Passing on wealth through a French fiducie: what the law allows today, what the bill would change

Which structures could already combine a fiducie with an estate transfer?

The idea is to separate the two deeds: the gift or bequest transfers, the fiducie manages. These structures are conceivable, but no published decision or ruling identified in the databases the firm consulted rules on them. The condition must be precise enough to allow a fiducie contract complying with article 2018; an infringement of the reserved portion would expose the gift to abatement when the succession opens, and a fraud on creditors to an action to set it aside against them (action paulienne). Depending on its wording and effects, a condition to place the assets in a fiducie may be analysed as a restriction on alienation; if so, article 900-1 requires it to be “temporary and justified by a serious and legitimate interest”, and the court may later authorise the recipient to dispose of the asset if the interest that justified it has disappeared or a greater interest so requires (Civil Code, art. 900-1). A very long fiducie does not meet this requirement by itself.

• A gift subject to a condition to place the assets in a fiducie. The parent gives assets to the child, on condition (charge) that the child entrusts them to a fiduciary for a fixed period, the child being both settlor and beneficiary: the child benefits no one. Separately from gift duty, the fiducie deed bears a fixed duty of €125 (CGI, art. 1133 quater), subject to article 1020, which charges 0.70% on provisions subject to land registration that fall within article 677, 1° to 4°, the others bearing, unless exempt, €25 (art. 1020). If the child carries on none of the activities covered by articles 34, 35, 63 or 92 of the CGI nor a civil activity subject to corporate income tax, the transfer is not subject to income tax, provided the child is a beneficiary and the fiduciary records the assets at their acquisition value (art. 238 quater N). If the condition is not performed, the gift may be revoked (Civil Code, art. 953).
• A bequest with the same condition. The reserved portion (réserve héréditaire) passes to the forced heirs “free of charges” (art. 912): imposed on a child, the condition should in principle only apply to what the child receives beyond the reserved portion, out of the disposable portion, the exact sanction depending on how the will is drafted (half, a third or a quarter of the estate depending on the number of children: art. 913).
• A fiducie entered into by a company. Article 2029 only refers to a settlor who is an individual. A family holding company that entrusts assets to a fiduciary, for its own benefit, is not affected by the death of its shareholders; the fiducie runs until its term, 99 years at most (art. 2018), and the shares of the holding company are what is passed on. A fiducie set up by a company for the benefit of a shareholder’s children would be void if an intention to make a gift were established (art. 2013), and would also raise the question of the company’s interest.
• Minors and adults under guardianship. Their assets cannot be transferred into a fiducie, even with court authorisation (art. 387-2, 4°, 408-1 and 509, 5°); an adult under curatorship needs the curator’s assistance (art. 468). A gift to a minor child subject to a fiducie condition therefore cannot be performed while the child is a minor; once of age, the child could set up the fiducie, if the condition so provides.
• Other limits. The recipient may ask the court to revise a condition that has become extremely difficult or seriously harmful (art. 900-2). The recipient’s own fiducie ends on his or her death. The contract must be registered within one month, on pain of nullity (art. 2019).

Can shares under a Dutreil commitment be transferred into a fiducie?

The Dutreil pact exempts 75% of the value of the shares passed on, provided that a collective holding commitment is in force on the day of the transfer and that each heir or donee then keeps the shares for six years (CGI, art. 787 B, a and c, version of 21 February 2026).

Article 787 B provides exceptions to the holding requirement (contribution to a holding company, merger, gift to descendants) but says nothing about the fiducie. Yet a transfer to a fiduciary is a transfer of ownership; the tax authorities point this out in the context of tax consolidation, in guidance that does not concern the Dutreil regime (BOI-IS-GPE-10-20-20, § 260, in French). The official guidance on the Dutreil regime (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-20-40-10 to -30, 10 August 2026) does not mention the fiducie, and the firm has found no published ruling.

Rule of prudence: no transfer into a fiducie of shares under a running commitment without a formal ruling from the tax authorities. The same applies to an intermediate holding company, which must keep its shareholding unchanged (art. 787 B, b, 3).

What does bill no. 2179 provide, and where does it stand?

The bill on extending the fiducie to estate transfers (in French) was tabled at the National Assembly on 2 December 2025 and referred to the law committee. As at 5 November 2026, the legislative file shows no rapporteur, no amendment and no debate. What follows describes the bill as tabled.

• A gratuitous fiducie. A new chapter of the Civil Code (art. 1062 to 1062-8) would define a fiducie “whose beneficiary is designated by the settlor with an intention to make a gift”, the gift being governed by the rules on lifetime gifts and wills. The nullity in article 2013 would disappear, and the gratuitous fiducie would not end on the settlor’s death.
• A flexible transfer. The fiduciary would pass on capital or income, at once, at one or several future dates, or on the settlor’s death; the beneficiary could accept after that death.
• The reserved portion protected. A third-party beneficiary would face an action for abatement (action en réduction); a forced heir who is a beneficiary could ask for the fiducie to be confined (cantonnement) to the disposable portion, unless the deed expressly justifies it by a serious and legitimate interest relating to the heir or to the fiducie assets (proposed art. 1062-7).
• Tax. A new article 787 D (referred to as “L. 787 D” in the bill as tabled) would tax the transfer according to the family relationship between settlor and beneficiary, at the latest on the settlor’s death; a new paragraph j of article 787 B would keep Dutreil commitments in place on a transfer into a fiducie, if the settlor retains equivalent voting rights and if the fiduciary, and where relevant the beneficiaries, continue the commitments made. The bill would also remove, in article 1729, the 80% penalty specific to article 792 bis, without repealing the latter, and would adapt articles 750 ter, 752 and 969.
• Protected persons. The part that would open the fiducie to protected adults was taken up in amendment no. 2 of 7 May 2026 to committee text no. 2753 (bill no. 1943 on the legal protection of adults), without the gratuitous fiducie or the part on minors. The amendment is shown as “being processed”, and as at 5 November 2026 the file shows no text adopted in plenary session.

How does the fiducie compare with a trust in the face of forced heirship?

A trust governed by foreign law is commonly used to pass wealth on; the French fiducie, today, cannot be.

• Forced heirship and a foreign trust. A composer domiciled in California for almost thirty years had left his entire estate to a trust benefiting his wife; his children from earlier relationships relied on their reserved portion. A foreign law that does not recognise forced heirship “is not in itself contrary to French international public policy” and can only be set aside if its concrete application conflicts with essential principles; this was not the case, as the children were not in economic hardship or need (Cass. 1re civ., 27 September 2017, no. 16-13.151, published). Since 1 November 2021, each child may, in the cases set out in article 913, make a compensatory levy (prélèvement compensatoire) on assets located in France.
• The trust whose settlor never let go. Where the settlor of a trust, even one described as discretionary and irrevocable, has not “irrevocably and effectively” divested himself of the assets, his heirs must report them in his estate; the court examines how the trust actually operated (Cass. com., 8 October 2025, no. 24-16.995, published). The lesson applies to the fiducie: a settlor who stays in control of the assets has passed nothing on.