Notary in France to assist you with a Trust Caen in Normandy

A non-resident may sell real estate property situated in France. In principle these disposals are subject to tax in France. However, certain provisions can limit or eliminate this tax. The sale of a property in France by a non-resident individual comes under the regime of real estate capital gains. Since 1 January 2015, the real estate capital gains of individuals are taxed at a single rate of 19% to which social charges are usually added (subject to what we discuss below). The provisions for exemption from real estate capital gains existing for residents also apply to non-residents (e.g., disposal of property held for more than 30 years, or for more than 22 years in some cases, etc.). 

To watch the video of the interview with Ms. Alexandra ETASSE on the role of the notary, notary's fees and buying property, follow this link 

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.  

We refer to an international estate when the inheritance has an international aspect. So there will be an international estate if the deceased held an asset in at least one country other than that of his nationality or residence, or if the deceased dies in a country other than that of his nationality or residence. 

The system of “protected sector” (“secteur sauvegardé “) of sales in a future state of completion concerns sales bearing on premises to be used principally for residential purposes or for both professional and residential purposes and including an obligation to pay a deposit prior to completion of the construction. In this case, specific provisions (schedule of payments, guarantee of completion, etc.) must be observed under penalty of nullity of the contract and punitive sanctions. By the general nature of the definition of protected sector, the question of the compatibility of certain contracts can be raised such as hire-purchase, transfer of land against premises to be constructed, sales of buildings to be renovated (“vente d’immeuble à rénover) Moreover, the law requires that a contract of sale of a building to be constructed (“vente d’immeuble à construire”)together with provisions specific to said sector be drawn up from the moment that he who undertakes to construct a house or to have it constructed procures the land directly or indirectly. 

If the notary accompanies his clients in the good times (e.g: marriage, purchase), he is also there to assist them in painful times such as is the death of a close relative and the regulation of a succession. The international department of the ETASSE et Associés law office, is directed by Maître Alexandra ETASSE, specialist in International Private Law. She accompanies her clients in the framework of regulation of succession in international dimension by taking into consideration both the legal and civil, as well as fiscal dimensions. In a general manner, the regulation of a succession takes place in five stages: 1 / The opening of the succession. The heirs should choose a notary to help them in the regulation of the succession. In a general manner it is advised that they all agree on this choice so that a single notary is in charge of the regulation of this succession. The notary and the heirs should search for the existence of a possible will left by the deceased, either in his personal business, in a notary's office in France or abroad or among any other jurists abroad. The wills which are at a notary in France are in principle recorded in a central file, denoted the Central File of Provisions of Last Will and Testaments. This file will be queried by the notary in charge of the regulation of the succession. It is important to note that in France, contrary to what happens in other foreign legal systems, the heirs are personally responsible for the regulation of the succession and the payment of the succession dues. 2 / The establishment of the act of notoriety. The notary in charge of the regulation of notoriety, shall draw up an act of succession, in which will be listed all the heirs, legatees and the rights of each as well as their shares in the succession. 3 / The determination of the act of succession. This stage aims to determine both the act and the liability of the succession by taking into consideration the matrimonial regime of the deceased. The prior donations will also be considered both for civil and fiscal reasons. The existence of a life insurance contract must sometimes be taken in account in the determination of the succession assets.  4 / The option. Once the succession assets are determined, the heirs must opt between various choices (e.g: to accept the succession). The surviving spouse with regard to the particular options (e.g.: the usufruct of the whole). 5 / The establishment of the succession declaration and the regulation of taxes.  The taxation of the succession assets shall be a function of the nature of the assets and the relationship between the heirs and the deceased as well as of the existence of possible international conventions. In addition, the notary will be charged to draw up the other acts possibly necessary to finalise the regulation of the succession (e.g: certification of ownership for the real estate assets, certificate of ownership for the parts of a company, closure of the inventory…) In a general manner when the succession includes some international elements, the international department of the ETASSE et Associés law office, will analyse the situation. Often, it is also necessary to resort to services of a jurist in the country concerned