{"id":2125135,"date":"2026-09-19T16:00:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T14:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/09\/19\/british-surviving-spouse-french-house-usufruit-stay-tax-challenge-brexit\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T16:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T14:01:20","slug":"british-surviving-spouse-french-house-usufruit-stay-tax-challenge-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/19\/british-surviving-spouse-french-house-usufruit-stay-tax-challenge-brexit\/","title":{"rendered":"My British Spouse Died Owning Our French House After Brexit: Your Rights as Surviving Husband or Wife \u2014 Usufruit, the Right to Stay, Tax and How to Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

When your British husband or wife dies owning a house in France, grief comes first and French paperwork comes second, but the paperwork does not wait. The notaire<\/em> (the French public officer who settles estates) will ask, within weeks, which law governs the succession, what share you take as the surviving spouse, whether you want the usufruit<\/em> (the lifelong right to use the property and take its income) or full ownership of part of the estate, and whether any tax is due. Brexit changed none of these succession rules directly: the European rules on cross-border estates still apply in France, and a British nationality can still be chosen to govern the whole estate. What Brexit did change is the background \u2014 residence rights, tax residence and the practical distance between the two countries \u2014 which makes a well-prepared file more important than ever. This guide explains, for a British surviving spouse, which law decides your share of the French house, what happens with or without an English choice of law, how you keep the right to live in the house, why you normally pay no French inheritance tax as a spouse, and how to challenge a notaire<\/em> or a tax assessment that gets it wrong.<\/p>\n

I. Which law decides what the surviving spouse gets from the French house?<\/h2>\n

The first question the notaire<\/em> asks is never about the house itself. It is about the law. Since 17 August 2015, one European text answers it for every cross-border death connected with France: Regulation (EU) No 650\/2012 on jurisdiction, applicable law and the European Certificate of Succession. France applies it; the United Kingdom never opted into it, but that does not matter, because the Regulation designates its applicable law universally \u2014 even the law of a non-EU state such as post-Brexit England and Wales. Two articles do almost all the work: Article 21, the default, and Article 22, the choice. Your position as a surviving spouse depends entirely on which of the two governs your late spouse’s estate.<\/p>\n

A. My spouse died without choosing English law \u2014 what does the French default give me?<\/h3>\n

Where the deceased made no valid choice of law, Article 21(1) of the Regulation lays down the default rule: apart from the exceptions the Regulation itself provides, the whole succession is governed by the law of the state where the deceased had his or her habitual residence at the time of death. For a British couple living year-round in the Dordogne, that means French law governs everything, including the French house. For a British owner who kept his habitual residence in Kent and merely holidayed in France, the default may instead point to English law \u2014 but the French house still passes through a French notaire<\/em>, French land registration and French tax, so French rules stay in the picture regardless.<\/p>\n

Assume French law applies. The surviving spouse \u2014 the conjoint survivant<\/em>, meaning the husband or wife, not an unmarried partner \u2014 takes a legal share alongside the children. Article 757 of the Code civil<\/a> states: “Si l’\u00e9poux pr\u00e9d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 laisse des enfants ou descendants, le conjoint survivant recueille, \u00e0 son choix, l’usufruit de la totalit\u00e9 des biens existants ou la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 du quart des biens lorsque tous les enfants sont issus des deux \u00e9poux et la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 du quart en pr\u00e9sence d’un ou plusieurs enfants qui ne sont pas issus des deux \u00e9poux.” In plain terms, where all the children are yours together, you choose: either the usufruit<\/em> of everything, or outright ownership (pleine propri\u00e9t\u00e9<\/em>) of one quarter. Where your late spouse leaves a child from an earlier relationship \u2014 the classic second-marriage situation \u2014 you have no choice: you take one quarter in full ownership, and the children share the rest. That distinction is the single most misunderstood point for British blended families, because English expectations of “everything goes to the spouse” do not exist in French intestacy.<\/p>\n

