{"id":2133150,"date":"2026-09-28T02:03:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T00:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/09\/28\/british-family-french-house-sci-shares-succession-tax-challenge-brexit\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T02:03:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T00:03:57","slug":"british-family-french-house-sci-shares-succession-tax-challenge-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/28\/british-family-french-house-sci-shares-succession-tax-challenge-brexit\/","title":{"rendered":"British Family, French House in a SCI After Brexit: Holding the Shares, Passing Them On, and Challenging the Tax Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You are British, you own a house in France \u2014 a stone farmhouse in the Dordogne, a flat in Paris, a villa near Antibes \u2014 and well-meaning friends at the golf club keep telling you to put it into a <em>SCI<\/em>. The three letters stand for <em>soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile immobili\u00e8re<\/em>, a French non-trading property company: a private company whose only business is owning and managing buildings. For a British family after Brexit, the promise is seductive. Instead of the children inheriting bricks jointly and falling into <em>indivision<\/em> \u2014 the joint ownership that arises between heirs, where every decision needs everyone \u2014 they inherit <em>parts sociales<\/em>, company shares, which can be divided, gifted gradually and voted. The surviving parent keeps control through the manager&#8217;s chair, the <em>g\u00e9rant<\/em>, and the firm&#8217;s rulebook, the <em>statuts<\/em>, decides who may enter and who must stay out. That is the theory, and it works beautifully when the paperwork anticipates death, tax and family quarrels. It fails expensively when it does not: shares blocked by an approval clause, a widowed step-parent with no vote, a 3 percent annual tax bill nobody mentioned, and two countries taxing the same death. This guide explains the vehicle as a British owner needs it \u2014 how a family SCI works, what it costs every year, who gets the shares when a shareholder dies, and how to challenge the refusal, the break-up attempt or the double bill when things go wrong. Our general guide to the vehicle remains the starting point for the mechanics: <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/07\/22\/sci-french-property-company-foreign-buyers-guide\/\">The SCI for Foreign Buyers in France: Structure, Protections, and Legal Traps Every Investor Must Know<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>I. Holding your French home in a family SCI after Brexit: how it works and what it costs<\/h2>\n<h3>A. Should a British family put its French house into a SCI, and how do you set one up?<\/h3>\n<p>A SCI is a contract before it is a company. Article 1832 of the Civil Code (<em>Code civil<\/em>) defines it in one sentence: &#8220;La soci\u00e9t\u00e9 est institu\u00e9e par deux ou plusieurs personnes qui conviennent par un contrat d&#8217;affecter \u00e0 une entreprise commune des biens ou leur industrie en vue de partager le b\u00e9n\u00e9fice ou de profiter de l&#8217;\u00e9conomie qui pourra en r\u00e9sulter.&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006444041\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006444041\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 1832 of the Civil Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. Two or more people agree to put property into a shared enterprise. For a British couple, that usually means both spouses, sometimes with children or a parent, signing <em>statuts<\/em> before a <em>notaire<\/em> \u2014 the French public officer who authenticates property transfers and settles successions \u2014 contributing the house or the cash that buys it, receiving <em>parts sociales<\/em> in proportion, appointing a <em>g\u00e9rant<\/em> to run the firm, and registering it. The official service-public page summarises the appeal for families exactly: the SCI organises matters more freely on the death of a shareholder and, crucially, stops the heirs finding themselves locked in <em>indivision<\/em> over the building, because a departing shareholder sells shares rather than forcing everyone to sell the roof \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr\/vosdroits\/F38553\">Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile immobili\u00e8re: ce qu&#8217;il faut savoir on service-public.fr<\/a>. Where three siblings inherit a farmhouse directly, any one of them can paralyse maintenance, letting and sale; where they inherit blocks of shares, the <em>statuts<\/em> decide majorities, the <em>g\u00e9rant<\/em> keeps the lights on, and the reluctant sibling can sell shares without auctioning the house.