Question: My wife and I are residents of France. We would like
to gift an interest in our home to our children while retaining a
right to live there. Would the gift be taxable in France or the UK
either on the signing date or when we are both gone (and the
children own the house absolutely)?
It would be possible to gift the bare ownership of your French
property to your children during your lifetime and retain an
usufruit interest (similar to a life interest). You would
be entitled to the use of and income from the property but not the
capital and any sale would need to be agreed upon by all
parties.
The value of the bare ownership would depend on your ages at the
time of the gift. For example, if you were aged 51-60, the bare
ownership would be worth 50% of the value of the house. If you were
aged 61-70, it would be worth 60%, and so on. There would be
notaire's fees payable upfront for the transaction,
which would be in the region of 2-3% of the value gifted.
