What a notary brings to wealth planning
The French notarial rules (règlement national du notariat), approved by an order of 29 January 2024, allow notaries to advise on wealth management as an ancillary activity (article 7.1.2.4). This advice comes in addition to the duty to advise that the notary owes on every deed.
A notary sees the links between questions that are often handled separately: a gift changes a future estate, a property purchase depends on the matrimonial regime, a company's articles of association decide who will run it after the founder's death. Because the notary also drafts the resulting deeds, such as marriage contracts, gifts, wills and company articles, the advice leads to documents that have certain date, conclusive force and an original kept by the office.
As a public officer bound by professional secrecy, the notary keeps confidential everything you disclose about your family and your assets.
The questions we examine with you
Each situation is looked at as a whole. For families living in France or abroad, the review usually covers the following subjects, with the documents that go with them.
- Protecting a spouse or partner: choice or change of matrimonial regime, gift between spouses, will. See marriage contracts and matrimonial regimes.
- Passing on property to children: gift-sharing, gift of bare ownership, fair treatment of children from different relationships.
- Investing in property: buying alone, jointly or through a property company, letting furnished or unfurnished.
- Transferring a business: family transfer, Dutreil pact, preparing a sale with your accountant.
- Life insurance: drafting the beneficiary clause and its fit with the will and the estate.
- Loss of capacity: a lasting power of attorney (mandat de protection future) naming the person who will manage your affairs.
- Taxation of assets: gift and inheritance tax, real estate wealth tax, capital gains on property.
Families with assets in several countries
Cross-border families face two sets of rules. Civil law decides who inherits and how a couple's property is shared: within the European Union, the law of the last habitual residence governs the estate, unless a choice of the law of nationality has been made in a will, and the law of the matrimonial regime depends on the date of the marriage. Tax law is set by each State, and tax treaties allocate the right to tax between them.
French real estate wealth tax (impôt sur la fortune immobilière) applies when net taxable real estate exceeds €1,300,000 on 1 January; for a person whose tax domicile is outside France, only real estate located in France is taken into account. French gift and inheritance tax applies to French property whatever the residence of the donor or the deceased, subject to tax treaties. Our pages on gifts and estate planning and on inheritance for non-residents detail these rules.
How the advice is organised
A first meeting, at the office at 7 rue Vintant in Chartres or by video call, sets out your family, your assets and your plans. We then send you the list of useful documents: civil status records, marriage contract, title deeds, company articles, life insurance statements, earlier gifts.
A written report describes your situation, the possible solutions and their consequences for you and your family, with figures. The deeds you decide on are then drafted by the office and signed in Chartres or remotely. Marriage, birth, sale, retirement or a move abroad are occasions to review the arrangements made.
| Stage | What happens | Result |
|---|---|---|
| First meeting | Review of your family, assets and plans | List of documents to provide |
| Analysis and report | Legal and tax study, scenarios with figures | Written recommendations |
| Implementation | Drafting and signing of the chosen deeds | Notarial deeds kept by the office |
| Follow-up | Review at each change in your life | Arrangements kept up to date |
Fees agreed in writing before any work
Wealth advice falls outside the regulated notarial tariff. Under article L444-1 of the Commercial Code, the notary and the client conclude a written fee agreement (convention d'honoraires) before the work begins; it sets the amount or the method of calculation of the fees. You therefore know the cost of the advice before committing.
The deeds that follow from the advice, such as a gift, a marriage contract or a will, are charged under the regulated tariff, identical in every notarial office in France. Our page on notary fees in France explains the difference between regulated fees and agreed fees.
Working with your other advisers
The notary advises on the legal and tax organisation of your assets and drafts the deeds. For the choice and management of financial investments, we work with your wealth adviser or your bank; for accounts and business taxation, with your accountant; for disputes and foreign law, with lawyers in France and abroad. Each acts in their own field, and we coordinate the timetable when a deed depends on their work.
Clients abroad often already have a tax adviser in their country of residence. We send them the French analysis so that they can assess its effects locally and anticipate any double taxation.