THE KNOWLEDGE ASK THE EXPERT
Fees and families
Charlotte Macdonald looks at some legal issues affecting French property
What are the notaire’s fees when buying in France When buying a property in France, people are often surprised by the cost of the French notaire’s fees, colloquially called frais de notaire. However, it is incorrect to assume that this cost is the fee that the notaire will receive for assisting you with your purchase. A notaire is a public officer
in France, and their role is not only to provide you with advice regarding your property purchase, but to also collect various taxes on behalf of the French government. The frais de notaire is made
up of different elements such as disbursements, legal fees, duties and taxes. The majority of the frais de notaire is tax, with a smaller amount being the notaire’s actual income. This income can be either be variable or a fixed fee regulated by the French government. The notaire can also bill
for fees (honoraire) that are not regulated by the French government. Examples include legal advice, the sale of a business or a commercial lease.
When my partner and I bought a property together in England, we were told we could own it as ‘joint tenants’ or ‘tenants in common’. Does this also apply in France? In England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland have a different legal system), couples can own property together in joint names in two different ways (‘joint tenants’ or ‘tenants in common’). As ‘joint tenants’, the couple
own 100% of the property together, as a unit. If one of them dies, the surviving owner continues to own 100%
of the property, only this time on their own. This takes precedence to the terms of the deceased’s owner’s will. As ‘tenants in common’, each
owner owns a distinct share of the property, which can be equal or unequal (for example, to reflect different financial contributions). Each individual share passes
under the terms of its owner’s will, and not automatically to the surviving owner as is the case with joint tenants. In France there is no such
distinction. The default position is equivalent to being ‘tenants in common’ in England and Wales. That is to say, the surviving co-owner has no automatic right to inherit the property. It is therefore important
to have a will in place. It is also possible to change this default position by including a type of survivorship clause in the property purchase contract, which the notaire dealing with the property deeds can advise on.
Can I leave my French property to my stepchildren These days many of us live in a blended family and consider and treat our stepchildren like our own. However, in France you may not be able to leave your home to your stepchildren if you also have children of your own.
It will very much depend on
your particular circumstances; whether you are married, if so the type of matrimonial property regime that you have, how you own your property, how many children you have, what other assets you have, and what you intend to leave to your legal children (if any) as to whether you can leave your French property to your stepchildren. The French legal system
practices ‘forced heirship’ meaning the default position is that you must leave your legal children a percentage of your assets when you die. For example, if you have four children – two stepchildren and two legal children – your legal children must inherit at least two-thirds of your assets,
“If you have another nationality, where you can leave your assets as you wish – England, for example – you can write a will ‘electing’ English law”
96 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: March/April 2025
so you could only leave the remaining one-third to your stepchildren. If, however, you have
another nationality, where you can leave your assets as you wish – England, for example – you can write a will ‘electing’ English law. So long as neither you nor your children are EU nationals or residents, the terms of your will must be carried out in France meaning that you could leave all your French assets to a stepchild. Please note that even if you
and any of your children are EU nationals or residents, then an election of law can still be followed in some circumstances. It is important to mention
that it is more tax efficient to leave assets to a legal child than a stepchild in France, as stepchildren pay inheritance tax at the remarkably high rate of 60%. ■
Charlotte Macdonald is a Partner in the international and cross border team at Stone King LLP Tel: 01225 337599
stoneking.co.uk
© SHUTTERSTOCK
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