Depending on your marital status, your spouse and you do not have the same rights and duties, particularly with regard to assets, separation and protection in the event of death. Summary of the specificities of each of these modes of conjugal life.
Marriage, Pacs and cohabitation are different statuses, each of which has its own heritage implications.
The married couple
When they marry, the spouses have the choice between community regimes (community reduced to acquests or universal community) and separatist regimes (separation of property or participation in acquests). Depending on the matrimonial regime chosen, the management of assets, property and the terms of sharing differ. The only common rules: those mandatory for all spouses and which are part of the primary system (the right to family housing, the right to bank accounts, etc.).
In the event of death, marriage is the most protective status for the surviving spouse, who automatically inherits with the children or, if there are no descendants, with the parents of the deceased and is entitled to part of his reversion. Another advantage: the surviving spouse is exempt from inheritance tax.
The PACS couple
Since 1999, couples have been able to opt for the Civil Solidarity Pact, or Pacs. This status confers on joint partners a certain number of rights and duties. They indicate, in an agreement, the patrimonial regime to which they wish to submit. The default regime is that of separation of assets. On the other hand, unlike marriage, the PACS does not give any right to the surviving spouse in the event of disappearance, both in terms of retirement and inheritance. The only way for the survivor to inherit is if the deceased has written a will naming him as heir. In this case, the children are of course entitled to their share and the exemption from inheritance tax applies.
The cohabiting couple
Cohabitation is the least protective conjugal lifestyle for each of the cohabitants since it is not defined by any legal status. On the heritage side, the separation of property applies automatically and, in the case of property purchased in common, it is the regime of joint ownership which is established. If one of the cohabitants dies, he transmits his patrimony and his shares in the property purchased in common to his heirs. If he wishes to bequeath part of his property to his partner, the testamentary way is obligatory. But even in this case, the partner who inherits remains considered as a third person who therefore only benefits from a reduction of 1,594 euros, a rate of 60% applying beyond that.
PACS spouses and cohabitants are therefore less protected than married couples. But there are ways to ensure the survivor a certain standard of living in case of disappearance. These include savings investments such as life insurance and Perp.
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