You own a house in France, your will was written in England under English law, and one day your children take both documents to the French notaire. A notaire is the French public officer who settles every succession involving property in France, and his answer often comes as a shock: your English will does not do what you think it does, your children each own a protected share of the French house that you cannot take away, and the surviving spouse may have fewer rights than under English law. Since Brexit, British families face this moment without the safety net of EU membership, yet the legal tools that decide it have barely changed. This guide explains, in plain English, which law governs your French house when you die, how to elect English law in your will, where French forced heirship still bites, and how to get your will past the notaire and the French tax office without a family dispute.
The stakes are concrete. Under French law, children are reserved heirs, meaning the statute guarantees them a minimum share of your estate. An English will that leaves everything to the surviving spouse, or that divides the estate unequally between children, can be partly set aside in France. Gifts made during your lifetime can be clawed back into the calculation. And if the notaire considers your will unclear or invalid, the file stalls, bank accounts stay frozen, and the house cannot be sold. Every point below is grounded in the statutes and court decisions linked in this article, so you can check each statement at its official source before you act.
I. Will your English will govern your French house after Brexit?
Short answer: it can, but only if you use the right mechanism, and even then French law keeps several cards in its hand. Two different questions must be separated. The first is which country’s succession law applies to your estate. The second is whether French forced heirship rules still protect your children whatever law you chose. Confusing the two is the most common and most expensive mistake British families make.
A. Habitual residence sets the default law, but you can elect English law
Since 17 August 2015, successions with a cross-border element inside France have been governed by EU Regulation No 650 of 2012, often called the EU Succession Regulation. Brexit did not remove this instrument from French law: France still applies it to every succession opened before its courts, including successions of British nationals. The Regulation applies universally, so the law it designates governs the succession even where that law is the law of a state that never joined the instrument. English law can therefore still be designated and applied by a French court after Brexit, even though the United Kingdom never opted into the Regulation and is treated as a third state.
The default rule is habitual residence. The default rule in Article 21 of the Regulation is that the succession as a whole is governed by the law of the state where the deceased had his or her habitual residence at the time of death. Habitual residence is a question of fact, not of nationality or tax status: where you actually lived, where your family life was centred, how long you were there, and where you intended to remain. A British retiree who has lived year-round near Bergerac for six years, visits the United Kingdom for a few weeks a year, and is registered with the French health system will almost certainly be treated as habitually resident in France, so French succession law governs the whole estate by default, including any English bank accounts. Conversely, a second-home owner who lives in Surrey and spends school holidays in the Dordogne remains habitually resident in England, so English law would apply by default, but the French house still sits in France and the French notaire still runs the file.
This is where the choice-of-law clause, known in legal French as professio juris, becomes essential. Article 22 of the Regulation allows any person to elect, as the law governing the succession as a whole, the law of the state whose nationality he or she possesses when making the election or at the time of death. For a British national, that means you can elect English law expressly in your will, and the French authorities must respect that election. The same article imposes a strict form requirement: the election must be made expressly in a declaration in the form of a disposition of property upon death, or must clearly appear from the terms of such a disposition. In practice, your will should contain a sentence stating that you elect the law of England and Wales to govern your succession as a whole. A vague reference to your English solicitor, or a will that simply follows English drafting habits, is not enough to demonstrate the choice with certainty, and the notaire may then apply French law by default.
A decision of the Cour de cassation, France’s supreme civil court, shows how seriously the courts take the cross-Channel dimension. On 21 September 2022, in case No 19-15.438, the First Civil Chamber ruled on the succession of a French national who died in France while his widow lived in the United Kingdom and his habitual residence was found to be in the United Kingdom. The court held, endorsing the answer given by the Court of Justice of the European Union on 7 April 2022 in case C-645/20: “Selon ce texte, titré « Compétences subsidiaires », lorsque la résidence habituelle du défunt au moment du décès n’est pas située dans un État membre, les juridictions de l’État membre dans lequel sont situés des biens successoraux sont néanmoins compétentes pour statuer sur l’ensemble de la succession dans la mesure où le défunt possédait la nationalité de cet État membre au moment du décès.” In other words, where the deceased lived outside the EU, here in the United Kingdom, the French courts remain competent over the whole succession where the deceased held French nationality and owned property in France, and they must raise this subsidiary jurisdiction of their own motion. The mirror lesson for British families is direct: a British national who retires to the United Kingdom but keeps a French house can still find the French courts seised of the succession, and the governing law question will then decide everything.
