Wills for British expats in France: forced heirship and what you can still control

By Jamie Lee · Published 27 August 2026

France is the country where the state writes part of your will for you: with three children, three quarters of your estate is reserved for them before your wishes get a say. British residents have an escape route, the election of English law in a properly drafted will, and in 2026 the European Commission signalled it intends to close its case over whether France could claw that back. The news is better than expats feared, with caveats worth understanding. Here's how the pieces fit, and what you can still control.

Every legal system answers the same question differently: how much of your estate is actually yours to give? England answers "all of it", then lets disappointed family members apply to a court afterwards. France answers with arithmetic done in advance. If you die subject to French succession law leaving one child, half your estate is reserved for that child. Two children, two thirds. Three or more, three quarters, shared between them. The reserved portion, the réserve héréditaire, comes off the top before your will is consulted, and a spouse only gets a reserve of their own, one quarter, if there are no descendants at all.

For a French family this is the water they swim in. For a British family in the Dordogne with an estate planned around English assumptions, a second marriage, or a child they're estranged from, it can be a real collision. The good news is that a British resident of France has more control than the folklore suggests, and 2026 delivered the clearest statement yet of how much. The controls only work if you set them up, though, and the default, dying with no will at all, hands everything to French law.

The escape route: electing English law

Since 2015, the EU Succession Regulation has let you choose. The default rule is that the law of your habitual residence governs your whole estate, so a Briton settled in France dies under French law, reserve and all. But the regulation lets you elect the law of your nationality in your will instead, and because the regulation applies whatever law it points to, a British national resident in France can elect the law of England and Wales. Brexit changed none of this: the UK never joined the regulation even before leaving, and the election works today exactly as it did before Brexit. Choose English law in a properly drafted will and you recover English testamentary freedom over your estate: the reserve, as a matter of the applicable law, falls away.

The counter-attack, and where it now stands

That freedom worried the French. In August 2021 France passed a law adding a sting to the civil code: where the deceased or any of their children is an EU national or habitually resident in the EU, and the law governing the succession has no mechanism protecting children, each child may claim a compensatory levy out of the assets located in France, restoring what French law would have reserved for them. Notaires were also placed under a duty to tell each child, individually, that their rights might be affected. A Briton living in France is habitually resident in the EU, so the provision reached, in principle, virtually every British estate with French assets, English-law election or not. Complaints went to the European Commission arguing the law undermined the succession regulation, and for nearly five years nobody could tell expats how the fight would end.

In June 2026 it turned, and more quietly than expected. The Commission said it intends to close the case after France set out its official reading: the levy applies only where the foreign law has no protective mechanism for children at all, and English law has one, the courts' power under the family provision legislation to make awards to children and dependants. On that reading, an estate governed by an elected English law is outside the levy, and the French government has said as much publicly, with notaires informed of the interpretation.

Two caveats, and they matter. This is an official interpretation, not an amendment to the statute, and courts are not bound by it. French practitioners have noted that families wanting certainty may still need a court's blessing, and no French decision applying the provision has been reported. The second caveat is about the Commission itself. This was never a formal infringement action against France, only a complaint and the pre-infringement dialogue that followed, so the Commission has not ruled that the French provision is compatible with the succession regulation. What it has said is that the legal uncertainty around the wording has been resolved. Its intention to close is on the record; as at August 2026 a closure notice is not. But the direction of travel favours the well-drafted English-law will. What it does not favour is improvisation: the election has to be made expressly, in a valid will, and the rest of the estate plan has to be built to match.

The tools French law itself hands you

Electing English law is one lever. French law offers several of its own, and the strongest estate plans for France use both sets.

Married couples can change their matrimonial property regime before a notaire. The classic move is universal community with full attribution to the survivor: all assets pooled, and on the first death the whole community passes to the surviving spouse as a matter of property law, outside the succession entirely, so the children's reserve only bites on the second death. It is powerful and it has a sharp edge: children of a previous relationship can attack it through a dedicated court action to recover their reserve, so for blended families it needs careful advice rather than enthusiasm.

The donation entre époux, a notarised gift between spouses costing little to put in place, widens what the survivor can take when there are children, including a usufruct over the whole estate, a right French intestacy only offers when all the children are children of the marriage. Assurance-vie, the French investment wrapper, pays out to named beneficiaries outside the civil estate, with its own generous tax regime, which is why it anchors so many expat plans; the classic caution is that premiums wildly out of proportion to your means can be clawed back. And for families in agreement, France offers something England doesn't: children can formally waive their reserve in advance, before two notaires in a deliberately solemn procedure, signing separately with only the notaires in the room. Where adult children are willing, that waiver removes the argument entirely.

