French forced-heirship rules for foreign residents

When your family or assets span more than one country, succession planning needs a clear starting point. Review how assets are owned, which law may govern the succession and which tax questions arise separately. Wills and beneficiary arrangements can then be considered in that context.

Where French succession law applies, it protects a reserved share for children. For a person habitually resident in France, it is the usual starting point under Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, subject to the regulation’s rules and any valid choice of law. Review an existing foreign will before assuming either that it overrides those rules or that it no longer works.

Four questions in a cross-border succession

These questions are related, but they are not answered by the same rules, and one answer does not decide the next.

01 · Ownership
What belongs to each spouse?
The matrimonial property regime determines what belongs to each spouse, and therefore what is in the estate; it is established first, under its own rules.
02 · Applicable law
Which law governs the estate?
Under Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 the starting point is generally the deceased’s habitual residence, unless the will validly elects the law of a nationality. Where French law governs, article 913 of the Civil Code reserves a share for the children.
03 · Taxation
Which countries may tax it?
Taxation follows its own rules, country by country, and does not follow the law chosen for the succession. France has few inheritance-tax treaties, so the same estate can be taxed in more than one country.
04 · Formalities
Who handles the formalities?
A notaire is required for an estate in the cases listed by the French administration, including where the estate contains property. The professionals of the other countries involved act alongside, on their own rules.

How the reserve works

Article 913 of the French Civil Code reserves a fraction of your estate for your children (half with one child, two-thirds with two, three-quarters with three or more), leaving only the remainder (the quotité disponible) freely disposable. If you are habitually resident in France when you die and have not validly chosen another law, French law governs your estate and the reserve applies, which can reshape arrangements that were valid at home: leaving everything to a surviving spouse, unequal shares, trusts.

A gift or bequest that goes beyond the freely disposable share can be cut back at the request of a reserved heir, and Article 921 requires the notaire to tell each heir concerned of that right before the estate is divided.

Prepare the documents before choosing an estate-planning solution

Begin with your family circumstances and the ownership of your assets. That includes any matrimonial property arrangement.

The applicable succession law and the tax treatment are separate questions to examine with the professionals responsible.

01 · Countries
Where the connections are
Identify the countries connected to your residence, nationality, family and assets.
02 · Ownership
Who owns each asset
List the owners of each major asset and any jointly held property.
03 · Documents
What is already in place
Gather existing wills, marriage agreements and beneficiary instructions.
04 · Your wishes
What you want to achieve
Record what you want to achieve for your family and the questions to take to the notary or legal adviser.

The notaire’s role

If you would like to explain your cross-border situation in writing before booking a meeting: Contact an English-speaking wealth adviser.

If the estate includes real estate in France, a notaire is needed to handle the property formalities. The notaire establishes the relevant documents and the heirs’ rights. Their role differs from that of a lawyer appointed to represent one party.

Before the meeting, gather any existing wills and details of assets held in each country. Ask the professionals advising you to check how the documents work together and whether a choice of law is available and appropriate. A new will should not be drafted without considering the wills already in place.

The tools that remain

The EU Succession Regulation: under Article 22 of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, you may choose in your will the law of a country whose nationality you hold, and Article 20 allows that law to be a non-EU law. A British or American national living in France can therefore choose their national law, even though the United Kingdom and the United States are not bound by the Regulation;
The limit on that choice: under Article 913 paragraph 3 of the French Civil Code, where the chosen law gives children no protective reserve mechanism and the deceased or at least one child is an EU national or habitually resident in the EU at death, each child may take a compensatory levy on the assets located in France at death, up to the reserved share French law would give them. Ask the notaire whether English family-provision rules or the law of your US state count as such a mechanism before relying on the choice;
Matrimonial property: establish what each spouse owns, then consider whether a permitted change would help meet the family’s objectives. How moving to France may affect your matrimonial property regime explains the review.
Assurance-vie: review the beneficiary clause and civil and tax treatment of the death benefit. Article L. 132-13 of the Insurance Code addresses excessive premiums; it is not the only question that may arise around a contract.
Lifetime structuring: gifts, dismemberment of ownership (usufruit / nue-propriété), family arrangements signed by the heirs themselves.

