Hervé Guyader, avocat at the Paris Bar, advises yacht owners, buyers, captains, managers and brokers on the French Riviera. Advice in English and French.
Contact the lawyer directly:
- Email: guyader@guyader-avocat.fr
- Languages: English, French
- Ports: Antibes, Cannes, Nice, Saint-Tropez, La Ciotat, and every French port
- Reply within 24 working hours
Short answer. A yacht on the French Riviera raises four recurring legal questions: whether the purchase is safe, whether the yacht may be chartered and on what tax footing, whether the crew is employed on sound contracts, and what to do when something goes wrong in port. This page brings the four services together.
Four services for yachts on the French Riviera
1. Yacht purchase review
Before you sign the memorandum of agreement, and again before you accept the yacht after the sea trial. The review covers the contract terms and the deposit, the title and registry position, mortgages and other encumbrances, the VAT and customs status of the yacht, and what the survey actually found. The aim is that you know, before money moves, what you are buying and what you can still refuse.
Read more: Yacht sale and purchase and Ship and yacht purchase due diligence.
2. Charter and VAT compliance
Whether a yacht may be chartered from a French port, and on what terms, depends on its flag, its owner, its customs status and the use actually made of it. The service covers private or commercial use, charter contracts, VAT on charters, temporary admission and other customs regimes, and the questions French customs ask when a yacht is inspected.
Read more: Yacht tax and customs lawyer and Legal counsel for shipowners and yacht owners.
3. Crew employment check
A review of the contracts of the captain and crew: applicable law, wages, working time, social protection, termination. It is useful when you take over a yacht with its crew, when you change management company, and before you dismiss a crew member or answer a wage claim.
Read more: Seafarer employment lawyer in France.
4. Yacht emergency line
For the matters that cannot wait: a yacht arrested or threatened with arrest in a French port, a collision or damage in a marina, a shipyard that holds the yacht after a refit, a broker claiming a commission, a latent defect discovered after delivery. Write or call, and you will have a reply within 24 working hours.
Read more: Ship arrest, Ship collision, Yacht disputes, Refit and newbuild disputes, Broker disputes and Latent defects.
Ports where we act
Antibes, Cannes, Nice, Saint-Tropez and La Ciotat, where many of the matters arise, and every other French port, on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The firm is based in Paris and works with owners, captains and managers wherever the yacht lies.
How a matter starts
- You write to guyader@guyader-avocat.fr or call +33 1 44 32 00 40, in English or French.
- You receive a reply within 24 working hours.
- Before any work begins, you receive a written fee agreement with an estimate for the matter.
Practical guides for yacht owners
- Operating a yacht in France
- Yacht tax and customs
- Building your yacht
- Buying and selling a yacht
- Recruiting seafarers
Everything on yachts in France
Our practical guides
Our analyses (26)
- Can a Yacht Be Arrested in France for a Non-Maritime Debt?
- Yacht Management Agreements in France: Accounts and Changing Manager
- Yacht Finance Leases in France: What Happens When Rentals Go Unpaid
- Yacht Not Returned by Skipper or Charterer: Recovering It in France
- Commercial yacht in France: VAT exemption, duty-free fuel and the conditions customs checks
- Yacht without proof of VAT paid: buying, sailing and reselling in France
- Temporary admission of a non-EU yacht: eighteen months, not twenty-four
- Holding a yacht through a company in France: structure, costs and risks
- Yacht construction contract in France: ownership of the hull, refund guarantee and shipyard insolvency
- Building a yacht in the Netherlands, Germany or Italy: the shipyard’s law compared
- Illegal yacht charter in France: the risks for the owner and the broker
- Yacht crew in France: employment contract, governing law, social security and dismissal of the captain
- Mortgage on a ship under construction in France since the 2026 reform: financing a new yacht
- New yacht acceptance, sea trials and hidden defects: the one-year time limit after delivery
- Accident on board a yacht in France: liability of the owner towards guests, passengers and crew
- Dispute with a foreign shipyard: governing law, competent court and arbitration
- Yacht construction and sale: the six points that decide ownership, cost and cover
- Yacht co-ownership and fractional use: the agreement that prevents disputes
- Late delivery of a new yacht: liquidated damages, termination, guarantees
- Your yacht has been arrested in a French port: what to do
- Disputes with a yacht broker: commission, mandate and deposit
- Yacht charter: what the MYBA agreement covers, and what it does not
- Latent defects on a second-hand yacht: remedies and time limits
- Selling a yacht to a foreign buyer: VAT, flag, sanctions and payment
- Buying a yacht abroad: the ten checks before you sign
- International yacht sales: the legal, tax and customs framework
This work is part of the matters the firm handles in maritime law.
Frequently asked questions
Do you advise yacht owners who do not live in France?
Yes. Most yacht matters on the French Riviera involve a foreign owner, a foreign flag or a foreign company. Advice is given in English or in French, and the work is carried out by email, by video or on site when the matter requires it.
Which ports do you cover?
Antibes, Cannes, Nice, Saint-Tropez and La Ciotat in particular, and every other French port. The firm is based in Paris; meetings on board or at the port are arranged when the matter calls for them.
What should I send with my first message?
The name and flag of the yacht, the port where it lies, the document at the heart of the matter (memorandum of agreement, charter contract, crew contract, shipyard contract, court document) and any deadline. A short description is enough to start.
How quickly do you reply?
Within 24 working hours of your message, by email or phone.
How are fees set?
Before any work begins, you receive a written fee agreement stating how fees are calculated, together with an estimate for the matter. French law on the legal profession requires such an agreement.
Tell us about the yacht, the port and what is at stake. Reply within 24 working hours. Or write directly to guyader@guyader-avocat.fr.
Matters in this field are handled by Hervé Guyader, avocat at the Paris Bar and Doctor of Law. Page updated on 2 November 2026.