<\/p>\n<p>The second attraction is gradual transmission. Parents can gift shares to children little by little while keeping management, and each gift uses the French gift allowances: EUR 100,000 per parent per child, EUR 31,865 per grandparent per grandchild, renewable on a rolling basis. The service-public page confirms the mechanism and adds a valuation point that matters enormously: the shares are worth the property minus the company&#8217;s debts, so a house still carrying a mortgage transmits at a discount to its headline price \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr\/vosdroits\/F38553\">Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile immobili\u00e8re: ce qu&#8217;il faut savoir on service-public.fr<\/a>. Our companion guide on lifetime gifts works through the allowances, the fifteen-year clock and the declaration forms in detail: <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/27\/british-gift-french-house-children-donation-allowance-15-year-challenge-brexit\/\">British Gift of a French House to Children: Donation Allowance, the 15-Year Clock and How to Challenge the Bill<\/a>. One warning the official page states bluntly: shareholders in a SCI cannot claim the Dutreil 75 percent exemption on transmitted business assets, because that scheme is closed to companies whose object is managing movable or immovable wealth. A family SCI is an estate-planning tool, not a business, and the tax system treats it accordingly.<\/p>\n<p>The third attraction is control through the rulebook. By default, every shareholder votes: &#8220;Tout associ\u00e9 a le droit de participer aux d\u00e9cisions collectives.&#8221; And when shares end up shared \u2014 divorced parents holding one block jointly, siblings inheriting together \u2014 the Code provides that &#8220;Les copropri\u00e9taires d&#8217;une part sociale indivise sont repr\u00e9sent\u00e9s par un mandataire unique, choisi parmi les indivisaires ou en dehors d&#8217;eux. En cas de d\u00e9saccord, le mandataire sera d\u00e9sign\u00e9 en justice \u00e0 la demande du plus diligent.&#8221; Both passages come from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000038799283\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000038799283\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 1844 of the Civil Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. Read them as a warning as much as a comfort: the shareholders who draft bespoke <em>statuts<\/em> \u2014 qualified majorities for sale, appointment of the survivor as <em>g\u00e9rant<\/em>, approval clauses for newcomers \u2014 buy peace; the family that signs a template inherits the default rules and the courtroom that enforces them. For British spouses, coordination with the matrimonial regime is essential, because the regime decides who owns what goes into the company: our guide on English marriages in France explains which regime owns the house and what happens on divorce or death at <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/25\/british-married-england-living-france-matrimonial-regime-house-divorce-death-challenge-brexit\/\">Married in England, Living in France: Which Matrimonial Regime Owns Your House<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Two British-specific cautions before you sign. First, a SCI is normally tax-transparent: it pays no tax itself, and each shareholder is taxed personally on their slice. Article 8 of the Tax Code (<em>Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts<\/em>) provides that members of civil companies which have not elected for corporation tax are personally liable to income tax on the share of profits matching their rights \u2014 including, in terms worth memorising for later, the rule that &#8220;En cas de d\u00e9membrement de la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 de tout ou partie des parts sociales, l&#8217;usufruitier est soumis \u00e0 l&#8217;imp\u00f4t sur le revenu pour la quote-part correspondant aux droits dans les b\u00e9n\u00e9fices que lui conf\u00e8re sa qualit\u00e9 d&#8217;usufruitier.&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000025842591\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000025842591\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 8 of the Tax Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. The <em>usufruitier<\/em>, the holder of the life interest who enjoys the property, pays the income tax; the <em>nu-propri\u00e9taire<\/em>, the bare owner who will take full ownership later, does not. Article 1655 ter confirms the same transparency for companies whose sole object is acquiring, dividing or managing buildings attributed to shareholders: &#8220;les associ\u00e9s ou actionnaires sont personnellement soumis \u00e0 l&#8217;imp\u00f4t sur le revenu ou \u00e0 l&#8217;imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s, suivant le cas, pour la part des revenus sociaux correspondant \u00e0 leurs droits dans la soci\u00e9t\u00e9.&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006307007\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006307007\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 1655 ter of the Tax Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. Electing for corporation tax (<em>imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s<\/em>) is possible and sometimes useful for letting strategies, but it converts future capital gains treatment and complicates the parents&#8217; exit, so the family holding its own home almost always stays transparent \u2014 and every British shareholder must therefore understand they are personally taxable in France on French rents even if the money never leaves the SCI bank account.