You moved to France after Brexit, obtained your Withdrawal Agreement residence permit, pay your French income tax \u2014 and you still own the house in Manchester, Bristol or Kent where you grew up. Many British residents in France assume that house is now a purely English matter, governed by their English will and English law. That assumption is dangerous. If you live in France at the time of death, France claims the right to tax that English house, French succession law may govern who inherits it, and your family will need two parallel procedures \u2014 a French r\u00e8glement de succession<\/i> (administration of the estate) before a notaire<\/i> (the French public officer who settles estates) and an English Grant of Probate in London \u2014 before anyone can sell or transfer the property. Get the coordination wrong and the house sits frozen for months while both treasuries send bills for the same asset. This guide explains, step by step, where the succession opens, which law governs the English house, how both countries tax it, how the 1963 treaty prevents double tax, and how your heirs can challenge an excessive assessment on either side of the Channel.<\/p>\nI. Where Does the Succession Open and Which Law Governs Your English House?<\/h2>\n
A. Your habitual residence in France points the whole estate to French law \u2014 unless your will chooses English law<\/h3>\n
Since 17 August 2015, successions opened in France are governed by EU Regulation No 650\/2012 on jurisdiction, applicable law and the European Certificate of Succession. Its core rule is simple: the succession as a whole is governed by the law of the State where the deceased had his or her r\u00e9sidence habituelle<\/i> (habitual residence, meaning the place of the closest and most stable centre of life) at the time of death. For a British national who settled in France years ago, works or is retired there, and keeps the centre of family and social life there, that State is France \u2014 even if the estate includes a house in England. The habitual residence is assessed globally: as the Court of Cassation recalled, citing the Regulation, “Afin de d\u00e9terminer la r\u00e9sidence habituelle, l’autorit\u00e9 charg\u00e9e de la succession devrait proc\u00e9der \u00e0 une \u00e9valuation d’ensemble des circonstances de la vie du d\u00e9funt au cours des ann\u00e9es pr\u00e9c\u00e9dant son d\u00e9c\u00e8s et au moment de son d\u00e9c\u00e8s, prenant en compte tous les \u00e9l\u00e9ments de fait pertinents, notamment la dur\u00e9e et la r\u00e9gularit\u00e9 de la pr\u00e9sence du d\u00e9funt dans l’\u00c9tat concern\u00e9 ainsi que les conditions et les raisons de cette pr\u00e9sence. La r\u00e9sidence habituelle ainsi d\u00e9termin\u00e9e devrait r\u00e9v\u00e9ler un lien \u00e9troit et stable avec l’\u00c9tat concern\u00e9, compte tenu des objectifs sp\u00e9cifiques du pr\u00e9sent r\u00e8glement” (Cass. 1re civ., 18 Nov. 2020, No 19-15.438<\/a>). That passage is worth reading twice, because it cuts both ways: a long-settled life in France makes France the habitual residence, and a late return to England shortly before death does not automatically move it.<\/p>\n The mirror image was litigated in a saga every British family with feet in both countries should know. A Frenchman left France in 1981 at the age of 59, lived in London for nearly thirty years, worked in property, retired there and married an English wife \u2014 then returned to France in August 2012 at almost 90, suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s disease, and died in France. His French children argued the succession was governed by French law; his English widow argued for England. The Versailles Court of Appeal weighed the thirty years of life in the United Kingdom, the close and stable link with that State where the essential movable and immovable property was situated, and the particular circumstances of the return to France while suffering from advanced illness, and held the deceased could not be regarded as having moved his habitual residence to France, reversing the first judge \u2014 and the Court of Cassation then referred the underlying questions on the interpretation of the Regulation to the Court of Justice of the European Union (Cass. 1re civ., 18 Nov. 2020, No 19-15.438<\/a>). In a related dispute over a deceased who lived alternately in France and the United States, the Court of Cassation recalled that habitual residence “doit \u00eatre d\u00e9termin\u00e9e \u00e0 la suite d’une \u00e9valuation d’ensemble des circonstances de la vie du d\u00e9funt au cours des ann\u00e9es pr\u00e9c\u00e9dant son d\u00e9c\u00e8s et au moment de son d\u00e9c\u00e8s, en prenant en compte notamment la dur\u00e9e et la r\u00e9gularit\u00e9 de la pr\u00e9sence du d\u00e9funt dans l’\u00c9tat concern\u00e9 ainsi que les conditions et les raisons de cette pr\u00e9sence” (Cass. 1re civ., 29 May 2019, No 18-13.383<\/a>). The lesson for British readers is direct: if your real life is in France, French law governs your succession including the English house \u2014 unless you use the escape route the Regulation offers.