THANKS to all the Connexion newsletter readers who emailed their thoughts on French inheritance laws.
We received too many replies to be able to publish them all, but here is a selection of responses.
While most readers were opposed to France’s strict rules on who inherits your estate, others said France’s policy was correct and expats should stop moaning.
Click a link below to skip directly to that response, or scroll down for the full selection.
Law makes me feel insecure
I want freedom to choose
It could drive me back to the UK
What if we split time between UK and France?
There is a way around it
Unfair to stepchildren
Grandchildren often need the money more
We are returning to UK
Stop whingeing
Expats think the law doesn’t apply to them
We must respect local laws
The system suits the French
French law shouldn’t be amended just to accommodate us
It makes sense in some ways
It is right that children are protected
Should have checked before you moved here
Inheritance should be earned – it is not a right
Don't like it? Go home
Law makes me feel insecure
When dealing with any savings or transferring money to live on, our first consideration is what happens if one of us dies. We have a clause tontine on our house, however I understand that if one dies the other has to pay tax to put the house into sole ownership. That cannot be right. Why would you have to pay tax on something you already own?
I hope the EU changes this very soon
John & Pauline Troy
It could drive me back to the UK
I have now lived here for three years and am therefore subject to French law in this matter. I am a widow. I am childless. I have step-children (UK citizens and residents) whom I view as my family and whom I wish to be my heirs.
I have very little to leave but what there is I wish them to have since it is in considerable part theirs by right because of the input of their late father and their late mother.
I am entitled to name them as my heirs but the French system will take a lot of tax because they are not blood kin. If I make no will they will seek out my sisters and their indigent children whom I have no desire to reward or remember in any way, take a smaller percentage in tax and give my estate to them.
If I were a French national I could get round the problem very simply by technically 'adopting' my step-children for inheritance purposes. As a UK national this option is not open to me.
If anything has the power to drive me back to the UK and away from this country which I love and in which I now pay my taxes, it is the iniquity and inequity of the inheritance laws.
NB, Tarn-et-Garonne
Stop whingeing
I find it strange that people complain about the French inheritance laws. If you are acquiring property or assets in any country, surely it is sensible to check the law relating to who you can leave it to before buying.
It seems that too many people expect UK law to apply anywhere, simply because it’s to what they are accustomed. No wonder the French think that many English are constantly whingeing. If you want to live by UK rules, don't relocate abroad.
Mike Cannon - resident in Vendée
Expats think the law doesn’t apply to them
We have many expat friends who seem to think that, as one or other have property back in UK, they are not subject to the inheritance laws of France. They only spend a few weeks back in UK but do not feel they are "resident" in France. We are informed by our notaire that to be non-resident in France and resident back in UK we would both need to spend in excess of 180 days out of France. This we do not want to do.
It seems to us that, is this day and age, where there is freedom to live, work, retire within the European Union, absurd that we must abide by archaic Napoleonic laws.
Bruce and Sue Holmes
Freedom
I have worked hard all my life, and I want to be able to pass on what little I have to someone deserving of it - not someone the French government deems I must.
Alison Neale
We must respect local laws
On a personal level, no of course I don't like the French Inheritance Law, I think its unjust to a surviving spouse that they potentially can be thrown out of their marital home and lose income because of the way the law operates in favour of offspring.
However we chose to come and live in France and therefore must respect the laws of the country as they stand.
When we lived in the UK and foreigners complained about our laws, my attitude there was 'if you don't like them go back to your own country' and unfortunately I'm inclined to say the same to any expats here who move over and try and get change to suit them.
Shirley Morgan
The system suits the French
I am from the USA, so I definitely think differently from the French.
In fact, I can say I do not think like the French at all.
These rules works for France as it keeps the French in France.
The next generation is having trouble finding work.
The forced heirship gives the kids a means of some support.
But I saw what happened in 2003, when the "children" allowed their parents to die while they were off on vacation.
No need to worry about Mom and Dad, as you benefit when they die.
