Professional Advice
Seek professional advice to ensure inheritance tax planning is optimal and draw up a local will. This will ensure the property and assets go to the people the property owner wants them to and don’t end up being divvied according to local legal custom. French inheritance law is notorious in this area. IAP’s investigations in France revealed that without a will, the surviving partner gets no portion of the deceased’s property, and that the deceased’s children might be locked out as well as the property is split under French succession law between the deceased’s siblings and parents. Even with a will, the portion available to the surviving spouse is limited (the best way to get around French inheritance restrictions, IAP learned, is for a couple to buy property jointly and to write a will, seeking professional advice every step of the way).
