FJC French Solicitors

Cordiez Avocats & Solicitors is a boutique law firm with an international focus, specialising in assisting Anglophone clients with French property transactions and cross-border estate and probate matters across France. Our senior lawyer, Fabien Cordiez, is a dual-qualified lawyer in both England & Wales and France. He is duly registered as an Avocat (French lawyer) with the Aix-en-Provence Bar Council, as well as the Law Society and the Solicitors Regulation Authority in England and Wales.

Our Services

At Cordiez Avocats & Solicitors, we offer a comprehensive range of legal services tailored to meet the specific needs of our Anglophone clients. Our expertise spans from buying or selling real estate in France to dealing with French leaseback issues, cross-border successions, French Wills, inheritance, and mortgage matters. We also provide French Land Registry Searches and process service in France.

Buying or Selling Real Estate in France

Our team specialises in representing and advising English-speaking clients in relation to the legal process of buying or selling French property. This includes pre-purchase advice and legal documents review, reviewing French Estate Agents' marketing contracts, legal representation and assistance through property conveyancing in France, French Title Deed Transfer following a divorce, advice and help with off-plan property purchases, dealing with latent defects ('vices caches') issues, co-ownership issues, and common pitfalls overseas-based buyers or sellers should avoid.

French Leaseback Issues

We assist clients with issues related to commercial leases termination rules and timing, compensation due to the tenant, indexation of rents, service of statutory payment demand or 'Commandement de Payer' (CDP) on French leaseback companies, cancelling a leaseback agreement for unpaid rents, mortgage foreclosure and repossession of French leaseback properties, and sale of French leaseback properties in negative equity.

Cross-Border Successions, French Wills, and Inheritance

Our team provides expert legal advice on French inheritance and succession laws, including probate in France, legal assistance over French succession procedures, drafting French Wills, and making foreign Wills compliant with EC Regulation 650/2012. We also advise on French inheritance tax, gift tax, and civil partnerships (PACS), joint ownership, 'tontine' clauses, ownership in common, and French Matrimonial Agreements. Additionally, we conduct French Will searches to find out whether a deceased person made and recorded a Will in France.

French Mortgage Matters

We offer legal assistance with buying French property subject to mortgage, the do's and don't of the mortgage application process in France, negotiating a repayment holiday with French lenders, avoiding mortgage foreclosure, privately selling French property whilst repossession proceedings are pending, and whether French banks can chase you in Ireland or the UK after your French property has been repossessed and sold by the Court.

French Land Registry Searches

We help provide answers to questions such as who owns a specific building or land, assets-tracing, and whether an individual or company owns real estate in France. We issue reports in English which include ownership history, property transaction values, records of any encumbrances, whether title has been transferred and - if so - to whom and when.

Process Service in France

We are one of the few firms of French lawyers that handle international service of process in France. Our job is to cut through the bureaucracy and red tape to get service of legal documents in France completed with as little delay as possible. Rather than using the Central Authority system, we arrange formal service via carefully selected judicial officers (bailiffs). We ensure that judicial documents originating from overseas get served in France through licensed bailiffs, in compliance with the French CPR and - as applicable - the Hague Convention or EC Regulations.

Client Testimonials

At Cordiez Avocats & Solicitors, we are committed to providing the highest level of service to our clients. Our expertise, combined with our commitment to client satisfaction, has earned us an excellent reputation among our clients.