Passing on assets to the next generation while preserving a certain unity, control and consistency in management, these are certainly the main preoccupations of the prudent parent wanting to preserve and perpetuate the family’s wealth. Does the civil-law partnership offer a solution?

We suggest that these parents follow these guidelines. They aim to explain the main characteristics of the civil-law partnership as an estate planning instrument.

You are the happy owner of: a collection of valuable objects, securities portfolio, house in the country or intellectual property rights. All this you have built up through hard work, patience and even going without at times. After your death you want it to remain intact or you want all the members of your family to be able to benefit from it. But you know that your successors will not necessarily have the same fibre, the same love or the same passion that you have for all this. And even if several of your heirs want to continue on the path you have set for them, your death and the ensuing division will have a damaging effect on conserving the assets. If your heirs do want to keep everything, will they be able to handle such an inheritance which demands attention and specific monitoring? At the very least, you do not want the measures you take while you are alive to become source of conflict between them. The civil-law partnership could be a solution.

Let’s take the example of Mr Belazur.
Mr Belazur has a second home in Normandy. He is married with three grown-up children. He wants this property, inherited from his parents and witness to all the major events in the family’s life, to retain its family character and he wants his grandchildren to be able to enjoy it after his death. When considering estate planning he would like, if possible, to reduce the inheritance tax his heirs will have to pay.
If nothing is done or planned, on Mr Belazur’s death, his heirs will share the property according to the laws on inheritance. Each will have a right to the house thus creating a type of joint-ownership between the heirs. If they agree on preserving the family house, all the better, but they could also tear themselves apart over the fate to be reserved for it. 
To achieve his objectives, Mr Belazur can think about setting up a civil-law partnership with the members of his family. The property in Normandy will then become the main asset. Using the shares in the company, he may transfer this property to his children, he may mange the company as the statutory manager and so keep the property in the company for the desired period. In this way, any division or splitting up of property will be avoided and the framework will be set up to preserve the family inheritance. 

The example of M. Belazur describes one of the possible contexts. Other examples are given further on. Each time it is a question of common property and joint ownership organised within the framework of a civil-law partnership. While these two ideas are quite similar to each other, the civil-law partnership makes a distinction for joint ownership (see box). Joint ownership is often the result of a legal situation imposed upon the people concerned (e.g. an inheritance) while the civil law partnership is set up voluntarily by those wishing to act together for a common goal.