Inheritance & Succession in France

PART ONE OF TWO

The Essentials - Law, Ownership & the Estate Process

For many international buyers, the excitement of acquiring a luxury property in the French Alps or on the French Riviera is accompanied by an important and often underestimated question: what happens to this property when I die? France operates a sophisticated but distinctly different succession system from most English-speaking countries, and the consequences of not planning correctly can be severe, both for your estate and for your heirs.

French succession law combines mandatory inheritance rules, a complex tax framework, and since 2015 a European regulation that can significantly affect how non-French nationals plan their estates. Understanding these rules before you sign at the notaire is not merely prudent: it is essential.

French succession law combines mandatory inheritance rules, a complex tax framework, and since 2015 a European regulation that can significantly affect how non-French nationals plan their estates. Understanding these rules before you sign at the notaire is not merely prudent: it is essential.

This guide walks through the key questions every international buyer should be asking: Should I buy in my sole name or jointly with my spouse or partner? How does French law protect surviving spouses and children? Who manages the estate process and what does it cost? And above all, how can international buyers plan effectively to reduce their French inheritance tax exposure?

As with all complex legal and fiscal matters, this guide is intended as an educational overview. We strongly recommend engaging a qualified notaire and a specialist inheritance adviser before making decisions that affect your estate.

How French Succession Law Works

France operates a system of forced heirship (réserve héréditaire), which is fundamentally different from the testamentary freedom that prevails in the UK, the United States, Australia, and many other common-law countries. Under French law, certain close relatives primarily children are entitled by law to a defined minimum share of the estate, regardless of what the deceased's will may say.

The Reserved Share - Réserve Héréditaire

The réserve is the portion of the estate that must pass to the réservataires (protected heirs) by operation of law. Children are the primary réservataires; a surviving spouse is not a réservataire in the strict sense but has other specific rights. The mandatory shares are as follows:

The quotité disponible (Disposable Share) is the portion of the estate that the deceased can freely distribute to a surviving spouse, a partner, a charity, or any other beneficiary either by will or by lifetime gift. The interplay between the réserve and the quotité disponible is at the heart of French estate planning for property owners with children.

Despite not being a réservataire, the surviving spouse has significant rights under French law. They have an automatic right to continue residing in the shared principal residence for one year following the death, and can request a lifetime right of occupation (droit viager au logement) subject to certain conditions. More importantly, the surviving spouse can elect to receive either their share in full ownership (in usufruit the right to use and receive income from the estate for life) or their entitlement under the quotité disponible in full ownership.

If there are no children from outside the marriage (i.e. all children are children of both spouses), the surviving spouse can opt to inherit the entire estate in usufruit. This is a powerful right that can allow the surviving spouse to remain in and benefit from the French property for the rest of their life, with the children inheriting the nue-propriété and eventually receiving full ownership on the surviving spouse's death.

Buying in Sole Name or Joint Names: The Critical Choice

The decision about how to hold title to a French property is one of the most consequential choices an international buyer will make, yet it is rarely given the attention it deserves. The structure chosen at the point of purchase will directly affect the rights of heirs, the tax payable on death, and the ease with which the estate can be administered.

Purchasing in a single name is the simplest approach and offers maximum flexibility during the owner's lifetime. The owner can sell, mortgage, let or otherwise deal with the property without needing the consent of a co-owner. However, on death, the entire property passes through the estate, subject to the réserve héréditaire and French inheritance tax (droits de succession) on its full value. If the deceased owned the property alone and had no specific estate planning in place, the heirs may find themselves owning the property in indivision (undivided co-ownership) a situation that can be difficult to manage and can lead to forced sales.

When two or more people purchase together without a specific structure, they hold the property en indivision. Each co-owner holds an undivided fractional share of the property (typically 50/50, but other splits are possible). This is the default position for unmarried couples and for co-investors.

Indivision has significant drawbacks in the context of French succession. On the death of one co-owner, their share passes to their heirs which may not be the surviving co-owner. A co-habiting partner with no formal recognition under French law is not an automatic heir and would receive nothing under intestacy rules. Their share would pass instead to blood relatives (children, parents, siblings). To address this, co-habiting couples should at minimum have a French will leaving their share to their partner and should also consider whether a PACS or other structure is appropriate.

For married couples, the matrimonial property regime (régime matrimonial) under which they are married is critically important. French law recognises several regimes, each with very different implications for property ownership and inheritance.

1 - Communauté réduite aux acquêts (Community of Acquests - French Default)

How property is held: Property acquired during the marriage is jointly owned 50/50. Assets owned before the marriage remain the individual property of each spouse.

On death: The surviving spouse retains their own 50% outright. The deceased's 50% share passes to the heirs under the succession.

Key consideration: This is the automatic default under French law, it applies to any couple who marry in France without signing a separate notarial marriage contract.

2 - Séparation de Biens (Separation of Property)

How property is held: Each spouse owns their own assets independently. There is no joint marital estate. Everything acquired, before or during the marriage, belongs to the individual who purchased it.

On death: The deceased's property passes entirely to their heirs under the succession. The surviving spouse has no automatic claim to assets held in the deceased's sole name.

Key consideration: Preferred by many international couples for its clarity and simplicity. It requires a notarial marriage contract and cannot simply be assumed, it must be expressly adopted.

