Guide · Buying
Married abroad, buying in France: the question that holds up the most deeds
The notaire must establish the matrimonial regime you are buying under, and for a couple married outside France the answer depends on the date of the marriage. What to prepare, and when you may choose.
A foreign buyer expects the notaire to ask about the property, the price and where their money came from. They rarely expect to be asked which city they lived in the year they married. Yet that question, more often than any other, holds up a signing.
Why does the notaire need your matrimonial regime?
Because the deed must say not only who is buying, but how. The matrimonial regime decides whether the property belongs to one of you, the other, or both; what becomes of it on divorce; what happens on the first death; and who will have to consent on the day you want to sell.
A notaire who wrote “Mr X buys alone” without having established the regime would risk drawing up an inaccurate deed. They will not do it, and they are right. So the question is not an administrative formality: it is a condition of signing.
Which law applies to a couple married abroad?
Not necessarily that of the country where you married, nor that of your nationality. Three sets of connecting rules have followed one another, and it is the date of the marriage that determines which applies to you.
For marriages celebrated before 1 September 1992, the first matrimonial home is sought, that is the country where the couple settled after the wedding.
For marriages celebrated between 1 September 1992 and 28 January 2019, the applicable international convention looks in principle to the first common habitual residence after the marriage, with exceptions turning notably on a shared nationality.
For marriages celebrated from 29 January 2019, the applicable European regulation looks first to the first common habitual residence after the marriage, failing that the common nationality at the time of the marriage, failing that the closest connection.
The result often comes as a surprise. A couple of shared nationality married without a contract, who spent a few months in a third country just after the ceremony, may find themselves subject to that country’s default regime.
What happens when the answer is uncertain?
The notaire asks for a statement of foreign law, often called a certificat de coutume, issued by a lawyer or an authority of the country concerned. It sets out the applicable default regime and its effects.
Obtaining that document takes time, sometimes several weeks, and it is the commonest cause of postponement on this subject. It is entirely avoidable: it is enough to raise the question with the notaire at the preliminary contract stage, rather than three days before the deed.
Can you choose your law, and when?
Yes, within the limits the texts allow, and by a designation drawn up in the required form. A couple may, for instance, designate French law for the future, which durably simplifies matters where the assets are in France.
That choice is prepared with a professional, because its effects reach well beyond the purchase in hand: a future sale, a gift, passing the property on and the tax that goes with it. It is exactly the kind of subject where having your own notaire makes a difference, since it concerns only you and not the sale.
And if you are buying together without being married?
The questions change but do not disappear. Buying in indivision is possible and common; it is made safe by an agreement setting out the real shares, how costs are divided, and what happens if one of you wants out. Without such an agreement, indivision follows default rules that rarely suit a couple.
A registered partnership entered into abroad raises a further question, that of its equivalence in French law, and it is handled in advance with the same documents and the same statement of foreign law.
What documents should you prepare, and in what form?
Three categories, and form matters as much as substance.
Civil status: each party’s birth certificate, the marriage certificate, and where relevant the divorce decree from a previous marriage. These must be recent and, depending on the country of origin, carry an apostille or a legalisation.
The marriage contract, if one exists, wherever it was signed.
The translation, by an authorised translator, wherever the documents are not in French.
Ask the notaire for the exact list at the preliminary contract stage, with the validity period of each item. It is the same reflex as for source of funds evidence: none of it is difficult, all of it is simply slow, and the only real risk is starting late.
Frequently asked questions
Can just one of the two spouses buy?
It depends on the regime and on where the money came from. Under a separation regime, each buys for themselves and the deed says so. Under a community regime, a property acquired during the marriage with joint funds falls into the community, whatever name appears on the deed. Which is exactly why the notaire asks beforehand rather than afterwards.
Is a marriage contract signed abroad recognised in France?
In principle yes, but it must be produced, translated and sometimes explained by a statement of foreign law. A contract that exists but is not supplied protects nobody on the day. Look for it from the preliminary contract onwards: retrieving an old document in a distant country takes weeks, not hours.
Does the spouse have to come and sign too?
Where they are a co-buyer, yes, their signature is needed, but it can be given by power of attorney like the buyer's. Neither spouse needs to be physically in France. The constraint is documentary, not geographical, and that is good news.