A will or a gift between spouses (donation entre \u00e9poux<\/em>, sometimes called donation au dernier vivant<\/em>) can improve your lot well beyond that legal minimum. Article 1094-1 of the Code civil<\/a> allows a spouse who leaves children to give the other “soit de la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 de ce dont il pourrait disposer en faveur d’un \u00e9tranger, soit d’un quart de ses biens en propri\u00e9t\u00e9 et des trois autres quarts en usufruit, soit encore de la totalit\u00e9 de ses biens en usufruit seulement” \u2014 that is, either the maximum share freely disposable in favour of a stranger, or one quarter outright plus three quarters in usufruit<\/em>, or the whole estate in usufruit<\/em>. The same article adds a precious practical tool: “Sauf stipulation contraire du disposant, le conjoint survivant peut cantonner son \u00e9molument sur une partie des biens dont il a \u00e9t\u00e9 dispos\u00e9 en sa faveur.” Cantonnement<\/em> means you can confine your gift to chosen assets \u2014 typically the French house \u2014 and leave the rest to the children, which defuses many stepfamily disputes before they start.<\/p>\n

Gifts and legacies you already received do not simply pile on top of your legal share. Article 758-6 of the Code civil<\/a> provides: “Les lib\u00e9ralit\u00e9s re\u00e7ues du d\u00e9funt par le conjoint survivant s’imputent sur les droits de celui-ci dans la succession. Lorsque les lib\u00e9ralit\u00e9s ainsi re\u00e7ues sont inf\u00e9rieures aux droits d\u00e9finis aux articles 757 et 757-1 , le conjoint survivant peut en r\u00e9clamer le compl\u00e9ment, sans jamais recevoir une portion des biens sup\u00e9rieure \u00e0 la quotit\u00e9 d\u00e9finie \u00e0 l’article 1094-1 .” The Cour de cassation drew the full consequence in a blended-family case on 12 January 2022 (First Civil Chamber, appeals nos. 19-25.158 and 20-10.091): the Court holds that, on the combined reading of those provisions, the surviving spouse must account for gifts received from the deceased by setting them against his or her share, under the special imputation mechanism of Article 758-6. The same decision adds that the presumption that legacies are exempt from the duty to account, laid down by Article 843 of the Code civil, does not apply to the surviving spouse \u2014 so unlike ordinary legatees, you cannot cumulate a legacy of the house with your full Article 757 share; the legacy is set against (s’impute sur<\/em>) your rights, with only any shortfall claimable as a top-up. The calculation base itself is protected by Article 758-5<\/a>, which rebuilds a fictional mass of all property existing at death plus gifts made to heirs, so lifetime gifts to children cannot quietly shrink your quarter.<\/p>\n

Behind the spouse stand the children, and French law protects them with the r\u00e9serve h\u00e9r\u00e9ditaire<\/em> (the forced share). Article 912<\/a> defines it: “La r\u00e9serve h\u00e9r\u00e9ditaire est la part des biens et droits successoraux dont la loi assure la d\u00e9volution libre de charges \u00e0 certains h\u00e9ritiers dits r\u00e9servataires, s’ils sont appel\u00e9s \u00e0 la succession et s’ils l’acceptent.” The surviving spouse is not a r\u00e9servataire<\/em> \u2014 only descendants (and, failing them, no ascendants since 2006) are \u2014 which is why the spouse’s protection comes from the mechanisms above rather than from the r\u00e9serve<\/em> itself. Where English law has been chosen, the children keep one French safety net: the pr\u00e9l\u00e8vement compensatoire<\/em> (compensatory levy) of Article 913<\/a>. Its second paragraph applies where the deceased or at least one child was, at death, a national of an EU Member State or habitually resident there and the applicable foreign law offers children no forced-share mechanism: “chaque enfant ou ses h\u00e9ritiers ou ses ayants cause peuvent effectuer un pr\u00e9l\u00e8vement compensatoire sur les biens existants situ\u00e9s en France au jour du d\u00e9c\u00e8s, de fa\u00e7on \u00e0 \u00eatre r\u00e9tablis dans les droits r\u00e9servataires que leur octroie la loi fran\u00e7aise, dans la limite de ceux-ci.” In a Franco-British family that usually means the children can take their French-law shares directly from the French house, whatever the English will says.<\/p>\n

B. My spouse elected English law in his or her will \u2014 am I left with nothing?<\/h3>\n

A British national can elect the law of his nationality to govern his whole estate. Article 22(1) of Regulation 650\/2012 allows a person to submit his or her succession as a whole to the law of a state whose nationality he or she holds, whether at the time of the choice or at the time of death. Article 22(2) insists on form: the choice must be made expressly, in a declaration taking the form of a disposition of property upon death, or must clearly emerge from the terms of such a disposition. The full Regulation text is published by the EU Publications Office on EUR-Lex. For a British owner this professio juris<\/em> (declaration choosing the applicable law) normally points to the law of England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland as appropriate. The election must be express \u2014 a clear clause in the will \u2014 because a vague reference to “my English will” may fail the Article 22(2) test, and the French notaire<\/em> will then fall back on habitual residence under Article 21.<\/p>\n