Property bought with a tontine clause passes to the surviving co-owner as if they had owned it alone from the start, bypassing the succession, but the clause must go into the purchase deed on day one and cannot be added later, and between unmarried partners the transfer is taxed at succession rates of 60 per cent, where a spouse would take it tax-free.

The tax, which no election touches

Choosing English law changes who can inherit. It changes nothing about tax, and French succession tax deserves its own article's worth of respect. It is charged on each beneficiary, not on the estate. Spouses and PACS partners inherit entirely tax-free. Each child has a €100,000 allowance and then pays at progressive rates from 5 to 45 per cent. And then the cliff: beneficiaries who are unrelated in law, which includes unmarried partners and, brutally, stepchildren who were never adopted, pay 60 per cent above an allowance of €1,594. A stepfamily that never formalised the relationships can watch a €200,000 legacy to a stepchild lose around €119,000 to tax that a biological child would have paid around €18,000 on.

The UK side runs in parallel. France and the UK share a 1963 inheritance tax treaty, one of the few old treaties still operating on domicile rather than the UK's new residence-counting rules. Broadly, a Briton whose permanent home and centre of life is France is treaty-domiciled in France: France taxes the worldwide estate, the UK gives up its right to tax assets situated in France, and UK-situs assets never leave UK scope regardless. The interaction between the old treaty and the UK's post-2025 rules has wrinkles that advisers are still mapping, which is exactly why cross-border estates with serious value belong in front of a regulated tax adviser.

Two practical notes complete the picture. The succession declaration is due six months after a death in France, with interest and surcharges after that, so families have less time than grief wants. And France is an apostille country: UK documents need a single stamp, not an embassy chain.

Two traps that catch the careful

First, language. A handwritten will is valid in France, and it may be in English, but French courts have voided a holographic will written in a language the testator did not understand. Write in the language you actually think in, and be very wary of signing French documents you cannot read.

Second, revocation. The best-documented way British expats wreck their own planning is the innocent French will. A standard general revocation clause in a will made for the French house has been known to silently revoke the carefully drafted English will that came before it, sending English assets down the intestacy rules to exactly the wrong people. If you hold two wills, one for each country, they must be drafted to acknowledge each other, and every later will must be checked against the ones it might destroy.

What to do now

Decide the law. If English testamentary freedom matters to your plan, elect the law of England and Wales expressly in a valid will. If French devolution suits your family, plan within it deliberately rather than by default.
If you're married, review your matrimonial regime with a notaire; it can move more value than the will does.
Map the tax by beneficiary, not by estate: who is exempt, who has €100,000 of headroom, and who faces 60 per cent. Formalising a relationship by marriage, PACS or adoption transforms the tax position, but it is a family decision first and one to take with advice.
Coordinate the wills. If you keep an English will and a French will, have them drafted to work together, and never sign a new one without checking its revocation clause against the other.
Keep the estate plan current: the 2021 levy, the 2026 interpretation, and the UK's 2025 tax reform all landed inside five years. Cross-border rules move; plans should be reviewed, not framed.

An Expat Legacy will is drafted under the law of England and Wales around expat circumstances, including an express choice of English law where that is the plan, drafted to work alongside a French will rather than revoke it, and reviewed by a person before your documents are released: £149 for a single will, £249 for mirror wills for a couple. France gives you more control than the folklore says. Take it in writing.

Sources

Expat Legacy provides England and Wales wills and general information about cross-border estate planning. This is general information, not legal or tax advice for your circumstances; French law and official interpretations change, tax treatment depends on individual circumstances, and for French property, matrimonial regimes, tax planning or disputes you should engage a notaire or avocat in France and, for complex estates, a regulated tax adviser. Position stated as at August 2026.

Common questions

Can a British expat living in France choose English law for their will?

Yes, the EU Succession Regulation allows a British national to elect the law of their nationality to govern their estate. By choosing the law of England and Wales in a properly drafted will, you can recover English testamentary freedom and bypass the French forced heirship rules, known as the réserve héréditaire. This election remains valid and unaffected by Brexit.

How does French inheritance tax work for stepchildren?

French law treats stepchildren who have not been legally adopted as unrelated beneficiaries. While a biological child receives a 100,000 euro tax allowance, an unrelated beneficiary only receives an allowance of 1,594 euros before being taxed at a flat rate of 60 per cent. This can result in a significantly higher tax bill compared to biological or adopted children.

What is a tontine clause in French property law?

A tontine clause is an agreement inserted into a property purchase deed that allows the asset to pass automatically to the surviving co-owner. The property is treated as if the survivor had owned it alone from the start, which bypasses the standard succession process. However, this clause must be included at the time of purchase and cannot be added to the deed later.

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