What does a French tontine actually look like?

Reader question: I do not think the notaire put a tontine clause in our house contract, but I am not sure. What would such a clause say?

A tontine clause – une clause de tontine (or un pacte tontinier) will not necessarily be obvious in the deeds with wording such as l’achat est sujet à une clause de tontine (the purchase is subject to a tontine clause).

However, the ‘title’ of the deeds section dealing with this may include the word tontine, that is to say the little sub-heading introducing the relevant part.

Otherwise, bilingual notaire François Trémosa of Trémosa Pouzenc in Paris and Toulouse said the typical wording would be as follows: chacun des acquéreurs achète sous la condition suspensive de sa propre survie et sous la condition résolutoire du prédécès de son co-acquéreur (each of the purchasers buys under the condition precedent of his or her own survival and under the termination condition of the preceding death of his or her co-purchaser).

Read more: can a large age gap invalidate a tontine agreement in France?

In plain English, this means the purchase is valid for each person only if they survive the co-buyer, and if one buyer dies first their ownership is cancelled retroactively. 

Whoever survives becomes considered the sole owner, as if this had always been the case.

If the notaire did not put in such a clause – it has to be requested at the time – it is not possible to insert it at a later date.

You could sell and buy a new property however, if considering this, take advice from a notaire as to your legal marital regime in French law and potential impact of this on the ability to buy this way. 

Should this be an issue, it may be possible to change your regime.