Equity release in France: do you need your children鈥檚 consent?
Plan may be complicated if your home purchase is shared with a partner
If your partner dies before you do, children must agree to your capital release and may be entitled to some of the cash
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Reader question: Do I need my children鈥檚 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, 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鈥檚 share of the house, even if you still have full usufruct rights over the whole 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 has a reputation for being 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.
