Your Affairs and how to manage them......."

[pennycsf]

CSF Sud de France has been in existence for just five years. During that time we have realised that people are often ignorant as to their rights and also how to better manage their affairs and thus avoid nasty surprises when they are least able to cope with them.

So, on 15th April 2014, at our annual get together in the P-O, Gillie Willcocks and I put together a short presentation giving an overview of things that should best be considered in advance, as well as some of the rights of British people living in France.

These are the topics we touched on:

Couples' Rights (Marriage; PACS; Cohabitation)
Pension Rights
Resident or Non-Resident
Wills and inheritance
Incapacity and living wills/directive anticipées
Entering the French Health System
Welfare Benefits

If you are interested, we have uploaded our notes as attachments to this post. This broad review of the position is correct as at 15th April 2014 but it takes a general approach, it cannot be relied upon as relevant to your personal situation. Proper advice, tailored to you and your family/partner, must be taken.

You will also find attached:
a list of useful websites
a draft French Will
a draft English Will
a form of General or Ordinary Power of Attorney (England)

Finally, two simple steps you and your partner can take:

Ensure that your bank accounts are in joint names - M OU Mme in France; Mr AND Mrs in England
Although current accounts can be in joint names, savings accounts in France are in a sole name, make sure that these are kept level, so that on death if an account is frozen, the survivor has enough to live on pending sorting out the estate.

AND that your partner or someone close to you has your computer passwords to enable them to access information when it is most needed!!

[francis]

Excellent stuff!!

Well done to both of you for your hard work!!