Inheritance: no contact with us

WE HAVE owned our home in France since 1994. We are resident all year and it is our only home. We both have children by previous marriages and unfortunately due to personal reasons our children no longer wish to have any contact with us. We are getting older and we realise that one day one of us will die, leaving the other one alone here in a house that will be too big to care for.
Can the surviving spouse sell the house, as he or she may want to return to England, without having to give half of the proceeds to the children?
Is there anything we can do to make our future more secure, or would our only choice be to sell our house and move into a rented one? I have been told that we cannot disinherit our children even if we don't know where they are.
K.S.

Francois Trémosa, a notaire from Toulouse who belongs to the Groupe Monassier, responds:

I understand that you bought a house in France with your husband, and would like to ensure that the surviving spouse will be able to sell the house without your children's authorisation, which they would not give as you have lost touch with them.

Effectively, French law is very protective of children's rights, and makes it extremely difficult to disinherit one's children.

Upon one's death, the surviving spouse would not be able to sell the house without the authorisation of all children.

One solution could be to set up a company to which you would sell your house. The company would have two partners: your husband and yourself, and there would be a special provision in the statutes mentioning that, upon the death of one of the partners, the surviving partner would become the sole owner of all the shares.

The inconvenience of such a solution is the costs involved as you would have to pay all costs inferred by a sale plus the cost of setting up a company.