English succession law starts from testamentary freedom: in principle your spouse could leave the French house to anyone. In practice the surviving spouse is far from defenceless. Under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, a surviving husband or wife can ask the English court for reasonable financial provision from the estate where the will fails to provide it, and the court can reorder the estate in the spouse’s favour. The UK government’s guidance on probate and what to do when someone dies<\/a> is the starting point for the English side of the procedure. But two French correctives survive any election of English law. First, the children’s pr\u00e9l\u00e8vement compensatoire<\/em> described above bites directly into the French house. Second, French courts keep a firm grip on the French assets: even where the deceased lived outside the EU, they can hear the succession case. In its judgment of 21 September 2022 (First Civil Chamber, appeal no. 19-15.438), given after a preliminary reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Cour de cassation recalled the subsidiary jurisdiction of Article 10(1)(a) of the Regulation: where the deceased’s habitual residence at death lay outside the Member States, the courts of the Member State where estate assets are situated may nevertheless rule on the whole succession where the deceased held that State’s nationality. That case concerned a French national living in the United Kingdom whose widow lived in London; the Court held the French courts had wrongly declined jurisdiction and ruled them competent for the whole succession. The mirror reasoning protects British families the other way round: a British deceased’s French house keeps a French judge available, and the notaire<\/em> cannot simply wave away an English choice of law \u2014 nor, conversely, can the family bypass the French formalities.<\/p>\n

Practical consequences follow. A UK grant of probate has no direct effect in France; it must be translated by a sworn translator (traducteur asserment\u00e9<\/em>), and the notaire<\/em> will demand the death certificate with an apostille, the original will, proof of kinship and the title deeds (titre de propri\u00e9t\u00e9<\/em>). Where the estate spans both countries, the European Certificate of Succession (certificat successoral europ\u00e9en<\/em>) proves heirship in France without re-litigating the English position. And where the election of English law looks defective \u2014 signed copy only, ambiguous clause, later codicil revoking it \u2014 the challenge runs in France before the tribunal judiciaire<\/em> (the ordinary civil court), because formal validity and revocation are governed by strict rules the English testator may never have considered.<\/p>\n

II. How do I keep the house, pay the right tax and challenge a refusal?<\/h2>\n

Once the applicable law is settled, two concrete questions dominate every British widow or widower’s file: can I go on living in the house, and what will it cost me in tax? French law answers the first question with unusual generosity and the second with a full exemption for spouses \u2014 but both answers come with deadlines and paperwork that punish delay.<\/p>\n

A. Can I stay in the house for life, and what is my usufruit worth in practice?<\/h3>\n

Three layers of protection can keep you in the French home. The first is immediate and automatic. Article 763 of the Code civil<\/a> gives the surviving spouse who actually occupied the home as the main residence at death: “Si, \u00e0 l’\u00e9poque du d\u00e9c\u00e8s, le conjoint successible occupe effectivement, \u00e0 titre d’habitation principale, un logement appartenant aux \u00e9poux ou d\u00e9pendant totalement de la succession, il a de plein droit, pendant une ann\u00e9e, la jouissance gratuite de ce logement, ainsi que du mobilier, compris dans la succession, qui le garnit.” One year, free of charge, by right \u2014 classified as a direct effect of the marriage, not even as a succession right, and a matter of public policy. The second layer is lifelong. Article 764<\/a> provides: “Sauf volont\u00e9 contraire du d\u00e9funt exprim\u00e9e dans les conditions de l’article 971 , le conjoint successible qui occupait effectivement, \u00e0 l’\u00e9poque du d\u00e9c\u00e8s, \u00e0 titre d’habitation principale, un logement appartenant aux \u00e9poux ou d\u00e9pendant totalement de la succession, a sur ce logement, jusqu’\u00e0 son d\u00e9c\u00e8s, un droit d’habitation et un droit d’usage sur le mobilier, compris dans la succession, le garnissant.” Note the exception: a will made in the strict authentic form of Article 971 can deprive you of this lifelong right \u2014 one more reason to read the English will with a French eye. The official service-public.fr guide on the spouse’s housing rights<\/a> and its companion page on inheritance rules where the deceased left children<\/a> summarise these rights for non-lawyers.<\/p>\n

