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[1ST level]

Legal translation involves not only the transposition of one language into another —which is already a very difficult task— but also the transposition of one legal system content to another. When the documents to be translated refers to different legal system such as civil law [glossary link]and common law [glossary] the difficulty increases, and is further complicated, like in the U.S., the common law systems has two layers, Federal Law [glossary] and State Law [glossary].

We have identified and organized into four broad sections what we believe to be the best resources available for legal translators and professionals: Online Legal dictionaries, Print Legal Dictionaries, French Legal Resources and Canadian Legal Resources.

[2nd level]

Will and Testament

French Inheritance law is based on fundamentally different principles from those under common-law systems. Two areas of French Law worthy of particular note are:  first, the fact that it is not possible to disinherit one's children and that all offspring, from whatever current/previous marriage or relationship, must be treated equally in the succession; second, in French matrimonial law, the spouses have the possibility to sign a marriage contract before or after the marriage (see under).

Prenuptial Agreement

Cross cultural marriages are more and more common. If the parties do not share the same native language and they want to sign a prenuptial agreement [glossary], this agreement may need to be translated into the native language of one or both parties.

In French law, the spouses can sign a prenuptial agreement (contrat de mariage) prior or during the marriage. In the US there is both a prenuptial and postnuptial agreement though the prenuptial agreement seems to have more authority. There are three main types of matrimonial regimes defined in the French Civil Code: community (or joint property) separation of property and community limited to acquisitions. A marriage contract in French law only relates to the spouses’ assets. It does not usually contain any stipulation about the amount of support in case of divorce or separation.

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Divorce

As for other matrimonial issues, divorce judgments differ largely if the parties are in countries of common law [glossary] or civil law [glossary]. The French civil code [glossary] permits divorce for four different reasons: mutual consent (which comprises over 60% of all divorces); joint request (divorce sur demande conjointe des époux); request of one spouse and acceptance by the other spouse; separation of 2 or more years; and due to a 'fault' of one partner.  

In the United States, the laws of the State of residence at the time of divorce govern, while all states recognize divorces granted by any other State.

When one party in a U.S.-granted divorce is a French citizen, the divorce must be registered and officially recognized in France as well. See Individual.

Legal Opinion, Pleadings, Deposition, Power Attorney: See Glossary