Inheritance rules: are they unfair?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

These rules works for France as it keeps the French in France.

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.

For Anglo-Saxons, it is thought to be unfair, and it is from their point of view.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

I am afraid these complainers should have looked into all these different laws before deciding to live in another country.