<\/p>\n<p>Second, the British side of the Channel does not disappear. A British shareholder who remains UK tax resident pays UK tax on worldwide income, SCI rents included: the British guidance states plainly that residents normally pay UK tax on all their income, whether from Britain or from abroad, \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/tax-foreign-income\/residence\">Tax on foreign income: UK residence on GOV.UK<\/a> \u2014 while someone non-resident pays UK tax only on UK income, not on foreign income. The 2008 France-United Kingdom double tax treaty then allocates the taxing right over French land income to France and obliges Britain to eliminate the double charge, but the British shareholder must still declare the income at home and claim the relief. Families where one spouse lives in France and the other in London, or where children-shareholders study in Britain, should map residence person by person before assuming the SCI income is already taxed in France so London will not ask. London asks; the treaty answers; the paperwork in between is yours.<\/p>\n<h3>B. What tax does a British family pay each year on a French SCI?<\/h3>\n<p>Start with the rent. A transparent family SCI that lets a flat in Nice or a g\u00eete in the Lot declares the rental profit in France, and each shareholder \u2014 British or French, resident or not \u2014 answers for income tax on their fraction. Losses work the same way: a deficit can, within limits, reduce the shareholder&#8217;s other French property income. Where the family occupies the house themselves and lets nothing, there is no rental profit to tax, but the holding is not tax-free: the wealth tax and the annual 3 percent levy described below apply to enjoyment as much as to yield. And the administration expects annual accounts, a meeting, filed minutes and, for letting SCIs, the yearly N\u00ba 2072 return. The SCI that never meets, never minutes and never files is the file the inspector opens first.<\/p>\n<p>Next, the wealth tax. France taxes large property fortunes through the <em>imp\u00f4t sur la fortune immobili\u00e8re<\/em>, the IFI: &#8220;Il est institu\u00e9 un imp\u00f4t annuel sur les actifs immobiliers d\u00e9sign\u00e9 sous le nom d&#8217;imp\u00f4t sur la fortune immobili\u00e8re.&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036384999\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036384999\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 964 of the Tax Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. The threshold is EUR 1,300,000 of net property assets on 1 January, and SCI shares count expressly: the base includes &#8220;Des parts ou actions des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s et organismes \u00e9tablis en France ou hors de France appartenant aux personnes mentionn\u00e9es au 1\u00b0 du pr\u00e9sent article, \u00e0 hauteur de la fraction de leur valeur repr\u00e9sentative de biens ou droits immobiliers d\u00e9tenus directement ou indirectement par la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 ou l&#8217;organisme.&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385003\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385003\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 965 of the Tax Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. A British family tax-resident in France counts worldwide property toward the threshold; a British non-resident counts only French property, but the French house inside the SCI counts in full through the shares. Mortgages taken out to buy, build or repair the property reduce the net base within detailed conditions, which is why the financing structure chosen at purchase still matters years later. Families approaching the threshold should value the house honestly each January, deduct qualifying loans, and file \u2014 the IFI return follows the income return in May or June, and the penalties for silence mirror those for hidden income.<\/p>\n<p>Then the levy most British families have never heard of: the annual 3 percent tax on the market value of French buildings held through legal entities, the <em>taxe sur la valeur v\u00e9nale<\/em>, TVVI. Article 990 D casts the net deliberately wide: &#8220;Les entit\u00e9s juridiques : personnes morales, organismes, fiducies ou institutions comparables qui, directement ou par entit\u00e9 interpos\u00e9e, poss\u00e8dent un ou plusieurs immeubles situ\u00e9s en France ou sont titulaires de droits r\u00e9els portant sur ces biens sont redevables d&#8217;une taxe annuelle \u00e9gale \u00e0 3 % de la valeur v\u00e9nale de ces immeubles ou droits.&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000018014411\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000018014411\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 990 D of the Tax Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. Three percent of market value every year is confiscatory by design: it is a disclosure machine, not a revenue machine. The Cour de cassation confirmed the logic bluntly in a 2024 ruling on a Liechtenstein foundation: &#8220;toute entit\u00e9 est redevable de la taxe de 3 % sur la valeur v\u00e9nale des immeubles qu&#8217;elle poss\u00e8de en France, sauf \u00e0 justifier relever d&#8217;un des cas \u00e9num\u00e9r\u00e9s par le dernier.