Three practical consequences follow. First, review any will signed before you moved to France, and any will signed since, for an express election of English law; if none exists, instruct a practitioner to add one by a valid codicil or a new will. Second, coordinate the English and French documents: two wills can coexist, one dealing with English assets and one with French assets, but each must acknowledge the other to avoid an accidental revocation, because under English law a later will generally revokes an earlier one. Third, remember that electing English law governs the succession as a whole, meaning it also affects your English assets in the French court’s view, so take advice on both sides of the Channel before signing.
B. French forced heirship still protects your children whatever your will says
Electing English law does not give you the testamentary freedom you enjoy in England. French law organises the devolution of the estate around two linked concepts you must understand before signing anything. The réserve héréditaire, or forced heirship share, is the portion of your property that the statute reserves for your children. The Code civil (Article 912) defines it as follows: “La réserve héréditaire est la part des biens et droits successoraux dont la loi assure la dévolution libre de charges à certains héritiers dits réservataires, s’ils sont appelés à la succession et s’ils l’acceptent.” The quotité disponible, or freely disposable share, is simply the rest: whatever is not reserved and that you may give to anyone, including the surviving spouse, a stepchild, or a charity.
The size of the forced share depends on how many children survive you. Article 913 of the Code civil provides: “Les libéralités, soit par actes entre vifs, soit par testament, ne pourront excéder la moitié des biens du disposant, s’il ne laisse à son décès qu’un enfant ; le tiers, s’il laisse deux enfants ; le quart, s’il en laisse trois ou un plus grand nombre.” So with one child, half the estate is reserved and half is freely disposable; with two children, two thirds are reserved; with three or more, three quarters. Gifts made during your lifetime, known as libéralités, count towards this ceiling alongside testamentary legacies, which is why a parent who gave the French house to one child years ago may discover at death that the gift already exhausted the freely disposable share.
Where the reserved share is infringed, French law gives the injured child a clawback action called réduction. Standing to bring it is narrow and personal. Article 921 states: “La réduction des dispositions entre vifs ne pourra être demandée que par ceux au profit desquels la loi fait la réserve, par leurs héritiers ou ayants cause”, so neither the disappointed legatee nor the deceased’s creditors can demand it. The action first bites into testamentary dispositions, then into lifetime gifts starting with the most recent, and it can force the sale of the French house or compensation payments between siblings years after the death. Limitation periods are short and technical, so a child who suspects the reserve was infringed should take advice within months, not years.
British families sometimes assume that electing English law sweeps all of this away. It does not, for two reasons. First, where no valid election of English law exists, French law applies in full by default and the reserve operates normally. Second, even where English law validly governs the succession, Parliament created a safety net for children. Since the statute of 24 August 2021 reinforcing republican principles, Article 913 of the Code civil provides that: “Lorsque le défunt ou au moins l’un de ses enfants est, au moment du décès, ressortissant d’un Etat membre de l’Union européenne ou y réside habituellement et lorsque la loi étrangère applicable à la succession ne permet aucun mécanisme réservataire protecteur des enfants, chaque enfant ou ses héritiers ou ses ayants cause peuvent effectuer un prélèvement compensatoire sur les biens existants situés en France au jour du décès, de façon à être rétablis dans les droits réservataires que leur octroie la loi française, dans la limite de ceux-ci.” The prélèvement compensatoire, or compensatory levy, lets each child take from the French-situated assets enough to restore the French forced share, within its limits. English law knows no forced heirship for children, so the condition is typically met, and the levy attaches to the French house itself. A British parent habitually resident in France, or whose child lives in France, who elects English law to leave everything to a second spouse, must therefore expect the children to recover their French reserve directly from the property.
