Succession: be careful, with the PACS, the protection of the surviving spouse is not ensured

The civil solidarity pact is still very popular in France, 25 years after its creation. But the civil partnership is far from being as protective as marriage, especially when it comes to inheritance. Explanations.

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Is the PACS sufficient to ensure the protection of the surviving partner? Renowned for its tax advantagesthe civil solidarity pact has already convinced several million French people since its creation on November 15, 1999. But despite its 25 years of existence and its success – with more than 210,000 PACS in 2022 – it is not necessarily the tool that its signatories imagine. And for good reason: “When we are weakened, we do not have the protections of marriage”warns Nathalie Couzigou-Suhas, notary in Paris. And this is very precisely the case when one of the two partners of the Pacs dies since, in the absence of a will, nothing or almost nothing is planned for the survivor. “If you do nothing, you have nothing”summarizes Nathalie Couzigou-Suhas. Thus, unlike marriage, which creates the status of heir for the spouse, the PACS does not provide for granting a share of the inheritance to the partner.

If many French people wrongly think that the PACS provides protection to their loved one, this is in reality a confusion, underlines the notary. “Since 2007 and the Tepa law, there are no more inheritance rights for married people and civil partners. And some civil partnerships confuse the tax regime and the civil regime.” Because, in fact, if the PACS partner is exempt from inheritance tax, he is not an heir. To become one, he must be named in his partner’s will. And in the case where the couple has had children, the survivor can only be awarded the available quotafor example a third of the assets in the presence of two children. Without children, the surviving partner will be able to collect all or part of the deceased’s assets, according to the terms of the will.

A limited right to housing, no survivor’s pension…

Another limit of the PACS in relation to marriage, upon the death of the partner, the survivor cannot live in the accommodation for life. He can only stay there for a year. After this period, and particularly in the presence of children from different unions, there is a good chance that the latter will kick out their unwanted “tenant”. “Certainly, it is possible to bequeath to the civil partnership the right to stay in the accommodation for life by giving them usufruct. But the survivor will have to pay reduction compensation to the children. Which is not the case with the married spouse.points out Nathalie Couzigou-Suhas. And this compensation reaches several tens, or even hundreds, of thousands of euros depending on the value of the accommodation…

Finally, and still unlike marriage, the PACS does not provide any right to survivor’s pensionthis part of the deceased’s retirement allocated to the survivor. As you will have understood, the PACS is not a panacea in terms of spousal protection.