouse inherits a common property have changed in the past several years. It might be very worth your while to sit down with a notaire to assess your current situation and what is possible in terms of donations, wills or other contracts related to the property. The consultation is usually free of charges - and the cost of setting up a donation or will can be quite reasonable. Changing your marital contract is a bit pricier if it involves reallocation of ownership interests, but depending on what else will be part of the estate may be money well spent.


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## Befuddled

A further question for you Bev.
I bought my current house on my own, in my own name. I later married. I have been assuming that in the event of my death she will automatically get ownership because we are legally married in France. I have no children. We haven't yet found an English speaking notaire in our area so we haven't even done wills. Are we in trouble?


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## Bevdeforges

OK, in the event of your death, your wife will automatically get the ability to reside in the house (I think) though I'm not sure that the ownership will pass to her. In the various "community" regimes, large assets (like a house) are considered part of the community property if paid for (down payment and/or monthly mortgage payments) out of community funds (i.e. income while you are married). 

You need to consider all "privileged" heirs - children first (though you have none) then parents (if they are still alive) - and after that, in the absence of the privileged heirs, the estate reverts to your siblings and then their children (if they have any). 

However, this could be the ideal situation for a donation entre époux - or to make sure you each have a will in place if you have no heirs on either side. But again, there are a number of factors to consider, including your regime de mariage. Take a look at the Notaires de France English language website. There is lots of information here and I believe they have a list of English speaking notaires you could consult either during a "day trip" or even by e-mail or phone. Notaries of France


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## Crabtree

Yes the inheritance could go upwards sideways in fact in several directions!!!! meaning that if you die first then a notaire would have to employ a genealogist to work out who will inherit what and that includes money in the bank etc.This could take some time so your wife could be left in limbo. You really need to see a notaire to sort out a will.You do not say your wifes nationality and I assume you are a Brit.If so you can still make a declaration to have your property dealt with in accordance to English law ie you can leave everything to your wife


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## Secondtimeround

EuroTrash said:


> Ah.
> Sorry, it was not clear to me what you were asking.


Thanks for replying does that notaire fee sound correct then?


Bevdeforges said:


> One caveat here - the surviving spouse usually retains the right to remain in the home - even while the heirs take over the actual ownership of their share of the property.
> 
> I wonder exactly what you mean by this statement. In France, the actual ownership of the family home depends on not only what statements were made at the date of purchase but also what is deemed to be the couple's "regime de mariage" and then in some cases, who actually provided the funds to pay for the house (or pay off the mortgage). It also depends quite a bit on the adult child in the situation - the child of both spouses, or the child from a previous relationship of one or the other.
> 
> If you have concerns about who inherits what it may be worth your while to take an appointment with a notaire to discuss and understand your situation. The laws related to what and how a spouse inherits a common property have changed in the past several years. It might be very worth your while to sit down with a notaire to assess your current situation and what is possible in terms of donations, wills or other contracts related to the property. The consultation is usually free of charges - and the cost of setting up a donation or will can be quite reasonable. Changing your marital contract is a bit pricier if it involves reallocation of ownership interests, but depending on what else will be part of the estate may be money well spent.


thanks both paid cash 50/50 on the deeds it states Marie’s sous let regime legal Anglais as simile en France is this enough my husband has eu nationality too so I’m not sure he can elect uk law in his French estate ?


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## Secondtimeround

Secondtimeround said:


> Thanks for replying does that notaire fee sound correct then?
> 
> thanks one adult son is ours no other children both paid cash 50/50 for the house on the deeds it states Marie’s sous let regime legal Anglais is assimile en France is this enough my husband has eu nationality too so I’m not sure he can elect uk law on his French estate ?


Typos autocorrect sorry


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## Crabtree

I was replying to Befuddled sorry I did not make it clear


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## Nomoss

Crabtree said:


> Yes the inheritance could go upwards sideways in fact in several directions!!!! meaning that if you die first then a notaire would have to employ a genealogist to work out who will inherit what and that includes money in the bank etc.This could take some time so your wife could be left in limbo. You really need to see a notaire to sort out a will.You do not say your wifes nationality and I assume you are a Brit.If so *you can still make a declaration to have your property dealt with in accordance to English law ie you can leave everything to your wife*


Unfortunately there are now problems with that which could result in a big delay in France to implement a foreign will written under the EU law, as new French law conflicts with it. So it would be best to get expert advice on this - if experts can really give reassurances when a national law is at odds with EU law.

French Inheritance Law Under EU Investigation | French-Property.com


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## Secondtimeround

I’ve found an English speaking Notaire we will go in and get it sorted we are not resident in France yet anyway just trying to sort stuff out when we move to France we will keep a house in the UK so I won’t be homeless hopefully!


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## Befuddled

Thanks again to Bev and Crabtree. We are both UK nationals living here for a number of years now. Marriage regime? We went across to Plymouth for a registry office job. It seemed much simpler than doing it here with limited language skills. Genealogy expert? That would drag on for years and add costs to be taken from the estate. I have no living relatives either way. Same for the wife apart from a grandson who has two kids. I had been hoping our situation would be straightforward but as we often find, nothing in France is straightforward.


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## Bevdeforges

OK - if you were married in Plymouth in the UK, there is some assumed division of assets connected with marriage in the UK at the time that you got married. Usually it's pretty similar to the "default" regime here in France - a sort of modified "community property" where assets purchased during the term of the marriage are considered to be shared equally (in "undivided interest") between the two partners. Assets each of you owned individually before the marriage are considered to belong to the person who owned them before the marriage took place. But there are a couple of variations on that theme - like whether or not stuff inherited by one or the other spouse belongs to the community or solely to the heir. 

Actually yours is another case where a visit to your local notaire might be a good idea (or to an English speaking notaire, if you prefer). Lots of folks here in France don't bother with wills - certainly not if you have no issues with the "default" distribution of assets on your demise. For those with no heirs, it may be the simplest and easiest approach. (That's my situation, too.) We had a meeting with a notaire a month or two back just to confirm what our current "default option" is - and so far it's certainly reasonable for me. Otherwise, a donation normally only costs a couple hundred euros to set up (something we did ages ago when I first got a bit paranoid about our situation). As it turns out, the donation we did now actually works out rather well for us with the changes in the inheritance laws over the intervening years. And just going through the details with a notaire may definitely give you the peace of mind you're looking for.


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