The third layer is a trap for the unwary: you must claim the lifelong right within a year. Article 765-1<\/a> states: “Le conjoint dispose d’un an \u00e0 partir du d\u00e9c\u00e8s pour manifester sa volont\u00e9 de b\u00e9n\u00e9ficier de ces droits d’habitation et d’usage.” On 2 March 2022 (First Civil Chamber, appeal no. 20-16.674), the Cour de cassation censured a court of appeal that had treated a widow’s mere continued occupation as a tacit claim: the surviving spouse has one year from the death to express the wish to benefit from the lifelong housing right, that expression of will may be tacit, but it can never be inferred from simply staying on in the property. Simply staying put is not enough. Write to the notaire<\/em> within the year, expressly claiming the Article 764 right, and keep proof of dispatch. British families who spend the first year shuttling between the UK and France are the classic victims of this deadline.<\/p>\n

Beyond the walls themselves, the usufruit<\/em> you take under Article 757 or under a gift between spouses is an economic asset with its own rules. As usufruitier<\/em> (the holder of the usufruit<\/em>) you may live in the house or let it and keep the rents; you pay routine maintenance and, in practice, the taxe fonci\u00e8re<\/em> (the French local property tax on owners); the children, as nus-propri\u00e9taires<\/em> (bare owners), bear major structural repairs. You cannot sell or mortgage the house alone, and neither can they without you. An inventory of furniture and a schedule of condition of the building can be demanded by either side and will save bitter arguments later. Where generations no longer speak to each other, either side can force an exit: Article 759<\/a> provides that “Tout usufruit appartenant au conjoint sur les biens du pr\u00e9d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9, qu’il r\u00e9sulte de la loi, d’un testament ou d’une donation de biens \u00e0 venir, donne ouverture \u00e0 une facult\u00e9 de conversion en rente viag\u00e8re, \u00e0 la demande de l’un des h\u00e9ritiers nus-propri\u00e9taires ou du conjoint successible lui-m\u00eame” \u2014 the usufruit<\/em> can be converted into a lifetime annuity (rente viag\u00e8re<\/em>) at the request of the children or of the spouse. The Cour de cassation held on 19 November 2014 (First Civil Chamber, appeal no. 13-24.589) that converting the usufruct into a life annuity is a partition operation whose effects run for the future only \u2014 conversion works only forward, never rewriting the rents already received. Combined with cantonnement<\/em>, these tools let a pragmatic family concentrate the spouse on the house, convert the rest into income, and close the file without a partition auction (licitation<\/em>) that would sell the beloved house to strangers.<\/p>\n

B. What tax do I pay as a surviving spouse, and how do I challenge the notaire or the tax bill?<\/h3>\n

The tax answer is short for the spouse and longer for everyone else. Article 796-0 bis of the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts<\/a> states: “Sont exon\u00e9r\u00e9s de droits de mutation par d\u00e9c\u00e8s le conjoint survivant et le partenaire li\u00e9 au d\u00e9funt par un pacte civil de solidarit\u00e9.” Whatever the house is worth, the surviving husband, wife or civil partner pays no French inheritance tax (droits de succession<\/em>) on what he or she receives. That exemption has applied since the TEPA reform of 2007 and covers British spouses exactly as French ones.<\/p>\n

The children, by contrast, are fully taxable on the French house \u2014 even where the deceased lived in Britain. Article 750 ter of the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts<\/a> catches French-situated property in both cases: worldwide assets “lorsque le donateur ou le d\u00e9funt a son domicile fiscal en France au sens de l’article 4 B”, and, crucially, “Les biens meubles et immeubles, que ces derniers soient poss\u00e9d\u00e9s directement ou indirectement, situ\u00e9s en France” even “lorsque le donateur ou le d\u00e9funt n’a pas son domicile fiscal en France”. Shares in a property company holding the house are expressly treated as indirect ownership, so holding through a vehicle does not escape the net. Each child then benefits from an allowance (abattement<\/em>) of 100,000 euros \u2014 Article 779<\/a>: “il est effectu\u00e9 un abattement de 100 000 \u20ac sur la part de chacun des ascendants et sur la part de chacun des enfants vivants ou repr\u00e9sent\u00e9s par suite de pr\u00e9d\u00e9c\u00e8s ou de renonciation” \u2014 before the progressive scale of Article 777<\/a> applies, running from 5% to 45% in the direct line. Double taxation with the United Kingdom is relieved by the Franco-British convention of 21 June 1963 on death duties, published in France by Decree no. 64-789 of 27 July 1964 and available as a certified text on impots.gouv.fr<\/a>: tax properly paid in one state is credited against the other state’s claim on the same property. On the British side, where the deceased remained domiciled in the UK, inheritance tax may bite on the worldwide estate including the French house \u2014 the UK government’s inheritance tax guidance<\/a> explains the spouse exemption and the residence nil-rate band \u2014 so the file must be computed in both countries together, not France first and Britain as an afterthought.<\/p>\n

