01The challenge: families living between several worlds
The families we advise live across several countries: the business at home, children studying or settled in France, London or Canada, residences on two continents. Each border adds a different inheritance law, a different tax regime, different rules of ownership. Unprepared, an international succession can take years and fracture a family; prepared, it becomes a simple passing of the baton.
02Real estate in France and Europe
Real estate is often the first European cornerstone of an African fortune: a residence in Paris for the family and the children's studies, income-producing properties to anchor revenues in euros. We organise the acquisition — sourcing, including off-market, structuring in direct ownership or through a French société civile (family property company), bank financing where appropriate — and its holding over time: non-resident taxation, rental income, resale.
The structuring matters as much as the address: a property held personally, through a société civile or via a holding company differs in its taxation, its transferability and its discretion.
03Protecting the family and the business
Protection comes before transmission: international protection insurance to shield loved ones from life's accidents, beneficiary clauses drafted with precision, protection mandates, family governance for fortunes where several generations and branches coexist. We formalise what so often rests on the founder's word alone — so that nothing depends on a single person.
04Passing on wealth across generations and borders
Lifetime gifts and donation-partage (French inter-vivos distribution), ownership splitting (démembrement), life insurance with tailored beneficiary clauses, family pacts: the French instruments are powerful, and combine with the law of your home country. We examine each option — tax cost, timing, effects on the family balance — with the competent notaries and lawyers on both sides; then you decide.
05A concrete case
Fatou, 63, a widow, built a real-estate and hotel group in Dakar. Three children: two in Senegal, one daughter settled in London. European assets: an income-producing building in Paris (4,2 M€) held directly, plus cash. Identified risk: a succession opened across three jurisdictions, with a French property locked in forced joint ownership. Arrangement: contribution of the building to a French société civile, donation-partage of the bare ownership to the three children (allowances optimised, usufruct retained), Luxembourg life insurance with a split beneficiary clause to balance the London branch. The transmission is written, quantified, accepted by all — within her lifetime.
06Frequently asked questions
Does French law apply to our family if we are not residents?
For assets located in France — real estate in particular — largely yes, whatever your place of residence. This is precisely why the holding and transmission of the French portion of your wealth are prepared with French instruments, articulated with the law of your own country.
Can one pass on wealth without losing control during one's lifetime?
Yes: that is the very purpose of ownership splitting (démembrement) — you retain the usufruct, meaning the income and the use — of sociétés civiles with tailored articles, and of beneficiary clauses. Passing on early reduces the tax cost without relinquishing the conduct of affairs.
Do you work with our existing notaries and lawyers?
Always. We do not replace your advisers: we orchestrate. The notary, the tax lawyer, the banker — each keeps their role; we maintain the overall coherence and the timetable.
ASTERALE is a French firm, registered with ORIAS (no. 23 007 423) and subject to the French supervisory authorities (AMF, ACPR). Our support covers the structuring, investment and transfer of the French and European portion of your wealth, in coordination with your local advisers for the remainder. New relationships begin by invitation or referral, in accordance with the applicable French and local regulations.
A first conversation — confidential, without obligation, in French or English, by video call or in Paris.
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