This is a disgrace to an American.
France is a controlled economy. It is not free.
For Anglo-Saxons, it is thought to be unfair, and it is from their point of view.
But this really means why do you want to live in France?
Why not live somewhere else for six months of the year?
Elizabeth Burke
Grandchildren often need the money more
Of course French inheritance tax law is unfair. It's also a serious infringement of personal liberty and a damn cheek. No government has the right to tell anyone to whom they must leave their property, goods and money.
Most people would leave part of their estate to their children, if they have children. However some people would prefer to leave the bulk of their estate to grandchildren because their children are already comfortably off and do not need the money but the grandchildren may need it more to help with education, etc. There will always be people who deliberately disinherit their children and grandchildren.
My own father was one of those and, although it may seem a hurtful and callous thing to do, I believe it was his right to do so and that no law should have tried to force him to do otherwise.
Di Childs
We are returning to UK
With divorce and remarriage quite common it can prove a real worry if there are children from either side who have an axe to grind, and can cast a shadow over what should be a stress-free retirement.
It is a major reason why we are returning to the UK as it has had a completely unsettling effect on us, knowing that the money we had planned to see both of us through retirement will have to apportioned out when one of us dies. Here's hoping things will change if enough people object.
"La Rue”
French law shouldn’t be amended just to accommodate us
As British nationals who are resident in France, we of course willingly accept the obligation to obey French law and pay French taxes, even though we do not have a say in choosing the national government.
However, the whole question of inheritance is a different matter. Just by virtue of the geographical location of our properties, French inheritance legislation can impact directly on our personal lives by potentially overriding decisions that in the UK we would normally expect to be able to make at a personal level - perhaps in consultation with family members or, in certain cases, perhaps a very close group of friends.
I have personally no problems with the principle that children from earlier marriages should have their interests safeguarded when it comes to inheritance; I fact, I feel positively that this is morally right and fair.
However, this should be achieved in a way that does not fly in the face of natural justice. If it is deemed legal to own a property then it should also be deemed legal for the owner to do with that property what he/she wishes without a government - particularly one that they cannot elect - overriding their wishes.
Although the French rules on inheritance do not just impact on foreigners - as we know even M. Le President is currently enjoying his third marriage - I would never presume to suggest to the French that they should change their system just to accommodate us.
Clearly, the French are proud of their heritage and if the legal system that has been handed down continues to muster broad support, then so be it. However, it can never have been the intention of its Napoleonic forefathers that this legislation should have eventually affected such a large swathe of non-French people with their own, different, cultural backgrounds.
So I welcome the attempts of the EU to review the whole question, although I feel that the main issue is human rights rather than freedom of movement. I remember your headline earlier this year suggesting that the EU was working towards a system under which property owners (or was it executors?) could choose the national legislation under which estates were passed on.
This does seem the way forward, as it would enable the French to keep their current system whilst allowing non-French people resident in France to choose from other legislations if they so wished. It would be interesting to read an update on these proposals if there has been any recent progress.
Peter Halfpenny
It makes sense in some ways
My mother disinherited her three children, leaving everything to the very youngest grandchild for reasons that were unclear to everyone, though the onset of dementia was probably around the time she made the will. (It was never stated by her doctor that she had dementia while she was alive, and only appeared in writing on the death certificate) In our case no-one was very bothered as we all had our own homes and were OK financially, so no-one challenged it, but it could have caused trouble amongst us.
John Morgan
It is right that children are protected
I think the inheritence laws in France are good in that they protect the children of a marriage in spite of a parental re-marriage. A friend of mine in England was completely disinherited when her widower father remarried and died five years later. An appeal agaist the will failed.This was not so much the loss of money or property but the feeling of rejection from a much loved and cared for father.
