In a statement issued this week, the Commission endorsed France's decision to exempt English-law wills from controversial French inheritance rules.
The development follows a lengthy investigation launched after numerous complaints were submitted to Brussels over a 2021 French law that many commentators believed undermined the European Union's succession regulation.
The controversy centres on the interaction between French inheritance law and the EU Succession Regulation, formally known as Regulation 650/2012.
The regulation, which entered into force in 2015, was designed to simplify cross-border inheritances across Europe. It established a straightforward principle that the law governing a person's estate would normally be that of their last habitual residence. However, individuals were also given the right to choose the law of their nationality to govern their succession.
For many foreign nationals living in France, the regulation offered a valuable planning opportunity.
Unlike France, most common-law jurisdictions allow individuals broad freedom to decide who inherits their estate. French law, by contrast, contains the doctrine of réserve héréditaire, or forced heirship, under which children are entitled to fixed shares of an estate.
For international couples, particularly those in second marriages or blended families, the EU regulation allowed them to choose English law and leave their entire estate to a surviving spouse if they wished.
For nearly a decade, this arrangement functioned with relatively little controversy.
The situation altered dramatically in 2021 when France introduced legislation intended to protect children who might otherwise be disinherited under foreign inheritance laws.
The law inserted a new provision into the French Civil Code.
Under the measure, where a foreign inheritance law applies and either the deceased or one of their children has a connection to the European Union, French notaires may be required to inform disinherited children of their right to claim compensation from French assets.
The provision was originally promoted as a way to prevent discriminatory outcomes under certain foreign legal systems, particularly where daughters might receive less than sons.
However, legal experts quickly warned that the wording was much broader and risked affecting common-law jurisdictions such as England and Wales.
Since English law does not include a fixed forced-heirship mechanism comparable to the French réserve héréditaire, many practitioners feared that English-law wills would be challenged.
British residents in France, supported by legal specialists and advocacy groups, submitted complaints to the European Commission arguing that the French law conflicted with the Succession Regulation.
The Commission subsequently opened discussions with the French authorities and requested explanations regarding the compatibility of the 2021 law with European law.
France's Clarification
The breakthrough came through a detailed explanation provided by the French government to Brussels.
France argued that the 2021 legislation was never intended to impose French forced-heirship rules automatically on foreign successions.
Instead, officials stated that the law only applies where the foreign legal system offers no meaningful protection whatsoever for children.
Crucially, France acknowledged that English law does contain such protections through the family provision regime.
Under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, certain relatives and dependants can apply to the courts if they believe a will has failed to make reasonable financial provision for them.
Although fundamentally different from French forced-heirship rules, France has now accepted that these provisions perform a similar protective function.
The French government described them as a "functional equivalent" of the French hereditary reserve.
As a result, successions governed by English law should not trigger the compensatory mechanism introduced in 2021.
That clarification effectively removes English-law wills from the scope of the controversial provision.
The decision affects succession law, not inheritance taxation. French inheritance tax rules continue to apply regardless of the law governing the distribution of assets.
Other Nationals?
The decision explicitly concerns English law, but its reasoning may extend further.
Many inheritance systems in English-speaking countries contain mechanisms allowing courts to intervene where dependants have been unfairly excluded from a will.
The question now becomes whether France will regard those systems as offering equivalent protection.
The position for American nationals is more complicated as succession rules vary considerably between states.
If France is unwilling to change the law, as appears the case, then further clarification and exemptions may only be obtained by lobbying and campaigning.
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