Notaries in Bordeaux, in English
A Bordeaux notarial office founded 150 years ago. Three partner notaries and a team of twenty-seven welcome you at 8 cours de Gourgue, in French and in English. Version française · Frequently asked questions
The office
In 2005, Maître Daniel Chambarière succeeded his father. In 2007, Maître Édouard Figerou became a partner, succeeding Maître Dréano and Maître Stutter.
Maître Édouard Figerou, who heads the international department, is a graduate of the University of Warwick (United Kingdom), holds a university diploma (DU) in private international law from the University of Lyon (Université Lyon III Jean Moulin), and is a member of the CRIDON international law workshop.
The office joined the notarial quality programme (Démarche Qualité Notariale) in 2011 and has signed its deeds electronically since 2013. Every client has a secure online space to view the documents in their file and exchange with the person handling it.
How we work
- One member of the team is responsible for your file from start to finish
- Clear explanations of every option, in French or in English
- Specialised teams: family and estates; property and planning; business, public law and international matters
- Electronic authentic deeds and a secure client portal
The office holds four labels awarded by the French notarial profession: family advice, estate and family wealth planning, advice to public bodies, and land development and environment. It is a member of Notaires Conseils d’Entreprise.
What a French notary does
A French notary (notaire) is a public official appointed by the Minister of Justice. The notary drafts and authenticates deeds: an authentic deed is conclusive evidence of its content and date, and can be enforced without first going to court. The notary advises all parties impartially.
A notary must be involved in particular in the sale or gift of real estate, in marriage contracts and in the settlement of estates that include property. Funds handled by a notary on behalf of clients are held with the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, a public institution.
Cross-border matters
Our international department advises foreign clients with interests in France and French nationals living abroad: buying property in France, wills and the EU Succession Regulation, French forced heirship, matrimonial property regimes and French inheritance tax. Read more about our international department.
Fees
Most notarial fees in France are set by law (French Commercial Code, art. L. 444-1 and following) and are the same in every office. When you buy a property, most of what is called “notary fees” consists of taxes collected on behalf of the State and local authorities. Advice that falls outside the regulated scale is charged at fees agreed in writing beforehand.
Our online calculators (in French) give an estimate of purchase costs, gift and inheritance tax, and capital gains tax. See also our fees page.
Guides in English
- Buying property in France as a foreigner — each step, who does what, what it costs
- Inheriting French property: UK and US owners — applicable law, forced heirship, inheritance tax
- Making a will that works in France — form, choice of law, coordination with your UK or US will
- Married couples and civil partners — which property regime applies and how to change it
- How to hold French property — own name, joint ownership, tontine clause or SCI
- Selling as a non-resident — capital gains tax, reliefs, tax representative
- Signing from abroad — powers of attorney, apostille, remote signature
- Frequently asked questions — applicable law, forced heirship, incapacity, wills, double taxation
Tools: Purchase costs and inheritance tax calculators · Documents checklist · Frequently asked questions · Contact the international department
Frequently asked questions
1. What is a French notaire?
A French notaire is a public officer appointed by the Minister of Justice to draw up deeds to which the parties must, or wish to, give authentic status (Ordinance No. 45-2590 of 2 November 1945, art. 1). An authentic deed has full evidential force and is directly enforceable, without a court decision.
This role differs from the « notary public » known in many common-law countries (United States, Canada outside Quebec, Australia), whose function is mainly to certify signatures. It is closer to the civil-law notary of Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Quebec or Japan.
In practice, a French notaire is involved in every sale of French real estate, in marriage contracts, gifts, wills and the settlement of estates.
Our office also advises businesses and investors, French or foreign:
- setting up companies, including property-holding companies (SCI), and drafting articles of association;
- commercial and professional leases;
- sale and purchase of businesses (fonds de commerce) and transfers of shares;
- business real estate and the transfer of family businesses.