Wills made in the United Kingdom or the United States

France applies the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 on the form of wills, and Article 75 of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 keeps that convention in force for the countries that had ratified it.

Under its Article 1, a will is valid as to form if it follows the law of the place where it was made, of a nationality the testator held, or of the testator’s domicile or habitual residence, either when the will was made or at death; for land and buildings, the law of the place where they stand is also accepted.

Article 6 applies these rules even where the law concerned is not that of a contracting state, which covers a will made under the law of a US state although the United States has not joined the convention. The convention settles only the form of the will: the reserve, the spouse’s rights and the inheritance tax depend on the law that governs the succession and on each country’s tax rules.

Succession planning for a cross-border family involves French law, your national law and inheritance tax treaties. France has signed such treaties with a limited number of countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States; where no treaty applies, the same estate can be taxed in two countries. This is notary-and-adviser work done together; the firm coordinates both.

Inheritance without a will

When someone dies without a will (intestate) and French law governs the succession, the law names the heirs itself: Article 731 of the Civil Code gives the estate to the deceased’s relatives and surviving spouse.

Where there is no surviving spouse, Article 734 calls the children and their descendants first, then the parents together with the brothers and sisters and their descendants, then the other ascendants such as grandparents, then the other relatives such as uncles, aunts and cousins, and each of these groups excludes the groups that come after it.

A will is also where a choice of national law has to be made: Article 22 of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 requires the choice to be made expressly in a will or a similar document, or to be shown by its terms. A British or American national who dies while living in France without a will has made no choice, and French law, as the law of the last habitual residence, then generally decides who inherits under Article 21.

When there are children, Article 757 lets the surviving spouse choose between the usufruct of the whole estate (the right to use the assets and receive their income for life, without owning them) and full ownership of a quarter of it, provided all the children were born to both spouses. If at least one child was born to only one of the spouses, the surviving spouse receives a quarter in full ownership and has no choice.

With no children, the spouse takes half the estate when both of the deceased’s parents are alive, each parent taking a quarter under Article 757-1, and the whole estate when there are neither children nor parents under Article 757-2, subject to Article 757-3, which gives brothers and sisters half of the assets the deceased had received from earlier generations and that are still in the estate.

The spouse also has a right to the home. Under Article 763, a spouse who was living in the couple’s main home at the death, whether it belonged to the couple, to the estate or was rented, may stay there free of charge for one year, with its furniture, and a will cannot set this rule aside.

Article 764 then gives the spouse a right to live in that home until his or her own death, which the deceased can remove only by a will made in the authenticated form described in Article 971.

These are the rules that apply by default. A gift between spouses or a will can give the spouse more: where there are children, Article 1094-1 allows the spouse to receive either the share that any other person could receive, or a quarter in full ownership and the other three quarters in usufruct, or the usufruct of the whole estate. The spouse becomes a reserved heir only when there are no descendants, and Article 914-1 then limits gifts and bequests to other people to three quarters of the estate.

Children from an earlier relationship and stepchildren

A child born of an earlier relationship is one of the deceased’s children under Article 734 and inherits from that parent. That child’s presence removes the usufruct option of Article 757 and brings Article 1527, paragraph 2, into play: a clause of the marriage contract that gives the surviving spouse more than the share allowed by Article 1094-1 has no effect for the excess, through a claim known as the action en retranchement. These children may waive that claim before the surviving spouse dies, in the forms set by Articles 929 to 930-1.

A stepchild, meaning the child of your spouse or partner from another relationship, is not one of your relatives and is not among the heirs called by Articles 731 and 734, so a stepchild inherits nothing from a step-parent who leaves no will.

A will can leave a stepchild assets within the freely disposable share, but the tax treatment follows the absence of a family link: under Article 777 of the General Tax Code a stepchild is taxed as a non-relative, at 60%, after an allowance of €1,594 under Article 788, where a child of the deceased has an allowance of €100,000 under Article 779 and a scale running from 5% to 45% under Article 777.