&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courdecassation.fr\/decision\/663dbd819b8d29000893487c\">Commercial Chamber, 10 May 2024, appeal No 21-11.230 on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. Everyone pays unless they prove an exemption, and the same ruling tightens the proof: &#8220;Seuls peuvent \u00eatre assimil\u00e9s aux actionnaires, associ\u00e9s ou autres membres qui d\u00e9tiennent, \u00e0 quelque titre que ce soit, plus de 1 % des actions, parts ou autres droits les b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaires \u00e9conomiques r\u00e9els au 1er janvier de l&#8217;ann\u00e9e d&#8217;imposition des entit\u00e9s juridiques concern\u00e9es, et non des b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaires \u00e9ventuels.&#8221; Possible future beneficiaries do not count; only the real economic owners on 1 January open the exemption door.<\/p>\n<p>For a classic British family SCI \u2014 French-registered, shareholders identified, house declared \u2014 the door is open. Article 990 E exempts entities seated in France, in an EU Member State, or in a country that has concluded an administrative-assistance treaty against fraud with France, provided they declare each year, no later than 15 May, the position, composition and value of the buildings held on 1 January plus the identity, address and holdings of every member holding more than 1 percent \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000054334448\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000054334448\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 990 E of the Tax Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. The tax administration&#8217;s own page repeats the essentials: the tax equals 3 percent of market value of property held on 1 January, with several exemption routes, and entities in treaty States obtain the proportional exemption by filing form N\u00ba 2746 spontaneously each year by 15 May \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.impots.gouv.fr\/international-professionnel\/taxe-3-sur-valeur-venale\">Taxe sur la valeur v\u00e9nale on impots.gouv.fr<\/a>. Note what the exemption list says and what Brexit changed: a SCI seated in France is exempt on declaration regardless of its shareholders&#8217; nationality, so British members of a French SCI are safe if the form is filed; but a structure seated in Britain holding the French house through a chain now depends on the Franco-British treaty network for the exemption, and loses it entirely if disclosure lapses. The practical rule is simple: a French SCI files its disclosure every spring without fail \u2014 the N\u00ba 2072 income return, the N\u00ba 2746 declaration where the chain requires it, both before 15 May \u2014 and diaries the deadline like a court date, because a missed year converts a paperwork duty into 3 percent of the house.<\/p>\n<h2>II. Passing on the SCI shares when a British shareholder dies: who inherits and how to challenge<\/h2>\n<h3>A. Who inherits the SCI shares when a British parent dies, and is the surviving spouse protected?<\/h3>\n<p>Shares do not inherit themselves; two different laws decide. The succession law \u2014 French law, or English law if validly chosen \u2014 says who takes the shares. The company&#8217;s <em>statuts<\/em> say whether the takers may enter the company. Confuse the two and the family discovers at the worst moment that inheriting is not the same as belonging.<\/p>\n<p>On the company side, the default rule is closure. Article 1861 of the Civil Code provides: &#8220;Les parts sociales ne peuvent \u00eatre c\u00e9d\u00e9es qu&#8217;avec l&#8217;agr\u00e9ment de tous les associ\u00e9s.&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006444345\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006444345\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 1861 of the Civil Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. No transfer without the approval, the <em>agr\u00e9ment<\/em>, of all shareholders. The same article lets the <em>statuts<\/em> soften the rule \u2014 a defined majority instead of unanimity, approval by the <em>g\u00e9rant<\/em> \u2014 and adds that &#8220;Ils peuvent aussi dispenser d&#8217;agr\u00e9ment les cessions consenties \u00e0 des associ\u00e9s ou au conjoint de l&#8217;un d&#8217;eux.&#8221;, so transfers to existing shareholders or to a spouse can be freed from approval entirely. The service-public page mirrors the statute for practitioners: a transfer of SCI shares requires the approval of the shareholders together with registration at the tax office. \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr\/vosdroits\/F38553\">Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile immobili\u00e8re: ce qu&#8217;il faut savoir on service-public.fr<\/a>. Death is a transfer. Unless the <em>statuts<\/em> continue the company with the heirs \u2014 the clause families call continuation \u2014 the heir who receives shares by will may find the surviving shareholders voting to keep the stranger out, with the price of the shares as the consolation. British parents who assume the children automatically step in must check the continuation clause before anything else: it is one sentence in the <em>statuts<\/em>, and its absence is the most common source of SCI succession litigation.