Can home be gifted to just one child if both agree?

My father lives in France and wishes his property to pass to me. My brother and I live in England and we agree he will inherit my mother’s estate. Is this acceptable?

Barbara Heslop of Heslop and Platt, solicitors and French law specialists, replies: It is possible for your father to gift his French property to you while he retains a life interest so he can continue to have the use and benefit of the property for the rest of his life.

You would receive the bare (legal) interest (nue-propriété) and on your father’s death his life interest will be extinguished and you will become the legal owner.

Gift tax would be calculated on the value of the bare interest gifted to you and the age of your father at the date of the gift. The tax-free threshold for gifts to children is €100,000 per child – see calculation here.

If your father decided not to keep a life interest, the tax would be calculated on the property’s current value. The tax position would be no different if you paid a nominal price for the property as the tax would be charged on the property’s actual value.

A notaire is likely to insist on your brother signing a declaration confirming that on your father’s death he will not challenge the earlier gift to you. He would need to sign it in France in front of two notaires.