Deadlines are unforgiving. Article 641 of the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts<\/a> sets the time for filing the succession declaration (d\u00e9claration de succession<\/em>): “Les d\u00e9lais pour l’enregistrement des d\u00e9clarations que les h\u00e9ritiers, donataires ou l\u00e9gataires ont \u00e0 souscrire des biens \u00e0 eux \u00e9chus ou transmis par d\u00e9c\u00e8s sont : De six mois, \u00e0 compter du jour du d\u00e9c\u00e8s, lorsque celui dont on recueille la succession est d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 en France m\u00e9tropolitaine; D’une ann\u00e9e, dans tous les autres cas.” A British spouse whose husband dies in a London hospital therefore has a year, not six months \u2014 but interest for late payment and penalties run from day one after the deadline, and the notaire<\/em> needs months to assemble valuations, translations and the children’s documents. Start the file in the first month.<\/p>\n

When something goes wrong, challenge early and in the right forum. If the notaire<\/em> refuses to apply an English choice of law, misreads the will, or sides openly with the children, instruct a French succession lawyer (avocat<\/em>) to put the objections in writing and, failing agreement, petition the tribunal judiciaire<\/em> for directions, for the appointment of an administrator (mandataire successoral<\/em>), or for a reduction action (action en r\u00e9duction<\/em>) where gifts exceed the disposable share. If the dispute concerns the tax assessment (avis de mise en recouvrement<\/em>), the route is a formal claim (r\u00e9clamation contentieuse<\/em>) to the tax office followed, if rejected, by the administrative court (tribunal administratif<\/em>) \u2014 again within strict time limits that run from receipt of each document. Keep every original: the will, the death certificate with apostille, the sworn translations, the title deeds, the house valuation and all correspondence with the notaire<\/em>. Files are won on paper, and cross-Channel files are lost on missing paper.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

A British surviving spouse does not lose the French house on Brexit, and does not lose it on an English will either \u2014 but every protection has a procedure attached. Identify the governing law first: habitual residence by default, English nationality by an express Article 22 election. Take your Article 757 share with open eyes, remembering that legacies are set against it and that in a blended family you take one quarter outright. Claim your lifelong right to the home in writing within the year, because staying silent while staying put protects nothing. Pay no tax yourself as an exempt spouse, get the children’s declaration filed within six or twelve months, and use the 1963 treaty credit rather than paying twice. And where the notaire<\/em> blocks the file or the assessment looks wrong, challenge in the proper court within the proper time rather than letting resentment harden into an expired deadline. The house your spouse chose in France deserves a succession conducted with the same care.<\/p>\n

Need a quick opinion on your case<\/h2>\n

A telephone consultation within 48 hours with an avocat<\/em> of the firm, for British surviving spouses dealing with a French house, an English will, or a blocked succession. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a> or write via our contact page<\/a>. Our office in Paris advises clients across Paris and \u00cele-de-France as well as British families throughout France.<\/p>\n

Source: Cour de cassation \u2014 Judilibre open-data base and L\u00e9gifrance, Regulation (EU) No 650\/2012 on EUR-Lex, service-public.fr, impots.gouv.fr and gov.uk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

British widow or widower keeping the French house after Brexit: your share, the lifelong right to stay, spouse tax exemption and how to challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16584,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80312,80314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2125135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-british-desk","category-decryptage"],"yoast_head":"\nMy British Spouse Died Owning Our French House After Brexit: Your Rights as Surviving Husband or Wife \u2014 Usufruit, the Right to Stay, Tax and How to Challenge - 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