<\/p>\n<p>On the succession side, Brexit changed nothing about the European rule \u2014 but everything about assuming England will apply it back. The EU Succession Regulation sets one national law for the whole estate: failing a choice, the law of the deceased&#8217;s last habitual residence governs everything, and the French notariat confirms that failing a choice, the connecting factor is the last habitual residence of the deceased (art. 21-1) \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.notaires.fr\/fr\/expatriation\/donation-et-succession-a-letranger\/le-reglement-ue-n%C2%B06502012-sur-les-successions-internationales\">Regulation 650\/2012 on international successions on notaires.fr<\/a>. The regulation&#8217;s unifying ambition is stated on the same page: a single national law will govern the whole succession. A British retiree habitually resident in France who leaves no choice dies under French succession law for everything, SCI shares included. The escape is the <em>professio juris<\/em>, the choice of national law: a British national may designate English law for the whole estate, shares included, and the French <em>notaire<\/em> must apply it. Our dedicated guide explains how to draft that choice so a French <em>notaire<\/em> cannot brush it aside, and what it means for children the French reserve would otherwise protect: <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/22\/british-will-french-house-english-law-choice-reserve-challenge-brexit\/\">British Will, French House After Brexit: Choosing English Law, Keeping Your Children Protected<\/a>. The full regulation text is freely consultable at Regulation (EU) No 650\/2012. One caveat the notariat stresses: Britain is a third State for this instrument, so an English choice validly made is applied in France, but do not expect an English court to mirror the reasoning for French assets litigated in London \u2014 coordinate both wills.<\/p>\n<p>Tax follows its own map, and the SCI does not hide the house from it. Article 750 ter of the Tax Code taxes French-situs property held indirectly: it catches &#8220;Les biens meubles et immeubles, que ces derniers soient poss\u00e9d\u00e9s directement ou indirectement, situ\u00e9s en France&#8221;, and deems property indirectly held where it &#8220;appartient \u00e0 des personnes morales ou des organismes dont le donateur ou le d\u00e9funt, seul ou conjointement avec son conjoint, leurs ascendants ou descendants ou leurs fr\u00e8res et soeurs, d\u00e9tient plus de la moiti\u00e9 des actions, parts ou droits, directement ou par l&#8217;interm\u00e9diaire d&#8217;une cha\u00eene de participations&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000024453202\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000024453202\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 750 ter of the Tax Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. The family SCI holding the Dordogne farmhouse is precisely that chain. French succession duty therefore strikes the shares to the extent of the French property, under the Franco-British succession treaty of 1963 and French domestic allowances, with six months to file where the death occurs in France and twelve where it occurs in Britain. Our guide on deaths owning French houses details the treaty mechanics, the deadlines and the challenge routes at <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/25\/british-owner-dies-french-house-1963-treaty-inheritance-tax-challenge-brexit\/\">British Owner Dies Owning a French House: the 1963 Treaty, the Notaire&#8217;s Deadlines and How to Challenge Double Tax<\/a>, and executors facing a French bank or <em>notaire<\/em> who will not recognise English probate should read <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/26\/british-executor-french-house-bank-probate-notaire-certificate-succession-challenge-brexit\/\">British Executor Locked Out of a French House and Bank Account: English Probate, the European Certificate and How to Challenge a Refusal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For the surviving spouse, the instrument that matters most is rarely the will \u2014 it is the <em>d\u00e9membrement<\/em>, the splitting of ownership into a life interest and a bare reversion. The <em>usufruit<\/em>, the life interest, is defined by article 578 of the Civil Code: &#8220;L&#8217;usufruit est le droit de jouir des choses dont un autre a la propri\u00e9t\u00e9, comme le propri\u00e9taire lui-m\u00eame, mais \u00e0 la charge d&#8217;en conserver la substance.&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006429233\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006429233\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 578 of the Civil Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. Give the widow the <em>usufruit<\/em> of the shares and the children the <em>nue-propri\u00e9t\u00e9<\/em>, the bare ownership, and she occupies the house, receives the rents and votes the dividends, while they own the capital that reverts whole on her death. Voting follows a split the spouses must understand: &#8220;Le droit de vote appartient au nu-propri\u00e9taire, sauf pour les d\u00e9cisions concernant l&#8217;affectation des b\u00e9n\u00e9fices, o\u00f9 il est r\u00e9serv\u00e9 \u00e0 l&#8217;usufruitier.