¨                  From a property purchase point of view, having worked closely with notaires (solicitors) in the property business for nearly 20 years, I have a vast experience with the legal side of the property purchase and can not only translate all the legal documents relating to purchases, sales, gifts, inheritance, exchanges, etc but am also used to acting as the intermediary between British purchasers and the French notaire to make sure they are protected in every way possible to cover their individual circumstances throughout the process (for more details, see Property Purchase page);

¨                  With regards to inheritance, although I am not personally a qualified solicitor, I have been working closely with notaires – particularly over the past 10 years – to obtain individual inheritance advice for British clients and to interpret the advice and offer various choices to the client, to find out whether any particular inheritance contract is required to be drawn up by the notaire and to give them quotes from the notaire relating to the costs involved for drawing up and registering such contracts.  I have also studied French law and got involved particularly in the notarial law and various aspects of inheritance and marriage regime regulations.  As the inheritance laws are more complex in France than in the UK, or certainly very different from those in the UK, this is a vital service that I would recommend to any British purchaser or to any current residents who did not deal with these issues when they purchased;

¨                  For other general legal matters, as I have studied French law myself, I have a basic knowledge of the French legal system and should be able to assist you with any other legal matters that may be niggling you – or if I do not have the answers myself, again, I can either find out the information from my sources or make an appointment for you to meet with a notaire or lawyer – however, with regards to any legal action and meetings with lawyers, although I have an English-speaking contact, any written documentation would be provided in French and therefore you may require my translation services to assist you during this type of process; 

¨                  For any of the above services, we are available to have an initial discussion with you to ascertain your individual circumstances and to advise on the next steps to protect you – we also have contacts with local English-speaking notaires with whom we have worked for many years and it may be simply a case of putting you in contact with them, depending on your situation and your request;

¨                  Unfortunately, as we are not court-sworn translators ourselves, we cannot personally accompany you to translate in court and there are certain official documents we arenot permitted to supply – even though the translation of them is straightforward – the French laws are very strict on these matters!  However, A La Carte does have a network of translators and legal contacts with whom we can put you in touch;

¨                  For most of the local notaires in my area – who know me well and know my standard of work – there is no problem with me acting as interpreter during a purchase contract signing or related matters.

Client Recommendations:

"Debbie's services came to my attention via word of mouth, in itself a good enough start to a relationship.  Because of pressing medical reasons, I had to leave France in something of a panic, I enlisted Debbie to unpick all the awfully complex details incurred during a non too strategic retreat.  This has been done with modest expense and provided good value for money.  I was presented with no complications during this time.  I had expected many obstacles from a society with such an entrenched bureaucracy - there were some, of course, but Debbie handled them without too much recourse.  Recent dealing with the tax authorities have also been handled smoothly and professionally.

I have no equivocation in recommending A La Carte's professional services.  I rest easy in the certainty that Debbie is an excellent representative and had no hesitation in giving her complete powers to act on my behalf and in my very best interest, which she has always done". 

Tom Taylor-Duxbury, UK