What happens to holiday home if no will?

My partner and I have a French holiday home. We live and work in the UK. I have two sons and my partner has one son. We want to leave our property to them equally. However, we do not understand French inheritance laws so have not written our wills yet.

If you are owners of the property ‘in indivision’ with half each, this means that in the absence of any will, on the death of the first of you, your respective child/children will inherit your half of the property and will then become joint owner(s) with the survivor of you.

If you are owners of the property and asked for a tontine clause to be included in the purchase deed at the time of purchase, full ownership will pass to the survivor on the first death but with 60% inheritance tax payable by the survivor if you are unmarried when the first of you dies.

If you want to ensure the survivor of you can continue to use and enjoy the property during his/her lifetime and cannot be forced to sell the property by the child/children of the first of you to die, you should each make a will giving the survivor a life interest in your half of the property.

There are however inheritance tax consequences of such a provision if you are unmarried, and specialist tax and estate planning advice is critical.