2. I am a foreign national living in France, or I own property in France. Which law will govern my estate?
General rule. For deaths on or after 17 August 2015, the EU Succession Regulation (No. 650/2012) applies in France (art. 83 and 84). It designates a single law for the whole estate, wherever the assets are located:
- by default, the law of the State of your habitual residence at the time of death (art. 21 §1);
- by choice, the law of a State of which you are a national, if you choose it expressly in a will (art. 22 §1).
The designated law applies even if it is the law of a non-EU State (art. 20, universal application).
Examples within the EU
- A German national living in Bordeaux makes no choice: French law governs the whole estate, including assets in Germany. If he chooses German law in his will, German law applies.
- A Spanish national living in Madrid owns a house in the Pays Basque: Spanish law governs the estate, including the French house.
Examples outside the EU
- A Moroccan, Canadian or US national living in France: French law applies by default; he may instead choose the law of his nationality.
- A French resident who has moved to a non-EU country and keeps a flat in Bordeaux: the law of that country applies in principle. If that country’s own conflict rules refer back to French law, or to the law of another State that would apply its own law, that referral is followed (art. 34 §1, « renvoi »). Some legal systems, for instance, submit real estate to the law of the place where it is located. Renvoi does not apply when the law has been chosen (art. 34 §2).
Denmark and Ireland are not bound by the Regulation (recitals 82 and 83). Their courts apply their own rules, but French notaires and courts apply the Regulation in all cases.
Wills made before 17 August 2015 that were drafted with a given law in mind may be treated as a choice of that law (art. 83 §4).
Practical point. A choice of law changes the outcome, notably for the protection of children (see question 3). It should be made, or reviewed, with a notaire who knows both legal systems.
3. Can I leave everything to my spouse, or to a third party, and exclude my children?
Under French law, children are entitled to a reserved share of the estate (réserve héréditaire), which cannot be removed by will.
Where the estate is governed by a foreign law that has no comparable protection for children, the French Civil Code (art. 913, para. 3, in force since 1 November 2021) allows each child to claim a compensatory levy on assets located in France, if, at the time of death, the deceased or at least one of the children is a national of an EU Member State or habitually resides there.
Example. A British national living in Bordeaux chooses English law and leaves everything to his second wife. His daughter may claim her reserved share out of the French assets.
4. How can I plan for a possible loss of capacity?
French law offers the mandat de protection future (Civil Code, art. 477): you appoint in advance one or more persons to manage your affairs and, if you wish, your personal welfare, if you become unable to do so. Made before a notaire, it may also cover acts of disposal.
The Hague Convention of 13 January 2000 on the International Protection of Adults has been in force in France since 1 January 2009. It facilitates the recognition of such powers between Contracting States.
| Contracting States (examples) | Not Contracting States (examples) |
|---|---|
| Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom (Scotland only) | Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Morocco, United States, Canada, Japan, Australia |
If your country is not a Contracting State, recognition of a French mandate there, or of a foreign power of attorney in France, depends on local law. A separate instrument in each country may then be needed.
5. I live abroad. Can I sign a deed without travelling to France?
Yes. You may grant a power of attorney to a member of our office or to a person of your choice.
Remote notarised power of attorney. Since 2020, we can draw up a notarised power of attorney with you by secure videoconference, wherever you are, and you sign it electronically (Decree No. 2020-1422 of 20 November 2020). No local notary, legalisation or apostille is then needed. This is the simplest route in most cases.
Power of attorney signed abroad. You may also sign before a local notary or competent authority. A foreign public document must then, as a rule, be legalised by the French embassy or consulate in that country (Decree No. 2024-87 of 7 February 2024), unless an international agreement provides otherwise:
- apostille (Hague Convention of 5 October 1961), for instance for the United States (since 15 October 1981), Morocco (14 August 2016), China (7 November 2023) and Canada (11 January 2024);
- full exemption for certain documents. Civil-status records (birth, marriage, death certificates) are exempt, for example, from the United Kingdom (Franco-British Agreement of 3 April 1937), Germany (Franco-German Convention of 13 September 1971), Morocco (Additional Protocol of 10 August 1981), Spain and Switzerland (conventions of the International Commission on Civil Status), Belgium and Italy (Brussels Convention of 25 May 1987).
