Can I donate to granddaughter?

Q: I AM Irish, aged 87, living in France, and I want to make a donation to my granddaughter who lives here. A notaire said I could not just donate to that one grandchild but had to donate the same amount to all my grandchildren, including ones who do not live in France. Is he right? J.B.

Notaire Laurent Cozic of the Groupe Monassier, Dinard (www.notaires-dinard.com) said any such restrictions on donations (formal gifts) are connected with the laws on inheritance.

The law that would be applicable in such a case is the French one, because you live in France.

When it comes to your estate being shared out between heirs, there are rules protecting your children, who are entitled to a set proportion of the estate.

The notaire will, at that stage, check that the part which has been given to other people - for example to your grandchild - is not over the quotité disponible (“disposal quota”).

This is one half of the estate if you have one child, a third if there are two and a quarter if there are three of more.

Whatever you give to your grandchildren is given against the disposable quota, unless your children renounce their part of the inheritance and expect their own children to have it instead (this is called donation-partage transgénérationnelle).

In the latter situation, you will need to give an equal part to each grandchild.

In other cases, you will be able to give to only certain grandchildren if you wish, but must not exceed the quotité disponible.

The place where the children or grandchildren live does not make any difference.