My fiance & I live in Bern, we are getting married in the UK. He is widowed with 3 adult children, in the event of his death by Swiss law 50% of any property & assets go to the children. He already has legal documentation drawn up to this effect. My question is I am thinking this will not be affected by the fact that we are marrying in the UK, it would only count if we were to buy property in the UK & then British Law would go in to effect, but not regarding property & assets in Switzerland.I am aware that if something should happen to him I would get a percentage of his pension, more if we had been married for 5 years.
Thank you in anticipation.
Jo Lee

Country of marriage makes no difference, inheritance rule depend on citizenship and residence.

Tom

Thank you Tom, this is what I thought, but it's always good to have a second opinion.

Whilst it is true that the situs of the marriage solemnisation is irrelevant (usually) to matters relating to that marriage, it is (in English law) domicile which determines incidence of the marriage, inheritance and so on; also IHT (an estate tax despite its name). Courts might look to place of marriage as just one element indicating long-term intention with regard to domicile.

In Civil Law countries both the nationality and the domicile (defined in Civil Law, not English Law, terms) of the parties is relevant.

Have a look at this document, prepared some years ago by a Zurich lawyer for the Swiss Embassy in Washington to use as a handout: http://uniset.ca/misc/swissestates.pdf (The document is no longer distributed by the Embassy and should be presumed obsolete in some respects but still helpful for learning what questions to ask.)

"If a person dies with last domicile in Switzerland, Switzerland, as a rule, claims jurisdiction for that person’s estate and Swiss law will apply. However, if the deceased owned real property located in the U.S., Swiss authorities will yield jurisdiction to the competent U.S. authorities claiming exclusive jurisdiction with respect to such real property. If the deceased was a U.S. citizen, under Swiss law, he or she is entitled to subject the entire estate to the law of one of his or her countries of citizenship. For example, a U.S. citizen with last domicile in Switzerland may subject his or her entire estate to the laws of Maryland. If, on the date of death, he or she was no longer a U.S. citizen or if he or she had become a Swiss citizen, the choice of the applicable law becomes void."

There is a UK-Switzerland estate tax treaty. http://www.official-documents.gov.uk.../2793/2793.pdf

Finally, bear in mind that there is now (has been since the 1973 Domicile and Matrimonial Proceedings Act) independent domiciles of the two parties to a marriage. This can cause some anomalies and, perhaps, loss of the marital tax exclusion. Be careful. Sometimes a trust arrangement can help, but this is not a DIY project, and although Switzerland has ratified The Hague Convention on Trusts (and so now recognises them for many purposes) Swiss law is still hostile to them and they should be used with care if there is, or may be, Swiss jurisdiction over property.

There is a Hague Convention regarding the form of wills. This is relevant because anybody can write an English Will, but only a Notaire (lawyer) can draft a Swiss Will unless that will is holographic (entirely hand written): the latter is not a safe option for most people, and unless the testator also arranges for 2 witnesses to sign the will might be challenged abroad, notwithstanding the Convention.

the only opinion that matters is one from a qualified person. you can get all sorts of view on EF, some of which may even be correct

Where two jurisdictions are involved, that means two experts. Or a specialist in Comparative Law. The ordinary Swiss notaire will not be an expert in English law, and pari passu. Spanish and French property, for example, often pass outside of any English Will and where there are children of a first marriage, a bigamous marriage (because a divorce is not recognised) or nonmarital (formerly "illegitimate") children there can be unexpected, even bizarre, results.

The estate (or "succession") of Leslie Caron's father was tied up for years, and went a couple of times before the Cour de Cassation, because he put most of his property in a US entity or trust and fixed his domicile as USVI. But certain heirs demanded that his French property should be reallocated to make up for the fact he'd evaded Civil-Law Forced Heirship. http://www.uniset.ca/other/css/caron-odell.html

That could happen in Switzerland too.

This was my area of expertise. Until I retired.

Well, while not a lawyer, I do have first-hand experience in dealing with estates here (of my first wife, whom I married in the US, and that of the mother of my current wife, who held property in multiple countries).

Tom

Well, if by "estate" you mean "masse successorale" ("estate" being an Anglo-American (Common-Law) concept) OK. But I would hate to rely on what amounts to an anecdotal knowledge of law.

Hey, I don't give much advice because I'm retired, my E&O (professional liability) insurance expired. Just enough advice to tell people that they really shouldn't rely on an Internet forum and that tax and debt cases are often more complicated than they seem. And rarely suitable for DIY. Often, maybe usually, the OP doesn't know enough to state salient facts so the answer can be misleading.

Norman F. Dacey became rich telling people "How To Avoid Probate!" He survived, on appeal, a challenge for practicing law without a license because there are First Amendment protections in the USA: http://uniset.ca/other/cs6/283NYS2d984.html
http://uniset.ca/other/cs6/287NYS2d422.html (The Court of Appeals is the highest court of general jurisdiction in NY; the Supreme Court is the lowest. Go figure.)

But Dacey messed up his own taxes in renouncing US citizenship and moving to Ireland: http://www.uniset.ca/other/cs2/TCM1992-187.html (something that those discussing expatriation on this forum might want to think about).

This document may be useful. http://www.baerkarrer.ch/upload/publ...Succession.pdf

Also note that there are 2 elements regarding inheritances and, (for the same inheritance) and each one may be goverened by laws of a different country:

- the laws determining who inherits what
- the laws detemining where inheritance taxes are paid..

So if eg Switzerland decides that their juristiction applies on how the inheritance is distributed, and UK agrees that this is the case; it doesn't mean that UK inheritance tax is not due.

The Swiss Embassy memorandum explains the issues better than I could on the fly. And the UK-Swiss treaty provides guidance for IHT.

The problem is that "the UK" doesn't agree to anything. There is no "UK" law on estates and inheritance; there is English, Scottish, N. Irish. Not to mention the outlying islands and territories, treating them as "UK" to go with the citizenship. Even the IHT law (covering most of the UK) depends on domicile, deemed-domicile and residence and situs of property, bank accounts (and the currency in which they are kept), etc.

The Hague Convention addresses the form, not so much the substance, of Wills. "Domicile" is differently defined in the two countries. Switzerland, unlike the UK, knows who all its citizens are (with the exception of some minors, under 22, living abroad), and nationality is relevant under civil-law rules.

Then there are testamentary-like vehicles: trusts, pensions, life insurance. Each of these can be subject to different laws. And to public policy (ordre public) in the country where the decedent, his/her heirs and his/her property are (or were).

But does anyone really want to hear a course on this? Least of all from me?