3 - Communauté Universelle avec Clause d'Attribution Intégrale (Universal Community + Survivor Clause)

How property is held: All assets of both spouses — whether acquired before or during the marriage — form a single joint estate owned equally by both.

On death: The entire joint estate passes automatically to the surviving spouse on the first death. No succession tax arises between spouses in France. Children inherit only on the second death.

Key consideration: The most powerful protection available for a surviving spouse, and the most significant inheritance tax saving on first death. Strongly recommended for couples with no children from previous relationships — but not appropriate where blended families are involved.

4 - Participation aux Acquêts (Participation in Acquests)

How property is held: Assets remain the separate property of each spouse during the marriage, but any financial gains made during the marriage are shared equally on dissolution whether by divorce or death.

On death: Treated in the same way as séparation de biens, the deceased's assets pass entirely to their heirs, subject to any equalisation of gains.

Key consideration: Rarely used for property acquisition planning specifically. It is more commonly encountered in commercial or business contexts rather than as a deliberate choice for real estate ownership.

For couples married under a foreign matrimonial regime for example, under English law, Australian law, or US community property rules, the position is complex. French private international law will seek to determine which country's regime applies, and the answer is not always straightforward. Since the EU Matrimonial Property Regulation came into force in January 2019, there are clearer rules for couples marrying after that date, but pre-2019 marriages and non-EU situations still require careful analysis.

The Clause d'Attribution Intégrale - A Powerful Survivor Protection

For couples who adopt the communauté universelle regime, the clause d'attribution intégrale (full attribution clause) is one of the most effective estate planning tools available in French law. It provides that on the death of either spouse, the entire jointly-owned estate transfers automatically to the surviving spouse outside the succession process entirely. No inheritance tax is payable between spouses in France (they benefit from full exemption), and the children's réserve is deferred until the second death.

This structure is particularly well-suited to couples who wish the surviving spouse to continue living in or benefiting from the French property without disruption, and where the children are from the same relationship. However, it is not appropriate where there are children from previous relationships, as those children's réserve rights are deferred not extinguished and they may be able to challenge the structure through a legal action en réduction.

As covered in our companion guide on investment structures, an SCI (Société Civile Immobilière) offers significant advantages for estate planning in addition to its utility as a holding vehicle. Rather than owning the property directly, the family holds shares in the SCI, and it is the shares (rather than the real estate itself) that are distributed between generations.

This distinction matters for two reasons. First, transferring shares in an SCI is administratively simpler and fiscally more efficient than transferring immovable property. There are no droits de mutation (transfer taxes) on the donation of SCI shares in most circumstances, unlike direct property transfers. Second, the gradual donation of SCI shares using the €100,000 per parent per child allowance (renewable every 15 years) can dramatically reduce the inheritance tax base over time, a strategy known as donation-partage.

B

The EU Succession Regulation (Brussels IV) - A Game Changer for Non-EU Buyers

One of the most important developments in international estate planning in recent decades is EU Regulation No 650/2012, commonly known as Brussels IV, which has applied to deaths occurring after 17 August 2015. It is directly relevant to every non-French national who owns property in France.

The Default Rule - and Why It Matters

Before Brussels IV, determining which country's succession law applied to a French property owned by a foreign national was a complex conflict of laws exercise. Brussels IV simplified matters significantly: the default rule is that the succession is governed by the law of the country where the deceased was habitually resident at the time of death not the law of the country where the property is located.

For a UK national habitually resident in London who owns a ski chalet in Méribel, this means that in the absence of any choice of law election, English succession law would govern the succession to the chalet, including any will the owner has made. This is a radical departure from the old French position, under which the lex situs (the law of the place where the property is located) governed immovable property in France.

The Choice of Law Election

Crucially, Brussels IV allows a testator to elect, in their will, for the law of their nationality to govern the entire succession including their French property. A British national can elect for English law to apply; a US national (subject to complications involving US treaty law) can elect for the law of their US state of nationality. This election must be made expressly in a will that complies with the formal requirements of the relevant jurisdiction.

For British nationals, this election for English law is enormously valuable: it means the forced heirship rules of the réserve héréditaire do not apply to the French property. A British national can in principle leave their entire French estate to their surviving spouse (or anyone else) with no obligation to reserve any portion for children provided the election has been properly made.

Post BREXIT caution for UK Nationals

Following Brexit, UK nationals are no longer EU citizens, and France has taken the position that the Brussels IV election is only available for EU nationals. This is a contested area of law and may affect UK nationals making elections for English law after Brexit. UK nationals who own French property should take specific legal advice from a French notaire with expertise in cross-border succession. The position is not fully settled and is subject to ongoing legal development.

BRUSSELS IV - Key Points for International Buyers

• Applies to deaths occurring on or after 17 August 2015

• Default rule: the law of habitual residence at death governs the succession which may eliminate the réserve for non-French residents

• EU nationals can elect for their national law in a will, potentially removing forced heirship obligations

• UK nationals post-Brexit face an unresolved legal question, specialist advice is essential

• The election must be made expressly in a valid will. It is never automatic

• Tax treatment remains French regardless of which succession law applies. Brussels IV governs who inherits, not what tax is due

In Part two

Knowing who inherits your French property is only half the picture. Who manages the French estate process, How much will they pay in tax and what can you do now to protect them?