Succession: “In the event of a donation of bare ownership, what happens if I die before 15 years?”

A capital reader wonders about the tax consequences of a donation from a property in bare ownership to its grandchildren, if its death occurs before 15 years.

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Alain, capital reader, addresses the following question: “Hello, What happens if, after having given the bare ownership of a property to my grandchildren, I die before the period of 15 years?” Will they be owners without having anything to pay? Or will they have to pay inheritance rights on the contrary? ”

Hello Alain, and thank you for your question. It clarifies a current mechanism: the donation of bare ownership, which makes it possible to anticipate the transmission of a property while retaining the use of housing. In this case, you have opted for a dismemberment of property: as a USufruitier, you benefit from the use of the property, you have the right to perceive the income, while the bare owners (your grandchildren) hold only the property of the walls.

Full property is reconstituted without additional taxation

Rest assured, Alain, you do not need to do more, because as Mathilde Carrier, investment advisor and heritage in Nîmes, explains, “In the notarial universe, it is said that the usufruct goes out with the usufructuary”. Clearly, at the time of your death, “Your grandchildren, already bare owners, will automatically become full owners of the property, without having to pay additional inheritance tax”specifies the heritage expert. And this without any particular approach to engage or tax to be settled.

This rule applies even if your death occurs before the 15 -year period you mention. This period makes it possible to recharge the tax abatements to which beneficiaries of a donation are entitled. In your case, the donation of bare ownership having been carried out, these abatements have already benefited your grandchildren, or perhaps they have already acquired donation rights on part of the property, if the value of the latter exceeded the abatements. If you die before this 15 -year period, you will simply not be able to make a new donation with allowance for beneficiaries.

In summary, Alain, if you have given bare ownership of a property to your grandchildren, they will become full owners on the day of your death, without having to pay additional rights. This mechanism is one of the most used heritage transmission strategies to optimize inheritance taxation while continuing to live in its accommodation or to perceive income.

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