&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000038799283\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000038799283\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 1844 of the Civil Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. She votes the money; they vote the structure \u2014 unless the <em>statuts<\/em> say otherwise, which well-drafted ones do by handing the survivor the votes that keep her home. And the Cour de cassation drew the boundary of her status with precision in a 2022 family-SCI dispute: &#8220;l&#8217;usufruitier de parts sociales ne peut se voir reconna\u00eetre la qualit\u00e9 d&#8217;associ\u00e9, qui n&#8217;appartient qu&#8217;au nu-propri\u00e9taire, mais qu&#8217;il doit pouvoir provoquer une d\u00e9lib\u00e9ration des associ\u00e9s sur une question susceptible d&#8217;avoir une incidence directe sur son droit de jouissance.&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courdecassation.fr\/decision\/620ca2d5c61f23729bcf61df\">Third Civil Chamber, 16 February 2022, appeal No 20-15.164 on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. She is not a shareholder, but she cannot be silenced on decisions touching her enjoyment \u2014 and the same ruling recalls the lever: &#8220;un associ\u00e9 non g\u00e9rant d&#8217;une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile peut \u00e0 tout moment, par lettre recommand\u00e9e, demander au g\u00e9rant de provoquer une d\u00e9lib\u00e9ration des associ\u00e9s sur une question d\u00e9termin\u00e9e.&#8221; A surviving spouse frozen out by children-shareholders writes that registered letter before instructing lawyers.<\/p>\n<h3>B. The notaire says no, the family says sell: how do you challenge a blocked SCI succession?<\/h3>\n<p>Three blockages recur in British files, and each has its own remedy. Learn to recognise which one you face, because the wrong procedure wastes the deadline that the right one needed.<\/p>\n<p>First blockage: the <em>notaire<\/em> refuses to apply the English-law choice, or the bank will not release funds on an English grant. Challenge the paper, not the person. Ask for the refusal in writing with its legal basis, then have the will, the choice clause and the death certificate reviewed against the regulation&#8217;s unity principle \u2014 one national law for the whole estate, chosen nationality included. Most refusals collapse at this stage: they rest on habit, on an old file note that that English law cannot apply to French land, or on confusing the tax treaty with the succession rule. Where the office persists, instruct an <em>avocat<\/em> to put the analysis in a formal letter before action and, if needed, seize the civil court for a ruling on the applicable law and the devolution of the shares. The European Certificate of Succession, drawn up by the <em>notaire<\/em> once the law is settled, then circulates the heir&#8217;s status to every bank and registry. Time matters more than force: successions have filing and payment deadlines running while the legal argument continues, so protect the fiscal position \u2014 file, pay under reservation where necessary \u2014 while contesting the civil analysis. Our executor guide walks this two-track strategy step by step at <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/26\/british-executor-french-house-bank-probate-notaire-certificate-succession-challenge-brexit\/\">British Executor Locked Out of a French House and Bank Account<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Second blockage: the family turns on itself. Surviving shareholders refuse <em>agr\u00e9ment<\/em> to the children, or one camp petitions the court to dissolve the company for <em>m\u00e9sentente<\/em>, the deep disagreement between shareholders. The statute sets the bar for judicial dissolution high: a court may end the company early &#8220;\u00e0 la demande d&#8217;un associ\u00e9 pour justes motifs, notamment en cas d&#8217;inex\u00e9cution de ses obligations par un associ\u00e9, ou de m\u00e9sentente entre associ\u00e9s paralysant le fonctionnement de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000028724345\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000028724345\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 1844-7, 5\u00b0 of the Civil Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. Quarrel is not enough; paralysis is required. The Cour de cassation enforces the distinction strictly: censuring judges who dissolved a family company on evidence of entrenched antagonism, it held that &#8220;par des motifs impropres \u00e0 \u00e9tablir que la m\u00e9sentente entre les associ\u00e9s paralysait le fonctionnement de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9, la cour d&#8217;appel n&#8217;a pas donn\u00e9 de base l\u00e9gale \u00e0 sa d\u00e9cision&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courdecassation.fr\/decision\/5fca94145a75a5884f4545d3\">Commercial Chamber, 5 April 2018, appeal No 16-19.829 on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. The lesson for the British shareholder facing a dissolution petition from siblings or in-laws is tactical: keep the company functioning \u2014 convene meetings, keep accounts, pay creditors, minute every decision \u2014 because a functioning company cannot be dissolved for <em>m\u00e9sentente<\/em>, however toxic the atmosphere. Conversely, the shareholder genuinely trapped in a deadlocked SCI should build the opposite file: unanswered convocations, unpaid suppliers, blocked accounts, decisions the <em>g\u00e9rant<\/em> cannot take \u2014 proof of paralysis, not proof of shouting. And remember the survivor&#8217;s lever from the 2022 ruling: the registered letter demanding a deliberation on any question touching the life interest, which forces the machinery to move and creates the written record the court will later read.