When I got to the notaire's last time, he gave me a wry smile, "Encore la Tontine Mr. Shield?". He then explained that he had had to dust up his law when the English started buying property in the Aude, and in fact it dates right back to the 17th century. He had never had to include on in a an Acte before until he had British clients.

So what is this strange law that we Brits like so much. Put simply it gives entire ownership to two parties(or more). Not 50/50, each owner actually owns the whole building. Annie Marie Gordon, in French News describes the situation like this;
"Legally, we have a situation where each party is considered as being the full owner provided the other party dies before he does, in this case, the lucky survivor will be considered as having been the owner from the very start.
The consequences are extremely logical: the survivor doesn't really inherit the property because, by the fiction of the tontine, the property is his from the day the parties signed the tontine clause and visa versa, the deceased must be considered as never having been the owner."

The tontine however is not universally applicable for all situations. It can be refused or even challenged in law after the event. It is based on the relevant parties having an equal chance of survival- similar ages, no pre-existing serious medical condition, etc etc. So a 64 year old chain smoking cave-diving lady cannot move her 25 year old toyboy in and expect to sign a tontine. The French tax man will see it as a gift by other means and duly tax it accordingly, any children excluded from this part of their inheritance, could also contest it.

Anne Marie Gordon also points out another problem with the clause:
"Under the clause tontine you are the owner because you have survived the other party. So, until one of you dies, you don't really know who the owner is. Now, what happens if this dear fellow, with whom you have bought the house of your dreams, turns out to be a real pain-in-the-neck, and you want to get out of the relationship and also get rid of the bl**** house? If he opposes it (which he is perfectly entitled to do and will, because he is a pain-in-the-neck), all you have to do is wait until he dies.."

Also while it may be a legal fiction that hold true and keeps the property out of the hands of those grasping children the tax man is wise to the trick- and sadly immune. He will still take his slice of what in tax law is seen as succession. Unless the property is worth less than 76,000 Euro and both parties were living in it and time of death.

I still use it because it suits my situation perfectly, but it is worth giving it some thought before signing the Acte. It isn't the universal solution to all things to do with French inheritance laws. A good legal advisor may have a better solution that is more fitting to your personal situation.