EF Bell. Drôme
Inheritance should be earned – it is not a right
Why should one have to leave one’s hard earned money to a possibly much wealthier child (investment banker) or to a child who has shown no interest in its parents for years? I am fortunate in that I have no children of my own from either of my two marriages, so I am in the possibly enviable position of being able to choose who should receive the benefit of my estate – what might be left of it, in view of the parlous state of pensions and all the belt tightening that is ahead. I will be relocating to France in due course, and the fact that I am not affected by these restrictions been a relief.
Patricia Handslip
UK or France?
We live in our house in the Languedoc for 10 months a year. I am employed in the UK and pay tax and have a house there. How canit be remotely fair under EU law that we are subject to Inheritance Tax under French law?
Audeman, Languedoc
Go home
It may be that French inheritance tax laws are "unfair" by British standards (whatever that means). If anyone is distressed by French law they can always go back to the British paradise.
AWM
There is a way around it
The Inheritance Law in France is written for French citizens and reflects what French society requires and is satisfied with. That they apply, you say, to expatriates and other UK citizens with property (real estate and/or other) is incidental.
Having encountered this problem about fourteen years ago, I discovered that one can easily take advantage of the La Convention de la Hague (Hague Convention) and elect that the inheritance rules of the country of another EU State (UK for UK citizens) be adopted and followed in the host country (France) by means of adopting the "Régime Matrimonial" available, now, to French citizens equally as easily.
Thus, in our case, our property in France will now pass exclusively to the surviving spouse and NOT to the next generation being our children and which conforms with the expressed wishes of our UK Wills. The next generation will only benefit on the death of the surviving spouse in either country.
Our notaire being quite out of his depth we needed, at that time, to engage the services of a specialised avocat to effect and confirm the essential research and, subsequently, to engage a notaire for the necessary documentation and other (very onerous) French administrative requirements. Finally, and after much time spent waiting for the necessary Courts to confirm and ratify the procedures adopted, which they did, we now have authenticated and fully confirming documents securing our intention that in the event of the death of one spouse the surviving spouse will inherit the totality of our property in France.
The costs at that time were high (about £3000) but I have no doubt that, today, the work will have become routine and straightforward to (most) notaires and thus much less expensive. I know that a great number of French couples, today, adopt the "Régime Matrimonial" without the services of an avocat; it has become somewhat common place.
Whilst my wife and I remain full UK citizens resident in France for a part of each year, and have been so for twenty five years, I know of no reason why this option should not be available to those who are expatriated from the UK and living in France.
The issue of French Inheritance Tax and how it is levied (fully set out in the text of the Double Taxation Convention between the UK and France) is a very different matter and is, in many of its facets it seems to me, very unfair. Particularly the different treatment of real estate on the one hand and other property/assets/chattels on the other. This tax does need to be re-examined and clarified. I would not have thought that the current application to be either just or logical and if Europe can introduce some better sense of fairness into the European dimension generally we will all be the better for that.
A revised Convention, already signed by both French and UK States, has been available for a year or two now but has not yet been ratified by either France or the UK (to the best of my knowledge and belief). The text of this latter clarifies many fiscal issues but does not change substantially that of Inheritance Tax.
I would ask "Why stop at Inheritance Tax?" Capital Gains Tax is just as unfair in many respects and equally illogical, particularly as applied to real estate and other properties/assets. Perhaps Europe can include a review of this tax at the same time!
John Wild
Unfair to stepchildren
I would definitely like to see a change in these laws, especially regarding 'step' children. We have four adult children. The three eldest were from my first marriage - their father died when they were young.
The youngest daughter is from my current marriage. We want everything eventually to be shared equally between the four children, but with the laws as they stand at the moment, if I die first, my eldest three will be financially penalised through no fault of their own. This is very unfair, especially in this day and age.
Mrs A Chandler
Should have checked before you moved here
I have written to your paper before, but only when I get quite angry. Who the hell do these people think they are, to question another country’s laws? If one does not like the way a country governs itself, leave and go back to your country of origin.
I am afraid these complainers should have looked into all these different laws before deciding to live in another country.
Kelvin Hasler
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