The practical message is blunt. If you have children and a French house, assume the reserve will shape your succession whatever your will says, and plan inside it rather than against it. The freely disposable share remains a powerful tool: with two children you can still leave one third of your estate to the surviving spouse or a vulnerable child outright. Lifetime gifts structured with the notaire, spouse-protection mechanisms such as the donation au dernier vivant, and a clear election of English law where it genuinely serves the family, all work best when they respect the reserve instead of trying to defeat it. Our detailed guide to who pays French inheritance tax, at what rate, and how the 1963 treaty prevents double taxation explains the tax side of the same picture: British Heir of a French House After Brexit: Who Pays Droits de Succession, What Rate, How the 1963 Treaty Stops Double Tax, and How to Challenge the Bill.
II. Getting your will past the notaire and the tax office without a dispute
A valid election of English law and a reserve-compliant distribution are only half the battle. The succession must then survive two examinations: the notaire’s formal checks, where an unclear or contested will can freeze the file for months, and the tax office’s assessment, where an unprepared heir pays too much or misses the treaty relief. This part walks through both, with the documents to prepare and the remedies where things go wrong.
A. Form, proof and the notaire’s checks when someone contests the will
The notaire begins with the form of the will. France recognises several forms, and an English will can be received in France if it satisfies either the law chosen to govern the succession or the law of the place where it was made, under the 1961 Hague Convention on testamentary form which France applies. In practice, two configurations dominate. Many British clients keep a will signed before an English solicitor with two witnesses, which is valid in its English form, and the notaire will ask for the original, a certified translation, and where required an apostille under the Hague legalisation Convention. Others write a French holographic will, properly called a testament olographe, directly covering the French house. Article 970 of the Code civil sets only three conditions: “Le testament olographe ne sera point valable s’il n’est écrit en entier, daté et signé de la main du testateur : il n’est assujetti à aucune autre forme.” Entirely handwritten, dated, and signed by the testator’s own hand: typed passages, a date added by someone else, or a missing signature can each be fatal, so have the draft checked before it is signed, not after the death.
The notaire then verifies who takes what. Where the will creates a legs universel, meaning a universal legacy of the whole estate, Article 1003 defines it as: “Le legs universel est la disposition testamentaire par laquelle le testateur donne à une ou plusieurs personnes l’universalité des biens qu’il laissera à son décès.” A surviving spouse or partner named universal legatee does not automatically step into possession: unless there are no reserved heirs, the legatee must obtain envoi en possession, a court order sending him into possession, from the tribunal judiciaire. Meanwhile, Article 724 gives the heirs designated by statute automatic seisin: “Les héritiers désignés par la loi sont saisis de plein droit des biens, droits et actions du défunt.” Saisine means the heirs are vested in the estate from the moment of death, can insure and secure the house, and can act against third parties, while the universal legatee waits for the order. Families who do not understand this split often quarrel over who may change the locks or collect the rents in the months after the death.
Where an heir challenges the will, the dispute usually turns on handwriting. A disinherited child may deny that the signature or the handwriting is the deceased’s, forcing a vérification d’écriture, a court-supervised handwriting examination comparing the will with undisputed documents. The Cour de cassation polices this procedure strictly. On 26 March 2025, in case No 23-14.430 concerning a challenged holographic will, the First Civil Chamber quashed a court of appeal that had verified the handwriting from a copy, holding: “Il résulte de ces textes que la vérification d’écriture doit être effectuée au vu de l’original de l’écrit contesté.” The original will must therefore be preserved and produced; a family that can only supply a photocopy because the original stayed in a solicitor’s strongbox in Leeds starts the contest at a severe disadvantage. Keep the original where the notaire can reach it, tell the executors where it is, and never annotate or staple additional pages to it.
Three further checkpoints complete the picture. First, the notaire establishes the vesting and the certificate: he draws up the acte de notoriété identifying the heirs, publishes the attestation covering the French property at the land registry, and where assets lie in several countries the heirs may request a certificat successoral européen, the European Certificate of Succession created by the Regulation, which proves their status without re-litigating the succession abroad. Second, bank accounts are frozen from the death until the notaire releases them, a stage where British heirs regularly get stuck; our companion guide explains the papers the bank demands and how to force release: British Heir After a Death in France: Frozen Bank Account, Notaire Papers, Tax Clearance and How to Force Release. Third, if the notaire refuses to apply your election of English law or miscalculates the reserve, his position is not final: you can instruct a second notaire, seize the tribunal judiciaire for an interpretation or a réduction action, and in urgent cases apply to the interim judge to appoint an administrateur provisoire to secure the house.