Adoption changes both answers. Under Article 365 of the Civil Code, a child adopted by simple adoption (adoption simple, which adds a legal parent without cutting the ties with the birth family) has inheritance rights in the adoptive family, though no reserved share against the adopter’s own parents.

For tax, Article 786 of the General Tax Code disregards simple adoption as a rule, but makes an exception for the children of the adopter’s spouse from that spouse’s first marriage, who are then taxed as the adopter’s children; the other exceptions in Article 786 carry conditions, such as at least five years of continuous care received from the adopter while a minor, set out in Article 786.

Under French law, a PACS or cohabiting partner is not automatically an heir. A will can provide for that partner within the available share. Insurance beneficiary clauses and ownership arrangements should also be reviewed. PACS partners and unmarried cohabitants have different inheritance-tax treatment, so they should not be grouped together when comparing the cost of transmission.

Building both — the will and the beneficiary designations — in the right order is what Cross-border succession planning in France: practical tools covers, step by step.

References cited

Frequently asked questions

Can I disinherit my children if I live in France?

If French succession law governs, children have protected rights. A permitted choice of national law and other arrangements may affect the result, but each has conditions and limits. Discuss the intended outcome with the notaire rather than assuming one tool always overrides the reserve.

Does my home-country will remain valid in France?

As to its form, usually yes: France applies the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, under which a will is formally valid if it follows the law of the place where it was made or of the testator’s nationality, domicile or habitual residence. Its content is a separate question, so check the applicable law and its provisions alongside later wills and family changes. Where French law governs, protected inheritance rights can limit what the will achieves.

How is the surviving spouse protected in France?

Without a will, the surviving spouse receives a quarter of the estate in full ownership, or may choose the usufruct of the whole estate when all the children were born to both spouses (Article 757 of the Civil Code). The spouse is not a reserved heir in the presence of children, but a gift between spouses under Article 1094-1 (the quotité disponible spéciale), the matrimonial regime and assurance-vie designations can increase that share. Articles 763 and 764 add a right to stay in the main home.

Does my partner inherit anything under French law if we are not married?

A PACS or cohabiting partner is not automatically an heir under French law. A will may provide a share within the applicable limits. Review beneficiary clauses and existing ownership too, and distinguish the tax treatment of PACS partners from that of cohabitants.

What happens without a will in France?

French law names the heirs itself: the surviving spouse and the relatives, in the order set by Articles 731 to 767 of the Civil Code, with the children and their descendants first. With children, the spouse receives a quarter of the estate in full ownership, or may choose the usufruct of the whole estate if all the children were born to both spouses. Without a will there is also no choice of national law, so French law generally governs the estate of a foreign national who was living in France.

Do stepchildren inherit in France?

No, not without a will: a stepchild is not an heir of the step-parent under French law. A will can leave a stepchild assets within the freely disposable share, taxed as between non-relatives at 60% after an allowance of €1,594. Simple adoption gives the stepchild inheritance rights and, for the children of the spouse’s first marriage, the tax treatment of a child under Article 786 of the General Tax Code.

What law governs succession if my children live in different countries?

Under Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, the starting point is generally the deceased’s habitual residence or a valid choice of national law. The heirs’ addresses do not alone choose that law. Their residence can affect taxation and other cross-border provisions, so include it in the review.

ÉTHIQUE ET PATRIMOINE, a French simplified joint-stock company (SAS), registered office at 41 rue Saint-Ferdinand, 75017 Paris, France, Paris Trade Register no. 803 414 796, VAT no. FR 40 803 414 796, registered with ORIAS under number no. 24001817 (www.orias.fr) — Financial investment adviser (CIF) no. 18002418, member of ANACOFI-CIF, a professional association approved by the Autorité des marchés financiers, and Anacofi-Courtage for its brokerage activity. Presence: Paris, Montpellier, London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai and Dubai.

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