A UK-resident whose husband died leaving property in France and the UK has lodged a complaint after she says the notaire settling the transfer of his French estate levied fees based on his worldwide estate.
Uzmah Yunis, 53, a solicitor from London, estimates she was overcharged by more than €15,000 when the notaire based his fees for work settling her husband’s French estate taking into account the value of UK property which was not part of his work.
A notaire must be involved when French real estate is to be passed on as part of a deceased person’s estate and some of the fees involved – a combination of state taxes and fees for the notaires’ own work – are levied as a percentage of the property value.
However, Ms Yunis, who is British, was shocked that parts of the fee were, she says, calculated based on figures including non-French property.
She feels she was “duped” into paying the fees, when they should not have applied to the estate of her French-British husband, who had lived with her in the UK for 20 years.
“I think it’s really dishonest. They had no jurisdiction over British assets, but even though they had done no work on the UK estate, they based their fees on the worldwide assets.”
She added: “When you are in the time period for the succession declaration it’s a difficult time and you accept what the professional is telling you, and if you don’t agree they don’t move forward with the procedures. But this practice seems highly irregular to me.
“I would like to warn Connexion readers who do not live in France but are entering into a succession matter, that they should ask the notaire very clearly if they plan to levy fees on any estate outside of France. I understand why this would apply to the estate of a French resident, but not a UK resident.”
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Ms Junis is now waiting for a response from the Paris notaires’ chamber, to whom she has complained.
We have asked the notaires’ professional body le conseil supérieur du notariat, if there is any justification for levying fees in this way and will report further if a response is received.
The fees did not include any inheritance tax, as this does not apply between a husband and wife.
