English law CAN be used for French Inheritance…..again
Article date 10 June 2026
The EU Commission has upheld complaints against France and forced France to allow the use of an election of the law of England and Wales to apply to a French estate, even if the deceased was a French resident, as long as they had British nationality.
It equally no longer matters if the children are EU resident or EU citizens or not, nor whether the deceased is French or EU resident or not.
Context
The EU Succession Regulation 650/2012 was introduced for EU estates as of 17 August 2015. This allowed a deceased to elect the law of their nationality to apply to their estate, so for example an English national living in France or outside of France could elect English law to apply to their French estate.
French law reserves the majority of the estate for children, not for the surviving spouse, and provides that even estranged or independently wealthy children must inherit a reserved share. If there is one child they are entitled to half. Two children share two thirds. Three of more children inherit three quarters between them.
The remaining half, third or quarter can be freely disposed of eg to spouse.
Most UK families want the surviving spouse to inherit first, and then the children inherit in second death, or where children are estranged or independently wealthy, they might want to exclude the children.
The EU Succession Regulation allowed any English nationality deceased to elect English law to achieve these wishes, even in relation to French property. That went smoothly from August 2015 to November 2021.
November 2021 law change in France
In November 2021, France introduced a law (which was against EU law) which said that where the election of foreign law is used to disinherit children and that foreign law has no reserved heir mechanism, then the Notaire will contact the children in order to invite them to apply French law to get their reserved share.
Chaos ensued. Families suddenly were no longer able to use English law to deal with their estates if meant disinheriting children. Their entire estate planning was in jeopardy. The EU Commission received many complaints and wrote to France to reach a solution. France took longer than allowed to respond, but eventually did.
Finally, the solution is that France has to change the wording io its 2021 law, so that they will allow the election of foreign law as long as that country has some form of reserve mechanism to protect children’s inheritance – not necessarily a reserved heir system.
The UK has a statute called the Inheritance (Provision of family and Dependants) Act 1975 allowing disinherited children to make a claim against the estate if they are financially dependent on a deceased. It therefore is noted by the EU Commission as specifically complying with the requirements of the modified law in France.
Conclusion
So, if you are a British national wanting to use British law (England and Wales, Scotland, Norther Ireland) for your French estate, you can do so again, through a carefully constructed Will. Please don’t try to do this yourself though, as it can go horribly wrong, sometimes with enormous tax consequences.
Please contact us for expert assistance to get it right.
Warning about which tax system applies
Remember though - an election of English LAW is NOT an election of English TAX .
You can choose who inherits, but French inheritance tax still applies.
If you are UK resident, then French inheritance tax only applies to the French Immovable.
If you are French resident, then French inheritance tax applies to your global estate.
As an example, you can exclude you children and leave it to your unmarried partner, or step-children, but they will face 60% tax on anything above 1,594 Euros.
John Kitching
Director
French Law Consultancy Limited