French Succesion, Inheritance and Divorce query

Sifer_2

Hello,

I am hoping someone can help with a query I have in relation to the following subjects inheritance, French laws of succession and divorce.

A bit of background, apologies this might be quite wordy.

My parents bought a house in France and after their passing the house is to be sold and the proceeds split amongst their children.

My brother passed away a number of years ago and therefore his share is now being split amongst his children.

Now to the query I have is, one of his children may have been married at the time of my parents passing and as such I would like to know now that they have divorced, would mean that both parties would have to split the inheritance or if just my relation would retain their share of the property's sale price.

Thank you in advance

sheramber

The timing of the inheritance and the divorce would affect the result.

Was the divorce after the child inherited the money?

Is there a divorce settlement?

FBaby

Most importantly, under which regime they were married.

FBaby

https://www.connexionfrance.com/Archive/French-marriage-regimes

Sifer_2

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

The marrage was in the UK.

We are unsure on the exact timing of the divorce however it was around a similar time to the passing of the first of my parents.

So the child may or may not have been married at the time.

I am expecting that if they were married at the time that there would be some claim on the inheritance for the child's former partner however I have limited understanding as to if that is subject to the division of assets that a divorce normally entails.

Am I also correct in the situation where the divorce had gone through prior to the first of my parents passing then that would mean nothing is due to the childs ex partner?

I know I cannot at this stage give an indication as to which scenario is present so I guess I am asking more what would happen in both scenarios and if my understanding is correct (as detailed above).

An already messy situation could get more complex depending on the reality of the case and I want to try and be aware of the implications prior to knowing the exact dates.

sheramber

http://www.frenchnotaire.com/Synospis-on-French-inheritance-law.htm

TBagpuss

You would and to check with a French lawyer but I believe that the situation is that inheritance goes to children, / grandchildren, not to the spouses of those children.
So your niece or nephew gets their share of the inheritance.

As between them and their (ex) spouse,. the inheritance would be relevant to any divorce settlement but would not automatically be divided equally. It would only be relevant if the niece/nephew became entitled to the inheritance before a final financial order was made in the divorce.

If a final financial order was made after the niece or nephew became entitled to the inheritance (which would happen at the time the testator died, although you'd have to check with the French lawyer as to whether this was the first or second parent's death) but they did not declare it when giving their financial disclosure, then their ex-spouse *might* have grounds to appeal the original order to ask that the inheritance be taken into account.

Whether they would succeed would depend on a lot of factors, including the value of the inheritance, both in cash terms and in the context of the divorce settlement (e.g. a £10,000 inheritance might be significant if the total matrimonial assets were only £10,000, but of little if any relevance if the total assets were £500,000)

If you are administering the estate then the divorce side of things is not your responsibility, as either way, the ex spouse has no automatic claim to a share of the inheritance.

So, double check with the french lawyer that you pay the deceased's grandchild, not grandchild's spouse, and suggest to your niece or nephew that they check with their divorce lawyer whether they need to declare the inheritance.