<\/p>\n That escape route is the professio juris<\/i> (choice of law clause): the Regulation allows any person to choose, in a will, the law of the State of his or her nationality to govern the succession as a whole. A British national habitually resident in France can therefore elect English law in an English or French will, and the French notaire<\/i> must apply it. But the election has strict conditions: it must be express, contained in a valid testamentary disposition, and it designates the national law as it stands \u2014 it does not free the estate from French tax, from the English land-registration rules described below, or from the forced-heirship correction that French law still imposes in some configurations. The r\u00e9serve h\u00e9r\u00e9ditaire<\/i> (the protected share of the estate reserved by French law to children) remains relevant whenever French law applies: “Les lib\u00e9ralit\u00e9s, soit par actes entre vifs, soit par testament, ne pourront exc\u00e9der la moiti\u00e9 des biens du disposant, s’il ne laisse \u00e0 son d\u00e9c\u00e8s qu’un enfant” (Civil Code, Art. 913<\/a>), with one third where there are two children and one quarter where there are three or more. An English will that leaves everything to the surviving spouse and nothing to two children is perfectly valid in England \u2014 but if French law governs, the children can claim their r\u00e9serve<\/i> against the English house as well as the French assets. Electing English law avoids that outcome, which is why the choice clause matters enormously for blended families and second marriages.<\/p>\n Practical consequences follow. First, review your wills now: if you have both an English will covering the English house and a French will covering the French assets, make sure neither revokes the other by accident and that at least one contains an express election of English law if that is what you want. Second, understand that the election governs the civil law of succession \u2014 who inherits, in what shares \u2014 and not taxation, which follows entirely different rules examined in Part II. Third, keep evidence of your habitual residence: tax notices, carte de s\u00e9jour<\/i> (residence permit), health cover, club and family ties. When the habitual residence is disputed, as the London-Frenchman saga shows, the notaire<\/i> and the courts weigh decades of real life, not the address printed on a utility bill.<\/p>\n Here comes the complication Brexit created. The United Kingdom never opted into the EU Succession Regulation, and since 1 January 2021 it is a third State for succession purposes. The French notaire<\/i> may therefore correctly decide that English law governs the whole succession under an election \u2014 yet the English Land Registry and English banks will not act on a French decision alone. English land is governed by English law as the lex rei sitae<\/i> (the law of the place where the property is situated): only a person authorised by the English Probate Registry can sell, transfer or mortgage a house in England. Your heirs need a Grant of Probate (where there is a will) or Letters of Administration (where there is none) \u2014 the court order appointing the person entitled to administer the English estate \u2014 before the Land Registry will register any transfer. The official guidance is explicit about the sequence: the official guidance explains that where the estate owes Inheritance Tax, its value must be reported on form IHT400 within one year, and no application for the Grant can be made until that step is completed (GOV.UK, Applying for probate<\/a>). Applications can be made online or by post after the estate has been valued, and anyone who disputes the application \u2014 for example over the validity of the will \u2014 can block it by entering a caveat.<\/p>\n What about the European Certificate of Succession (certificat successoral europ\u00e9en<\/i>, the EU document proving heir status across Member States)? It does not solve the English side. The Court of Cassation has held that, in line with recital 71 of the Regulation, “le certificat successoral europ\u00e9en avait une efficacit\u00e9 probatoire mais ne constituait pas un titre ex\u00e9cutoire, de sorte que, s’il attestait de la qualit\u00e9 et des droits d’h\u00e9ritier, il n’\u00e9puisait pas n\u00e9cessairement les formalit\u00e9s \u00e0 mettre en oeuvre pour obtenir l’ex\u00e9cution de ces droits” (Cass. 1re civ., 13 Apr. 2022, No 20-23.530<\/a>). In that case a bank lawfully refused to release succession funds to the holder of a European Certificate until the foreign will had been registered as French fiscal formalities required. If a European Certificate cannot force a French bank to pay, it certainly cannot transfer registered land in a non-Member State. Expect two files, two professionals, and two timetables: the French notaire<\/i> for the French succession file, and an English solicitor or licensed probate practitioner for the Grant.