France. This glossary has been prepared for the purposes of the International Private Client Section conference March 2015.

Transcription

1 France This glossary has been prepared for the purposes of the International Private Client Section conference March A à titre gracieux: a gift à titre onéreux: a transaction for consideration (ie a sale) abattement: nil-rate band or tax free allowance acheteur/acheteuse: buyer acquéreur: buyer acte de décès: death certificate acte de notoriété: a deed prepared by the Notaire which sets out the family of the deceased and the beneficiaries of the estate acte de vente: contract of sale action en réduction: right for a reserved heir to bring an action when the deceased has gifted more than his quotité disponible action en retranchement: right for a child of a previous marriage or relationship to make a claim against the share of the deceased s estate being received by the surviving spouse under the matrimonial property regime, if this share exceeds the spousal quotité disponible administrateur du trust: trust administrator agent immobilier: estate agent apostille/apostil: legalisation certificate, required on documents signed in the presence of an English Notary Public assurance vie: life insurance attestation immobilère: notarial document confirming to the Land Registry in France the passage of ownership of a property belonging to a deceased person B bénéficiaire: beneficiary bien meuble: movable item bureau des hypothèques: French Land Registry C capacité: capacity clause d attribution intégrale de la communauté au conjoint survivant: a clause whereby the community assets from a communauté regime are transferred to the surviving spouse on death

2 clause pénale: penalty clause in sale agreement clause suspensive: condition included in sale agreement code civil: the French Civil Code code général des impôts: the French Tax Code communauté: any type of matrimonial property regime whereby there are assets held for the community of the couple communauté universelle: the most community based matrimonial property regime whereby all the assets are held for the community of the couple compromis de vente: sale agreement (equivalent to an English contract for sale; signing this is roughly equivalent to exchange in England) compte bancaire: bank account consitutant: the settlor of a trust contrat de mariage: marriage contract copropriétaire: member of a copropriété ; the copropriété is the way the common parts of a building such as an apartment block are held D déclaration de succession: inheritance tax form délai de rétractation/délai de réflexion: cooling-off period démembrement de propriété: division of full property ownership (pleine propriété) into the strands of usus (use), fructus (fruit) and abusus (abuse ability to sell or mortgage); normally represented by usufruit and nue-propriété dépôt de garantie: deposit payment domicile: residence don manuel: a hand to hand gift, such as a gift of cash donation: a lifetime gift donation entre epoux: gift between spouses dossier diagnostique technique: set of technical reports on the property produced by experts for the seller prior to sale droit de préemption: pre-emption right droits d enregistrement: registration tax droits de succession: inheritance tax E émoluments: notarial fees which are fixed by legislation état civil: civil status état hypothécaire: French land registry search exécuteur testamentaire: person nominated to oversee the administration of an estate (this is not the same as an English executor) F forfait mobilier: a value attributed to furniture and furnishings in the deceased s estate (5% of the rest of the gross estate) where there has not been an inventory or a public sale frais: costs

3 H héritier: heir héritier réservataire: protected or reserved heirs; i.e. a portion of the estate is reserved to them honoraires: fees for a professional; for a notaire those fees which are freely fixed hypothèque: mortgage I immeuble: immoveable asset, i.e. real estate împôt: tax incapable: someone lacking in capacity indivision: property held as tenants in common L légataire: legatee légataire à titre universel: legatee of a percentage of the estate, or all or a percentage of one type of asset (moveable or immoveable) légataire particulier: specific legatee (including a cash legacy) légataire universel: legatee of the universality of the estate (can be more than one such) legs: legacy M mairie: town hall or municipal offices majeur(e): an adult mandataire: attorney, appointed under a power of attorney meuble: moveable asset meubles meublants: furniture and furnishings mineur: a minor N notaire: French notary (lawyer qualified to deal with property transactions and inheritance matters) nue-propriété: bare or underlying interest in property, similar to an interest in remainder; the combination of the nue-propriété and the usufruit combine to make up the pleine propriété

4 P pleine propriété: full ownership plus-value: capital gain police d assurance: insurance policy prêt: loan prix: price procuration: power of attorney promesse de vente: preliminary contract or sale agreement can be unilatérale or synallagmatique (rare); see compromis de vente propriétaire: owner Q quotité disponible: portion of a deceased s estate over which he has freedom to distribute as he wishes R régime matrimonial: matrimonial property regime; basis on which the property of a married person is held rente viagère: an annuity réserve: portion of deceased s estate which is reserved for inheritance by certain family members S salaire du conservateur: literally the salary of the Conservateur (the person running the relevant land registry), but in fact a land registry tax séparation de biens: the matrimonial property regime whereby assets held in one spouse s name belong only to that spouse séquestre: money held in escrow, normally by the cashier at a notarial firm société civile immobilière (SCI): French property owning company T taxe à la valeur ajoutée (TVA): value added tax taxe d habitation: annual tax payable by the person in occupation of a property on 1st January taxe de publicité foncière: land registry tax taxe foncière: annual tax payable by the owner who owns the relevant land on 1 st January testament: Will testament authentique: Will in notarial form testament holographe: handwritten Will titre de propriété: title deed tontine: clause giving rise to property being held by the owners as joint tenants

5 tutelle: a regime protecting a minor or an incapable adult (this is one of a variety of protection regimes) U urbanisme: local planning matters usufruit: the right granted to someone to occupy a property usus and receive the rents from it fructus. Similar, but not identical, to a life interest under English law V vendeur/vendeuse: seller vente:sale vente en viager: a sale where the buyer pays the seller a lump sum and the remainder of the purchase price is paid by a monthly sum (known as a rent a rente viagère) for the seller s lifetime. There are two main types of viager, namely viager occupé and viager libre. The former is where the seller remains in the property for their lifetime (or can be let out and the seller receive the income) and the latter is where the seller vacates the property on completion. March 2015 David Anderson Solicitor and Chartered Tax Adviser Sykes Anderson LLP 9 Devonshire Square London EC2M 4YF Telephone david.anderson@sykesanderson.com