I shall try to keep this simple. I live in the UK. My mother died 6 years ago in France. My sister also lived with her there and has remained in the house since. She has failed to settle the succession. French tax authorities have levied huge fines on both of us and you would think she had no other option but to cooperate, - but no. She’s not answering the notarie’s messages and he’ plans to visit her this week with no expectation of seeing her. I have also a French lawyer in the UK.
I wonder what information has been required by the Notaire and why it has not been provided. Are you in touch with your sister to get her side of the story, or are you estranged from each other?
My own circumstance is not the same but I do note a certain lack of urgency on the part of the Notaires.
I met him by appointment a month after my wife’s death and he was very amenable and we got on very well (it was a hot day and he even invited my dog into the office from the car). I was given several tasks to perform, things like a marriage certificate, our mutual inheritance agreement (Donation Entre Epouse), deeds to the house amongst other things, all of which I provided within 2 days. I also supplied him with a list of my wife’s 3 children which he said he would have to interview personally online asap.
As far as I know, he has not been in contact with them so far, almost 3 months later, in spite of the fact that he said it was urgent.
Neither have I had any inkling that tax has to be paid, presumably to be shared by her successors (the 3 kids and me), Have you been informed of the tax and at what level it is levied? And who has paid the fines, you, your sister or the Notaire?
Sorry I can’t be of more help but I do wish you a speedy solution to the problem.
You can refuse the sucession and all debts it has incurred. Thats what I would do if you don’t need the money from the sale of the property if it is deemed your sister has no right to stay there without giving you your portion. Sucessions have to be started within four months from death and the Notaire should be dealing with it all. Have all the property tax(es) been paid since the death? That might be where the fines have come from and six years of no Foncières being paid will have piled up. This all sounds very strange and not the norm.
Thanks for your warm welcome and sorry you too are having a tough time. Certainly the judicial processes have not helped. However it remains my sister is inherently greedy. She owns desirable property in the UK and a ruin near the French house. She has not worked for these. She’s living in my half of the house, I, on the other hand, live in rented property, which is in dire need of refurbishment and immediate repairs carried out by the landlord. With all my inheritance I would have my own place at last.
The Notaire has all the necessary paperwork but he’s trying to get her to buy my half of the house and pay all the tax fine which is substantial as the delay is of her making, not mine, This is what she is not responding to. Hopefully the Notaire will ask French Inland Revenue to waive further costs with this further delay …
You say your sister has failed to settle the succession but each beneficiary should act/ be dealt with individually. You and your sister have equal rghts and equal responsibilities. What steps have you taken regarding your own share of the succession?
What does it matter if she owns property in the UK and a ruin in France? So what if she hasn’t worked for them? Sorry, but I don’t see how that’s relevant.
As to the law, which is all that matters here, has your French lawyer no ideas about how best to proceed?
Surely they’re better qualified to advise you than us?
Just an update if anyone is interested. The Notaire said he would visit my sister a few days before Christmas and I suggested he took the documents with him. I emailed his secretary again today for news. I also received a reply from Notaires De France advising me for her to live in in my half of the property I would have to have agreed and a legal document should have been drawn up to allow this. I have followed a suggestion here about Mediation services and I’m looking into this.
Hi We have had three experiences of Notaires in the past three years one terrible the other two good.
The first was dealing with the estate of a friend who moved back to the UK with terminal cancer. She died in the UK and left a UK will with everything going to one child out of three. The Notaire said that the French property should be divided between the three children. However none were EU residents.
We were holding some funds from the sale of her furniture etc so we paid the Notaire 500€ upfront and asked for confirmation that she had received the funds. We had to ask three times before she confirmed receipt. Her child who was inheriting found another Notaire who said that the first was wrong as no inheritor was EU national the house could be left to whoever she chose as she had moved back to the UK before she died.
The second Notaire had to threaten the first with the Notaires council to transfer the documents and the balance of the 500€. It turns out that she had only spent about 50€ in over six months.
The second Notaire then completed the inheritance to the first child’s satisfaction.
The third Notaire worked for another friend (French resident under article 50) who’s wife had died. He had a will leaving everything to him. They had no children but the Notaire had to do a geanological study to prove she had no children at all. I am not sure how they would achieve this?.
But all in all the third Notaire was also very good.
A geneaological study to establish there were no children? Is this the norm? Good grief. I had been assuming that, because my husband and I have no kids and have never been married to anyone else, our affairs would be very straightforward should one of us die.
But is it standard procedure? My husband is originally from Moscow but he has no contacts there whatsoever now. He left the Soviet Union after we married there in the 80s. I can’t think how a notaire or anyone else would start investigating whether he had kids in Russia. Would this mean his estate would never be settled, or that the matter would be dragged out for years, should he die before me?
But if you haven’t yet done so, now might be a good time to make a will and check with the notaire about things like that. The one thing you can be sure of is that it will be cheaper to resolve (if necessary) now than later.
Sadly, this further confirms in my mind that I/he will be moving back to the UK at the end.
How does one prove a negative? Both of us have lived in parts of the world and had previous relationships where it would have been possible to have had children and never brought them back to the UK.
It would be interesting to know if anyone has been through this process and if so how laborious was it?
I was just thinking that myself. Thanks. We did make French wills with a notaire some years ago. But there was no mention then of having to show neither of us has kids.
I’ll read the will again and if necessary contact the notaire about the possibility of doing an affidavit.
Thanks Véro.
I would write to your sister, saying that if she doesn’t sign the succession papers/reply to the notaire etc that you are going to exercise your rights to live in half the house.
