Equity release in France: do you need your children’s consent?
Plan may be complicated if your home purchase is shared with a partner
A viager sale is a traditional form of equity release in France
Milan Vachal/Shutterstock
Reader question: Do I need my children’s consent for an equity release on my French home?
The answer depends on how you own your home.
If you are the sole owner, or co-own the house with a living partner, then the answer is no, you can do what you like with your own property without having to consult your children.
Of course, if you have a partner you both have to agree on the deal.
However, issues may arise where your partner has children with future inheritance rights.
The default situation for residents of France is that French inheritance law, which has set portions for children, will apply to their estate and for this answer we will assume this to be the case (an EU regulation allows instead the choice in a will of the law of one's nationality, but the use of this has been cast into doubt by a 2021 French law).
In this case, if the property was jointly owned with a partner (spouse or Pacs civil partner) and the partner dies before you do, then not only must the children agree to your capital release scheme but they will probably be entitled to some of the cash in their own right.
This is because, by law, they inherit at least part of the partner’s share of the house, even if you still have usufruct rights to use the property while you are alive.
The most common equity release in France is through the viager system.
This is where the house is sold at a discount on the understanding that the seller will continue to live in the house and, in addition to a lump sum, be paid an agreed amount each month for life. Only after the seller dies does the buyer have full possession of the property.
It is sometimes viewed as a way to disinherit children, but it can also have advantages for them, especially as it might remove the legal obligation they have in France to support their parents.
In general this happens when the monthly revenue of the parents is no longer sufficient to meet their needs.
So, children who stop their surviving parent from releasing equity, might find themselves having to support their parents financially.
If they do not, family courts in France will order that they pay a pension alimentaire to the parents.
