Such are the complexities of international succession law that making a will is a rite of passage for most real estate owners in France.

Although under French inheritance laws there are severe limits to whom you can bequeath your estate, without a will the task of managing the succession can be immeasurably more complex and protracted.

It is possible to make a will without using a notaire, but as cross-border rules and modern family structures are rarely straightforward, professional advice is always desirable.

However, getting that advice from a notaire can difficult, mainly due to the modest fee notaires receive for preparation of a will, which is fixed by the government at €136, inclusive of VAT. When notaires can earn substantial 4-figure sums on property conveyancing, it is not difficult to see where their workload priorities lie.

As a result of the low fee, we are aware of cases where notaires have charged an additional fee for advice given. Such advice should normally be part of the process, so a higher fee should be questioned.

The other factor that complicates wills drawn up by a notaire is that the law requires that a second notaire or two witnesses are present.

When the remuneration is so paltry that can be a challenge, particularly if the notaires are not based in the same office. Likewise, you may not wish to share your bequests with friends or neighbours.

In order to simplify the process the governing body of the notaires, the Conseil Superior du Notairiat, have proposed that the attendance of a second notaire or witnesses should be abolished.

They argue that their presence adds nothing to the advice that cannot be given by a single notaire. If translation assistance is necessary then that can be arranged, although writing a will in a language you do not fully understand has recently been frowned upon by the French courts, as we reported in Wills in a Foreign Language. The right of the testator to bring along two witnesses is retained in their proposal but would no longer be mandatory.

The proposal from the notaires has been submitted to the government, along with several other recommendations to streamline legal processes.

Such recommendations from the notaires are frequently influential, although the gestation period between proposition and implementation is normally very French!

You can read more in our recently updated Guide to Making a Will in France.