So many forms for a French wedding

I AM British and my partner is French. I have lived with her for 25 years. We understand from your inheritance guide that, for tax and housing reasons after one of us dies, it would be better to be married, but the list of docments required – all needing official translation – horrifies me. I wonder if marrying in the UK would be better, and how the options might affect our rights. M.R.

Whether your marriage was British or French there would no longer be any inheritance tax to pay.

Marrying in France would be an opportunity to weigh up different options for the ways in which property is owned in the marriage (which may effect how it is passed on), but it is also possible to change these “regimes” in respect of a British marriage in France via a notaire.

If marrying in France appears complicated, you might look at taking out a pacs (French civil partnership), which involves simplified procedures.

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