<\/p>\n The reverse formality exists on the French side and must not be overlooked. Wills made abroad can only be enforced against property situated in France after registration: “Les testaments faits en pays \u00e9tranger ne pourront \u00eatre ex\u00e9cut\u00e9s sur les biens situ\u00e9s en France qu’apr\u00e8s avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 enregistr\u00e9s” (Civil Code, Art. 1000<\/a>). So an English will covering both the English house and a French flat must be registered at the French tax office (bureau de l’enregistrement<\/i>) before the notaire<\/i> can use it for the French assets \u2014 a fiscal formality the Court of Cassation has confirmed does not conflict with the Succession Regulation, which expressly excludes tax and administrative matters from its scope (Cass. 1re civ., 13 Apr. 2022, No 20-23.530<\/a>). Add the Hague Apostille (apostille<\/i>, the international stamp authenticating a public document) on English death certificates and Grants, sworn translations (traductions asserment\u00e9es<\/i>) of every English document for the notaire<\/i>, and certified French documents for the Probate Registry, and you understand why families should appoint both professionals within weeks of the death rather than months.<\/p>\n One final warning for couples: where the English house was the former matrimonial home still owned jointly, English co-ownership rules decide what actually falls into the succession. English joint tenants inherit by survivorship outside the estate; French law has no equivalent and treats the deceased’s share as part of the succession. Clarify the English title deeds now \u2014 joint tenants versus tenants in common \u2014 because it changes the taxable base in both countries.<\/p>\n French inheritance tax (droits de mutation \u00e0 titre gratuit<\/i>, the transfer duties levied on gifts and successions) is among the heaviest in Europe, and its territorial reach is deliberately wide. The starting point is the domicile fiscal<\/i> (tax residence) as defined by domestic law: “Sont consid\u00e9r\u00e9es comme ayant leur domicile fiscal en France au sens de l’article 4 A : a. Les personnes qui ont en France leur foyer ou le lieu de leur s\u00e9jour principal” (General Tax Code, Art. 4 B<\/a>). If you live in France within that definition when you die, Article 750 ter of the Tax Code provides that “Sont soumis aux droits de mutation \u00e0 titre gratuit : 1\u00b0 Les biens meubles et immeubles situ\u00e9s en France ou hors de France” where the deceased had his or her tax domicile in France (General Tax Code, Art. 750 ter<\/a>). In plain terms: a British tax resident of France who dies owning a house in England leaves that house inside the French taxable base. And the net is even wider: even where the deceased was not French tax resident, the same article taxes French-situated property, and where the heir \u2014 not the deceased \u2014 is French tax resident, French law can tax foreign-situated assets received by that heir, as confirmed in trust litigation where the courts applied Article 750 ter to assets held through foreign structures at the death of a French-domiciled holder (Cass. com., 18 Nov. 2020, No 18-14.242<\/a>). Three doors lead into French taxation: the deceased’s domicile, the heir’s domicile, and French situs. Most British families in France walk through at least one.<\/p>\n Once inside the French base, the English house is taxed like any other asset. The rates are progressive: “Les droits de mutation \u00e0 titre gratuit sont fix\u00e9s aux taux indiqu\u00e9s dans les tableaux ci-apr\u00e8s, pour la part nette revenant \u00e0 chaque ayant droit” (General Tax Code, Art. 777<\/a>), rising from 5% to 45% in the direct line. Each child benefits from a personal allowance: “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” (General Tax Code, Art. 779<\/a>). Spouses and PACS partners are fully exempt; siblings, nephews and unrelated beneficiaries face rates up to 55% and 60% with far smaller allowances. The English house is valued at its valeur v\u00e9nale<\/i> (open market value) on the date of death, converted into euros, with mortgages existing at death deductible under conditions. Do not assume the English probate valuation binds the French tax office: the notaire<\/i> must justify the retained value with comparable sales, and the French administration routinely reassesses foreign property using its own data.