<\/p>\n<p>Third blockage: the tax bill \u2014 French duty on the shares under article 750 ter, a 3 percent assessment for a missed disclosure year, or a British demand on the same value. Challenge in the order the law prescribes, and diary every date. For French assessments, file the administrative claim (<em>r\u00e9clamation contentieuse<\/em>) with the tax office first, attaching the treaty analysis, the valuations and the proof of filing; most double-tax cases are won here, on paper, before any judge. If the administration rejects expressly or stays silent, the dispute moves to the administrative court (<em>tribunal administratif<\/em>) of the property&#8217;s location \u2014 and the clock is merciless: &#8220;La juridiction ne peut \u00eatre saisie que par voie de recours form\u00e9 contre une d\u00e9cision, et ce, dans les deux mois \u00e0 partir de la notification ou de la publication de la d\u00e9cision attaqu\u00e9e.&#8221; \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000039807005\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000039807005\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article R421-1 of the Administrative Justice Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. Two months from refusal, not a day more. For the 3 percent tax, the winning file proves the exemption positively: French seat or treaty-State seat plus the timely disclosure of buildings and of every member above 1 percent \u2014 the 2024 ruling leaves no room for merely substantial compliance through eventual beneficiaries. For British tax on the same shares, the 2008 treaty credit mechanism and HMRC&#8217;s foreign-income pages frame the claim the other way round, and the French assessment, once corrected, becomes the evidence London needs. Never pay the same tax twice in silence while waiting to see: pay, reserve in writing, claim, and litigate the refusal \u2014 the reserved payment stops penalties growing while the challenge runs.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>The family SCI remains, after Brexit, the best vehicle a British family can give its French house \u2014 provided it is drafted as a succession instrument, not signed as a template. Put the continuation clause in the <em>statuts<\/em> so heirs enter rather than beg; write the English-law choice into a valid will so one law governs the shares; split enjoyment and capital through <em>d\u00e9membrement<\/em> so the survivor keeps the home and the vote on the money; file the May disclosures every year so the 3 percent tax stays theoretical; and value the shares honestly each January so the IFI never arrives as a surprise. Each of these steps costs a fraction of the dispute it prevents. And when prevention has failed \u2014 the <em>notaire<\/em> who will not hear of English law, the siblings voting <em>agr\u00e9ment<\/em> down, the dissolution petition dressed up as <em>m\u00e9sentente<\/em>, the double assessment from Paris and London \u2014 the remedies exist, they are written in the articles and rulings above, and they reward the family whose file is complete and whose deadlines are met. A SCI is a contract for the living that proves its worth among the dead: draft it for the quarrel you hope never comes, and it will carry the house, and the family, through.<\/p>\n<h2>Need a quick opinion on your case?<\/h2>\n<p>If you are British and hold a French house in a SCI \u2014 or are thinking of putting one there \u2014 and a succession, a shareholder dispute, a 3 percent assessment or a double-tax bill has just arrived, speak to a lawyer (<em>avocat<\/em>) before the deadline expires. Our initial telephone consultation, 80 EUR incl. VAT, gives you a clear answer on your file within 48 hours. Call <a href=\"tel:+33646605822\">+33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a> (Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen) or write via our <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/formulaire-de-contact\/\">contact page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British family holding a French house through a SCI after Brexit: how the shares work, what tax applies each year, who inherits on death, and how to challenge a refusal or a double bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80312,80314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2133150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-british-desk","category-decryptage"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.2) - 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