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French to English translations [PRO] Law/Patents - Law (general) / Succession (France)
French term or phrase:Prendre connaissance des forces et charges de la succession.
This one of the powers granted in a POA to a person acting on behalf of two beneficiaries of a will. There is a previous ProZ answer suggesting "powers and liabilities" but I am not satisfied with this.
Sylvie's reference indeed trumps all. BTW Cyril, unless we have another reference stating what you wrote, I don't think it's correct to include taxes and notaire's fees in "charges." The "charges" are the actual expenses arising from the death -- not just after the death, but as a result of it: funeral expenses, that sort of thing.
@Adrian, try googling "pre-preferred debts" and you'll get nothing. "Super-privileged" also doesn't related to the debt of an estate. The word we use in the US is "priority," i.e. which debts have priority over others and thus get paid first. The exact order in which debts get paid after a death varies from one US state to the next, but generally funeral expenses, taxes (e.g. the decedent's last income tax return), and secured debt (e.g. houses, cars) get paid before other debts.
But there does not appear to be a term that translates "charges" adequately. The debts that are paid first under state law may be called "first priority," but that's not a good translation of "charges" because the first-priority debts in XYZ US state are not the exact same types of debts as "charges" in France. This calls for an explanatory translation: a list of the debts.
'Charges' = any notaire's fee, any tax, funeral cost arising after the death. > In the UK, These 'superprivileged expenses' would, esp. on insolvency, be called 'pre-preferential debts' and in the USA: pre-preferred debts.
If you read Sylvie's reference comment, you will see that "forces de la succession" are, indeed, net assets and that "charges" are not, and specifically exclude, "the debts, a.k.a. liabilities, of the estate". They are costs arising directly from the the death itself. It appears from her answer that this is very specific to French law.
"Outgoings" is not a legal term. The "charges de la succession" are the debts, a.k.a. liabilities, of the estate -- the things that you have to subtract from the assets before you can pay out what's left to the heirs.
Also, this isn't about "net assets." Net assets are what's left after you subtract the debts/liabilities. This is about determining, first, what the total assets are; and second, what debts exist that you will then have to subtract from the assets.
out of interest is it a power granted - ie to be made aware of - or is it a duty to become aware of?
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Answers
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To determine the assets and debts [or liabilities] of the estate
Explanation: Thanks to Sylvie Le Bras for her link and explanation about the meaning of "forces... de la succession." With that explanation, the meaning and thus the translation is clear.
This POA (power of attorney) grants the holder the right to get information from entities that otherwise might not be able to talk with her (banks, creditors, etc.) to determine what assets the estate consists of and what debts the decedent owed at the time of death.
Eliza Hall United States Local time: 04:51 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 145
En/in/quire into the net assets and posthumous debts of the deceased's estate
Explanation: I think that, for les forces, 'actif *net* successoral *net* des dettes' boils down to the 'residue of the net estate'.
Posthumous debts 'Les charges se distinguent des dettes en ce qu'elles naissent après la mort du défunt, et en sont la conséquence directe.'
The US Am term of 'decedent' is too close to the BrE term of descendant to be usable in this context.
Example sentence(s):
Definition of net estate in the Legal Dictionary -... by taking the value of all assets and subtracting all debts of the person who died.
In order to *ascertain residue* the personal representatives must identify all the assets and liabilities of the estate. They then need to quantify these.