<\/p>\n Britain taxes the same house simultaneously. English Inheritance Tax (IHT) applies to UK-situated residential property whoever owns it and wherever the owner lives. The official position is that GOV.UK states that the standard Inheritance Tax rate is 40 percent, charged only on the part of the estate above the threshold (GOV.UK, How Inheritance Tax works<\/a>), with the nil-rate band at \u00a3325,000 per person, potentially \u00a3500,000 where the home passes to direct descendants, plus transferable unused allowance between spouses. For a British expatriate long resident in France, the IHT concept of domicile adds a trap of its own: England applies a 15-out-of-20-year deemed-domicile rule for IHT, so even a person who left England a decade ago may still be deemed UK-domiciled and taxed on worldwide assets, while a person who left longer ago remains taxable on the English house as UK-situated property in any event.<\/p>\n Double taxation is therefore the default outcome \u2014 and the 1963 Franco-British succession convention exists precisely to cure it. Signed in Paris on 21 June 1963, it remains the only bilateral instrument allocating taxing rights over estates between the two States. Its situs rule deems immovable property to be situated where it physically lies, with questions of definition referred to the law of that place (France\u2013UK Succession Convention, Art. 4(a)<\/a>). Where the deceased was domiciled in France, Britain may still tax the English house as property situated in Great Britain, but France as the domicile State must then grant relief: under that article, France as the domicile State must credit the British tax levied on the same property against the French duty computed on it, up to the amount of that French duty (Convention, Art. 6<\/a>). The French doctrine confirms the mechanism: the elimination of double taxation results partly from the situs rules and partly from the credit granted by the domicile State for the tax levied by the other State (BOFiP, INT-CVB-GBR-20-20<\/a>). Concretely: the family pays the English IHT on the English house first, then deducts that English tax \u2014 pound for pound up to the amount of the French duty on the same house \u2014 from the French bill. Where the deceased was domiciled in Britain at death and the heir lives in France, the mirror rule applies, and France must disregard non-French-situated property beyond what domestic law taxes, per Article 5 of the Convention. Relief claims must be made within five years of death under Article 7, so diarise the deadline on day one.<\/p>\n Two planning points deserve emphasis. First, the treaty allocates tax but harmonises nothing: exemptions differ, valuations differ, and the credit is capped at the French duty attributable to the English house \u2014 any English tax above that cap is unrelieved, and French allowances cannot be exported to London. Second, life assurance (assurance-vie<\/i>) written on the English house owner’s life does not escape the analysis: French law treats its proceeds under separate articles with their own allowances, while England may include them in the estate. Take coordinated advice before repaying the English mortgage with an assurance-vie<\/i> payout.<\/p>\n On the French side, time runs fast. Heirs must file the succession declaration (d\u00e9claration de succession<\/i>, the detailed return listing all assets, liabilities and allowances) within strict limits: “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” (General Tax Code, Art. 641<\/a>). Where the deceased died in France owning an English house, the six-month deadline applies even though part of the evidence \u2014 the English Grant, the English valuation, the IHT computation \u2014 will not yet exist, because the English procedure takes several months. In practice the notaire<\/i> files a provisional declaration with an estimated euro value for the English house, pays duty on that basis to stop late-payment interest (int\u00e9r\u00eats de retard<\/i>) and penalties, then files a corrective declaration once the English figures are final. Interest runs from the deadline regardless of good faith, so never wait for London before filing in France.<\/p>\n The French file for an English house typically contains: the death certificate with Apostille and sworn translation; the English will with sworn translation and proof of registration under Article 1000 of the Civil Code; the French acte de notori\u00e9t\u00e9<\/i> (the notarial deed identifying the heirs); the English Grant of Probate once issued; the English estate accounts and IHT400 computation proving the English tax paid, for the treaty credit; a valuation report for the English house with comparable sales and the euro conversion rate at death; mortgage statements; and the prior fifteen years of gifts (donations ant\u00e9rieures<\/i>), because French law aggregates them into the taxable share. Where the house is held through an English company or a trust, add the full structure chart: Article 750 ter expressly targets indirectly held property, and the commercial chamber has taxed trust assets in the hands of French-domiciled holders (Cass. com., 18 Nov. 2020, No 18-14.242<\/a>). Transparency from the start avoids the 40% penalty for undeclared foreign structures.