French donation-partage: locking in values and avoiding civil report

Updated 25 May 2026 — Hayot Expertise, chartered accountants, Paris.

If you hold French assets — property, company shares, a French SCI — and have children, the French donation-partage is one of the most powerful planning tools available to you. It is also one of the most misunderstood by UK-based clients, partly because it has no direct equivalent in English law. This guide explains how it works, what it achieves, and when it is worth considering as part of a cross-border estate plan.

Quick answer: A donation-partage is a notarised act under French law (art. 1075–1078 Code civil) that allows a donor to transfer and divide assets among presumptive heirs during their lifetime. Its defining feature — the value freeze — means that assets are assessed at the date of the act, not at the date of death. Combined with the French inheritance tax allowance of €100,000 per parent per child (renewable every 15 years under art. 779 CGI), it is a structurally efficient tool for passing on French assets at a known and controllable cost.

Under EU Succession Regulation No 650/2012, a British national can in principle elect for UK law to govern the succession of their entire estate. However, that election does not eliminate French inheritance tax on French-situs assets. French gift and inheritance tax rules apply regardless of the law governing succession. That means the French donation-partage remains relevant to any UK resident who holds French real estate, French company shares, or units in a French SCI, because the tax efficiency derives from French fiscal law, not from succession law.

Practically, this means a British national owning a Paris flat worth €600,000 or shares in a French family business is exposed to French succession tax at death. A donation-partage completed during their lifetime can significantly reduce or eliminate that exposure, within the same fiscal framework as a French national.

In French succession law, a simple gift (donation simple) must be reported back (rapportée) to the estate at the date of death, not at the value it had when the gift was made. If you gave your child French company shares worth €150,000 ten years ago and those shares are worth €600,000 at your death, the €600,000 figure enters the estate calculation. This is called the rapport civil.

The donation-partage eliminates the civil report, provided all reserved heirs (héritiers réservataires) are included and receive a lot. The values are fixed at the date of the act. A company worth €150,000 today remains at €150,000 for the purpose of calculating the estate and reserved shares at death, even if it is worth ten times that figure by then. For growing businesses or French property in appreciating markets, this is a structurally significant advantage.

French inheritance tax is calculated after applying allowances set out in art. 779 CGI. For direct-line gifts (parent to child), the allowance is €100,000 per parent per child, renewable every 15 years. A couple with two children can transfer €400,000 (2 parents × 2 children × €100,000) free of French gift tax every 15 years.

If allowances have been partially used by earlier gifts within the past 15 years (art. 784 CGI requires re-aggregation), only the residual allowance applies. This 15-year tracking requirement catches many UK-based clients who have made informal transfers — wiring money for a deposit on a flat, helping with a business — without realising those transfers counted as gifts for French fiscal purposes.

Worked example — €200,000 in French SCI units transferred to two children:

A French SCI holds two Paris apartments. A British national owns 50% of the SCI (value: €200,000). They transfer this to their two children equally via donation-partage.

• Per child: €100,000
• Allowance per child: €100,000 (assuming no prior gifts in past 15 years)
• Taxable base per child: €0
• French gift tax due: €0

If €40,000 of allowance had already been used per child in the past 8 years:

• Residual allowance: €60,000
• Taxable base per child: €40,000
• Tax at progressive rates (approximately 20% after a small deduction): approx. €7,664 per child

The difference between a planned donation-partage and an unplanned succession is often not marginal. It can represent tens of thousands of euros in avoidable tax.

The donation-partage can be combined with démembrement de propriété (usufruct/bare ownership split). The donor retains the usufruit (right of use and income) and transfers only the nue-propriété (bare ownership) to their children. At the donor's death, the children acquire full ownership automatically, without additional French tax.

For British nationals, this is particularly useful for French rental property held through a SCI: the parent retains rental income and management control while the children gradually acquire economic ownership at a lower fiscal cost. The value of the bare ownership is calculated using a statutory scale based on the donor's age (the younger the donor, the lower the bare ownership value relative to full ownership), which directly reduces the taxable base of the gift.

See also our article on démembrement de propriété for the full mechanics.

A donation-partage transfers assets to children during the donor's lifetime. A donation au dernier vivant (gift between spouses, sometimes called a "donation entre époux") protects the surviving spouse after death. These two acts serve different purposes and target different beneficiaries, but they interact: a large donation-partage to children will reduce the assets available to the surviving spouse under succession law.

For couples with children from a first marriage (blended families), the tension between protecting the surviving spouse and ensuring fair treatment of all children from each line is one of the most common planning challenges. The order in which these acts are drafted, and their respective scopes, must be thought through together. See our article on donation au dernier vivant for the spouse protection side of the question.

If you are based in the UK and hold French assets, here is what a practical approach typically looks like:

1. Map the French estate: identify all French-situs assets (real property, SCI units, company shares, bank accounts) and their approximate current value.
2. Reconstruct gift history: check whether any transfers to your children in the past 15 years have reduced the available French gift tax allowance (art. 784 CGI).
3. Choose the scope: decide whether to include the French assets alone or to structure a broader transmission that also touches other patrimonial tools (holding, life insurance, usufruct).
4. Engage a French notaire: the donation-partage must be executed before a French notaire. Your UK solicitor or financial adviser can work alongside, but the French act requires a French notary.
5. Document valuations: for company shares or SCI units, the value declared must be defensible. The French tax authority can challenge declared values and charge the difference plus interest if the valuation is manifestly underestimated.
6. Check UK tax implications: a French donation-partage may trigger UK CGT, IHT, or income tax consequences depending on the assets and your UK tax residence status. Always co-ordinate with a UK adviser.

A donation-partage is not a one-time event. After the act:

• The donor should keep the notarised documents in a secure and accessible place.
• If the donated assets are company shares, governance arrangements (shareholder agreements, management rights, voting structures) must reflect the new ownership.
• If further gifts are made in subsequent years, the 15-year allowance window must be tracked carefully to avoid unintended tax consequences.
• If family circumstances change (divorce, new children, death of a beneficiary), the implications for the existing donation-partage should be reviewed.

For French SCI structures specifically, changes in the SCI's articles of association may be needed to reflect the new shareholding after the donation-partage.

French succession tax reform has been discussed in parliament for several years without producing significant legislative change in the core allowances. The €100,000 per parent per child allowance and the 15-year renewal cycle remain unchanged as of May 2026. That stability makes donation-partage planning relatively predictable — but it also means that delays are costly: every year without action is a year of unused planning window.

For UK nationals post-Brexit, the removal of EU freedom of movement and the increasing complexity of cross-border estate planning make early, documented French planning more valuable, not less. The notarised act, the value freeze, and the documented allowance position provide a clear baseline that simplifies both French tax compliance and UK estate planning.