More than 25 years ago, in 1980, I had temporary custody of the keys to CHM's Paris apartment. He had loaned them to me because we were in negotiations aimed at Walt and I buying the apartment from him. He was in the U.S. and had only recently retired from his job in Washington DC, sold his house there, and bought a house in California. He wanted to keep a place in France. Walt and I were going to spend a week in Paris and we wanted to show the apartment to a French friend who had extensive experience when it came to buying and selling properties in France. We also wanted to show it to a notaire (a contract lawyer) that CHM had recommended we consult about finalizing the negotiations... which, for numerous reasons, were never finalized. One reason for that was CHM's requirement that he would retain a lifetime right to occupy the apartment. By 2002, we were ready to leave California and re-locate to France. We needed to buy a house or apartment in France outright, not a property that might not really become ours free-and-clear many years later.
While I was in the Paris apartment in Oct. 2000, I took some photos of paintings and other artwork hanging on the wall of CHM's place. I don't know who the people in the paintings are, and I don't know who had painted them. I assume some of them might have been painted by CHM's grandfather, but I never asked CHM about them. I've never posted them on this blog before. There were other artists in CHM's family. When CHM passed away a couple of years ago at age 99, he still hadn't sold the apartment. I've heard that he didn't leave behind a valid Last Will and Testament. I would love to know what happened to the apartment, where CHM's father (the doctor) lived from about 1880 (not a typo) until his death in 1956.
I wonder... if you Googled the address of the apartment, followed by à vendre, if it had a listing in the years since chm passed away, it could come up. I do that all the time for Sears kit houses that I'm looking for. However, since he didn't have a will or trust, I guess it could be a several year time frame for when ownership would have been settled (obviously, this is all speculation on my part, backed only by my experiences in the U.S.).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion, J. I'll have to do some research.
DeleteHi Ken, I found this about French inheritance law online from a French notary web site, rather complicated stuff:
ReplyDeleteIf the deceased didn’t write a will:
the transmission of the inheritance is carried out, according to the order of the heirs set by law.
If the deceased wasn’t married:
If the deceased had children, the entire inheritance belongs to them (or their descendants if they themselves have passed away).
If the person had no child or brother and sister, his parents shall each receive half of the inheritance.
If he had no children but brothers and sisters, his parents receive a quarter of the inheritance each and the brothers and sisters shall receive the remaining half (three quarters, if one of the parents has passed away or the entire sum, if both have passed away).
If the person didn’t have children, parents, brothers or sisters (living or represented), the inheritance is divided into two equal parts: one half for the maternal family, the other for the paternal family. In each of the two families, the closest heirs inherit: the uncles or aunts first, then the first cousins.
As for the art, the top right looks like it could have been grandfather, in style anyways.
ReplyDeleteBercail.com might give you some information on recent sales at the address, but you may not be able to distinguish the specific apartment if there are several sales in the same time period. You can also try dvf.com or this newer government website that allows you to work with an address: https://explore.data.gouv.fr/fr/immobilier?onglet=carte&filtre=tous
ReplyDeleteSorry! Not dvf.com - that takes us to Diane Von Furstenberg! I meant Demande de Valeur Foncière, which has been updated to that new government link I added at the end of my comment above.
ReplyDelete