<\/p>\n On the English side, the personal representatives value the estate, report it to HM Revenue and Customs on form IHT400 within one year, pay the IHT due \u2014 instalments are available for land \u2014 and only then receive the Grant. Remember the sequence described above: no IHT account, no Grant (GOV.UK, Applying for probate<\/a>). Non-resident executors can apply from abroad but should expect identity and capacity checks; appointing an England-based co-executor or solicitor speeds up correspondence with the Registry and the District Valuer. Once the Grant issues, the house can be sold or transferred at the Land Registry, and the sterling proceeds remitted to France \u2014 with French banks requiring proof of the succession and of French tax compliance before releasing large incoming transfers.<\/p>\n If either bill looks wrong, challenge it \u2014 but through the correct door. Against a French reassessment (proposition de rectification<\/i>) of the English house value or a refusal of the treaty credit, the heir first files a formal claim (r\u00e9clamation contentieuse<\/i>) to the tax office, then appeals to the tribunal judiciaire<\/i> (the civil court hearing succession-duty disputes) within two months of the refusal, armed with the English valuation evidence, the IHT receipts and the treaty computation. Common winning arguments include: overvaluation against genuine English comparables, incorrect euro conversion date, failure to deduct the subsisting English mortgage, misapplication of the domicile test in Article 4 B where the deceased had genuinely moved back to England, and denial of the Article 6 credit where English IHT receipts prove payment. Against an English IHT determination, the route is HMRC review then appeal to the Tax Tribunal, where the French notaire’s<\/i> certificate of forced-heirship rights can support claims for reliefs. In both systems, limitation periods are short and procedures adversarial: keep every envelope, every receipt and every valuation, because the family that documents first negotiates from strength. And where the English will itself is disputed \u2014 capacity, undue influence, a later will surfacing in France \u2014 enter a caveat at the Probate Registry immediately to freeze the Grant while the dispute is resolved.<\/p>\n A British resident of France who keeps a house in England owns, at death, two successions in one: a French-taxed worldwide estate governed by the habitual residence or by an elected English law, and an English-taxed house transferable only through a London Grant of Probate. The system works when the family sequences it correctly \u2014 French provisional declaration within six months, English IHT account and Grant application in parallel, treaty credit claimed with receipts within five years \u2014 and fails expensively when either side is ignored. Review your wills today, insert an express election of English law if that matches your family aims, clarify the English title deeds, and brief both your French notaire<\/i> and an English probate practitioner while you can still sign the papers yourself. Your heirs will inherit a file that closes, not a dispute that compounds.<\/p>\n Dealing with an English house from France after a bereavement, or planning ahead while there is still time? Our firm offers a telephone consultation within 48 hours with an avocat of the firm. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a> or contact us via our contact page<\/a> for advice tailored to your family, your wills and your property on both sides of the Channel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" British resident in France still owning a house in England? Habitual residence, English Grant of Probate, French tax on the English house, the 1963 treaty credit, deadlines and how to challenge double tax.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16573,"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-2127313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-british-desk","category-decryptage"],"yoast_head":"\nB. England still applies English law to the English house, and your heirs must obtain a Grant of Probate in London<\/h3>\n
II. How Is the English House Taxed in France and Britain, and How Do You Challenge Double Tax?<\/h2>\n
A. France taxes the English house when the deceased or the heir lives in France \u2014 Britain taxes it always, and the 1963 treaty gives the credit<\/h3>\n
B. Deadlines, papers and challenges: how to file on both sides and contest an excessive bill<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Need a quick opinion on your case<\/h2>\n