B. French inheritance tax, the treaty credit and how to challenge the bill
French inheritance tax, called droits de mutation à titre gratuit, applies to the French house almost regardless of where the heirs live. Article 750 ter of the General Tax Code provides: “Sont soumis aux droits de mutation à titre gratuit : 1° Les biens meubles et immeubles situés en France ou hors de France,” and the territorial rules that follow catch French-situated immovable property in practically every configuration: deceased domiciled in France, heir domiciled in France, or property situated in France. A British father domiciled in Manchester who leaves his Dordogne cottage to children living in London still triggers French tax on the cottage. The tax return must be filed within six months of the death where the deceased died in France, or twelve months where the death occurred abroad, and late filing draws interest plus penalties, so the calendar starts immediately.
Rates and allowances then decide the bill. Between parents and children, the scale runs from 5 percent to 45 percent after a personal allowance, known as an abattement, of 100,000 euros per child, and the surviving spouse is fully exempt (Article 796-0 bis of the General Tax Code): “Sont exonérés de droits de mutation par décès le conjoint survivant et le partenaire lié au défunt par un pacte civil de solidarité.” That exemption covers a married spouse and a partner in a pacte civil de solidarité, the French civil partnership known as PACS, but not an unmarried cohabitee, who is taxed at 60 percent after a small allowance. Between siblings the allowance is modest and the rate climbs quickly to 35 and 45 percent; between unrelated persons it is 60 percent. Valuations follow the market value at the date of death, debts contracted by the deceased are deductible under strict conditions, and the notaire computes all of this in the déclaration de succession before any distribution.
Double taxation is the next fear, and here the 1963 France-United Kingdom estate treaty does heavy lifting. Each state taxes the French house under its own rules, France first as the state where the property sits, then the United Kingdom gives credit where its own inheritance tax also bites, within treaty limits. On the British side, a person domiciled in the United Kingdom remains within UK inheritance tax on worldwide assets, and the official guidance for when someone living outside the United Kingdom dies is the starting point for the English side of the calculation. Keep every French assessment, receipt, and the filed return: the UK claim for unilateral or treaty relief needs proof of the French tax actually paid, and missing paperwork is the most common reason relief is refused. Where the treaty allocates the taxing right differently from what the French office applied, the heir can invoke the treaty directly before the French courts.
If the bill looks wrong, challenge it quickly and in the right order. The standard route is a written réclamation, a formal claim to the tax office that issued the assessment, followed if necessary by proceedings before the tribunal judiciaire or the tribunal administratif depending on the nature of the levy. Valuation disputes respond well to an independent expert report at the date of death, supported by comparable sales and the property’s condition; allowance disputes turn on proof of kinship, prior gifts within the fifteen-year recall period, and the deceased’s domicile; treaty disputes turn on domicile evidence and the text of the convention. Interest accrues while you argue, so pay under protest where possible and claim repayment with interest rather than letting penalties accumulate. Our pillar guide on succession taxation for British heirs sets out the rates, the treaty articles, and the challenge procedure step by step: British Heir of a French House After Brexit: Who Pays Droits de Succession, What Rate, How the 1963 Treaty Stops Double Tax, and How to Challenge the Bill.
A final checklist keeps the file moving. Before death: an express election of English law in the will, coordinated English and French wills that do not revoke each other, a reserve calculation with the notaire, and the original will stored where the family can find it. After death: death certificate with apostille and sworn translation, the original will, family record documents proving kinship, the property title deeds, bank statements, and a valuation of the house. With these in hand, the notaire can settle the succession, the tax can be computed correctly the first time, and the children receive what the law guarantees them without a lawsuit between siblings.
Conclusion
A British will can govern a French house after Brexit, but only by design, never by accident. Elect English law expressly under Article 22 of the EU Succession Regulation, respect the children’s forced shares under Articles 912 and 913 of the Code civil, remember the compensatory levy that protects children from the French property itself, keep the original will in a form the notaire can receive, and compute the tax with the treaty credit in mind. Families who take these five steps give the notaire a file he can close; families who skip them give their children a dispute. If the death has already occurred and the file is blocked, act within weeks: contest periods run, tax deadlines accrue penalties, and a contested will is far easier to defend while the original and the witnesses’ evidence are fresh.
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