French consulates no longer receive notarial deeds, including powers of attorney, since 1 January 2019, except in Abidjan and Dakar.
We send you the draft in advance and tell you which formalities apply in your country.
6. Is a will made in my country valid in France?
Forms recognised by French law
- Holographic will: entirely handwritten, dated and signed by the testator (Civil Code, art. 970).
- Authentic will: received by two notaires, or by one notaire with two witnesses (art. 971).
- International will (Washington Convention of 26 October 1973, in force in France since 1 December 1994): see below.
The international will. It is valid as to form whatever the place where it was made, the location of the assets, or the nationality, domicile or residence of the testator (Uniform Law, art. 1). It may be written in any language, by hand or typed (art. 3). The testator declares, before two witnesses and an authorised person, that the document is his will, and signs it in their presence (art. 4 and 5). The signatures are exempt from legalisation (Convention, art. VI). It is particularly suited to clients with assets in several countries.
Wills made abroad. France applies the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 on the form of testamentary dispositions. A will is formally valid if it complies, in particular, with the law of the place where it was made, or the law of the testator’s nationality, domicile or habitual residence. Member States that are party to this Convention apply it in place of the equivalent rule of the EU Succession Regulation (Regulation No. 650/2012, art. 75 §1). The Regulation’s own rule (art. 27) applies to other written dispositions of property upon death, such as agreements as to succession, and in Member States not party to the Hague Convention.
| Contracting States (examples) | Not Contracting States (examples) |
|---|---|
| France, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, Australia | Italy, Portugal (signed only), Morocco, Canada, United States |
Example. A will typed and signed in London before two witnesses is not a French holographic will, but it is formally valid in France because it complies with English law.
Registration. Wills deposited with a French notaire are recorded in the national register of wills (Fichier central des dispositions de dernières volontés), in line with the Basel Convention of 16 May 1972 (Decree No. 91-152, art. 27 and 28).
Practical point. Formal validity is only one question. The content of the will must also work under the law that governs the estate (question 2).
7. Will my estate be taxed twice?
When France taxes. French inheritance tax applies:
- to worldwide assets, if the deceased (or donor) was tax-resident in France;
- to worldwide assets received by an heir (or donee) tax-resident in France for at least six of the ten years preceding the year of receipt;
- in all cases, to assets located in France, notably real estate, including real estate held through a company (General Tax Code, art. 750 ter).
Tax treaties. France has inheritance tax treaties with, among others:
| Within the EU | Outside the EU |
|---|---|
| Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Finland | United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon |
Some also cover gifts, for example those with Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, the United States, Canada and Tunisia.
There is no inheritance tax treaty with, for example, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, Denmark or Japan.
Without a treaty, the tax paid abroad on assets located abroad is credited against French tax, up to the French tax due on those same assets (General Tax Code, art. 784 A).
8. I am not resident in France but I own a property here. What happens on my death?
- French inheritance tax applies to the French property, whatever your residence.
- A French notaire must draw up the deed recording the transfer of the property to your heirs (attestation de propriété), for registration with the land registry.
- The law governing the estate is determined as explained in question 2.
Planning ahead, by checking the will, the choice of law and the way the property is held, avoids most difficulties for your family.
This page gives general information only and does not replace personal advice. Each situation should be reviewed with a notaire.
Contact
Chambarière & Associés, Notaires associés
8, cours de Gourgue, 33000 Bordeaux, France
Phone: +33 5 56 44 00 65
Email: chambariere-associes@notaires.fr
Opening hours: 9:00 am – 12:30 pm and 2:00 pm – 5:30 pm. Other times by appointment with the notaries.