Is it in my interest to pass on real estate to my children via an SCI?
Transmitting real estate, apart from one’s main residence, to one’s children within the framework of a civil real estate company (SCI) offers several advantages.
Firstly, the SCI makes it possible to avoid joint ownership, and therefore blocking situations, since the operation takes place during his lifetime while retaining control. The cost of transmission is also reduced compared to a conventional transmission at the time of death. All this takes the form of a donation with an allowance of 100,000 euros between each parent and child, and renewable every fifteen years, whereas, in the context of a transmission by death, transfer rights apply.
To further limit the cost of this transmission, two weapons are available: that of credit and that of dismemberment. The SCI finances the real estate with a loan, and the children can acquire the shares of the SCI in dismemberment. In this case, the parents not only benefit from the income and use from their real estate assets via the usufruct they retain, while recovering cash from the sale.
Before starting such an operation, it is nevertheless necessary to take care to evaluate the costs of creation of the SCI and its operation. Finally, if there is a risk of urban pre-emption of one of the goods, it is better to abstain.
