Private estate planning for non-residents in Biarritz

The tontine clause that must be inserted in the acquisition act, is often considered in the scope of the protection of the surviving spouse or the partner. This clause foresees that the owner of the goods shall be the survivor of the signatories of the tontine pact. Often it aims to avoid the application of the hereditary reserve to the death of the first of the spouses or partners. But pay attention to the tax system for those that are not married nor in civil unions. 

Located in the heart of the 17th district of Paris in a private mansion, the Firm is managed by six notaries with the support of thirty employees including seven graduate notaries. Our aim is to combine modernity and the tradition of a centuries-old firm, to assist our clients in the most efficient and secure manner. The Firm ETASSE et associes is an experienced and qualified firm of French Lawyers (“Notaires”). While maintaining our approach as a generalist notary, our teams work in various specialities: family law, real estate law, international private law, complex real estate property portfolios, estate management, company law, urban planning law, administrative law, tax law, etc. In order to provide the legal security and counselling necessary for carrying out one’s projects, we take pains to assist our clients to the best of our ability with professionalism, reactivity and efficiency as well as with independence and rigour in the strictest observance of our notarial code of ethics. We work both with national and international clients, private individuals at each key step in their personal and professional life as well as with our institutional and professional clients. The international dimension is increasingly present within both the professional and private lives of our fellow citizens. The increasing mobility of people and capital means that situations involving foreign (international) elements are multiplying, leading to the coexistence of several legal and taxation systems, which raises specific issues that need to be anticipated at best.  The practice of Private International Law requires special expertise. To this end, ETASSE et Associés includes a department specialised in Private International Law.Maître Alexandra ETASSE, in charge of the law office’s International Department, is a certified specialist of Private International Law. Maître Alexandra ETASSE was appointed notary in 2007 and has been a partner since that time.  Me Alexandra ETASSE, who heads this department, is certified as an expert in Private International Law. Due to her dual curriculum – completed both in France and abroad –, her diplomas in Private International Law and her professional experience both in France and the United Kingdom, she is able to assist you with international issues, even complex. She acquired part of her international professional experience by working within a renowned legal office / family office, based in London, where she worked for some 3 years before becoming a partner within ETASSE et Associés.     She holds a Master’s Degree in international law from the University of Canterbury (England), an International Notarial Law Degree, a Private International Law Degree and an International Private Law Specialization Certificate. as well as a university diploma in Estate Management. She is recognised as a specialist in Private International Law.  Her working languages are French and English Before joining the ETASSE et Associés law firm, Alexandra ETASSE worked for around three years in a well-known English legal firm, a sort of family office, based in London and specialising in acquisition by British citizens in France. She works in particular on files with an international dimension for English-speaking clients, cross-border clients, real estate sales, family law, estate planning. Since June 2015, she has also held a Certificate of Specialisation in International Private Law. Her dual training and professional experience, both in France and abroad, enables her to assist international clients, border residents, or clients residing outside of France, for the purchase, financing and estate planning.  pre-nuptial agreement or post-nuptial agreement, mortgages or financing, estate planning, trust and any other subjects pertaining to legal and taxation aspects as regards real estate ownership, inheritance or other modes of transmission. She also helps her clients find the most suitable way in which to acquire property in France and structure the financing and purchase of real estate in France. But the Firm ETASSE et associes has also various other areas of practice with the 4 others partners, who are all “Notaires” (French Lawyer).   Our fields of competence cover most areas of law and taxation: -          Family Law / Estate Planning * marriage contract,, pre/ post nuptial agreement, civil partnership contracts, PACS, cohabitation agreement, Marriage Regimes Amendments, * donation , liberality, and wills, * structuring and organising property ownership, *divorce, * estate planning and tax planning, * inheritance, * Assets Management, tax law, private weatlh   -          Residential/private real estate: * Residential private property law and tax : purchase, sale, resale, current apartment deeds, house, land, company shares (primary residence, secondary residence, rental investment); * mortgages and financing   -          Complex real estate property portfolio/real estate professionals: * real estate promotion, building lot, housing estate, parcelling of land, urban planning law, construction, data-room, institutional real estate, corporate real estate; * commercial and industrial real estate - Estate management, private management, fiscal optimisation, tax law, organisation and conveyance of estate, optimization of business transfer (‘pacte Dutreil’), optimisation of private and professional estate in France and abroad; - Corporate law and business law: real-estate company set-up (SCI), disposal of company shares, operation on capital (increase, decrease, contribution); - File in connection with international and transborder clients, particularly with English-speaking and Spanish-speaking clients: *international marriage, nuptial agreement / marriage contract, change of type of matrimonial regime, *acquisition by non-residents, foreigners, inhabitants of border areas or French living abroad, sale by non-residents, cross-border acquisition *international inheritance, trust, estate planning, * corporate law. * mortgage and financing * family law. Maître Gilbert ETASSE was appointed notary in 1979 and took over the law office in 1994 with Maître Marie-Therese ETASSE. He has a long experience in real estate law, family law and company law. The first honorary president of the “Chambre des Notaires de Paris”, he is involved in numerous missions bearing on the profession. Maître Marie-Therese ETASSE, notary partner since 1994, deals mainly with family law, settlement of inheritances, estate planning and real estate transactions for private individuals. Maître Virginie GUIMIER-MENARD, appointed notary in 2007, is the partner in charge of the Department of Real Estate Promotion, Construction and Complex Real Estate Property Portfolios. Maître Faïz AMDJAD, appointed partner notary in 2010, has a long experience in urban planning law and urban development. He also deals with all types of real estate transactions as well as with company law, tax law and family law. He holds a postgraduate professional degree (DESS) in public law.  

Alexandra Etasse, in charge of the International Department of ETASSE et Associes, will assist you in the settlement of international estates. She  will provide you with the best advice on the often complex problems related to the existence of foreign legal vehicles (such as trusts) or on questions of international taxation. To accomplish this, it may be necessary for our International Department to work with other lawyers specialising in foreign law. The International Department of the ETASSE et Associes law office will draft the legal and tax instruments (act of notoriety, succession declaration, deed of partition, etc.)

The gift between spouses, also called "gift to the last survivor" is very often used by couples wishing to increase their protection in the event of death. But this institution is little known abroad. It is unknown under some law systems, while others prohibit it. Moreover, in an international context, a gift between spouses can raise difficulties. To avoid such difficulties, it often appears wiser for a couple owning assets abroad or living abroad or when at least one of the partners is of foreign nationality, to make wills. Spouses may establish themselves by will reciprocally as sole legatees. Thus the objective sought by the gift between spouses, namely to increase the protection of the surviving spouse, will be achieved. 

Alexandra Etasse, in charge of the International Department of Etasse et Associés will assist you in estate planning, since internationally it can be even more important than in a national context; to hand down your estate properly, it is necessary to plan and control how it is transferred. In addition, Alexandra Etasse will advise you on the best way to anticipate the sometimes complex problems related to the existence of foreign legal vehicles (for instance, trusts), international tax issues, or your desire to protect your spouse or your heirs. We will prepare the deeds of transfer of your property. 

           The universal community place the French property in a matrimonial fund, which passes automatically to the surviving spouse. Once again the legal reserve rules are postponed. There are limitations to the use of the universal community, in particular wher there are children from a previous marriage