French inheritance law: what British owners actually need to know

France reserves a fixed share of your estate for your children — and the headlines make that sound terrifying. The reality is more navigable, but the rules changed in 2021 in a way that catches people out. Here's how it really works in 2026.

Written by the Pimpernel team · Updated for 2026 · About a 10-minute read

The short version

France has forced heirship. A reserved share of your estate (la réserve héréditaire) is set aside for your children — you can't freely leave everything to your spouse or anyone else.
The reserved share depends on how many children you have: half for one child, two-thirds shared between two, three-quarters shared between three or more. The rest is yours to give freely.
Brussels IV lets you choose your national law. A British citizen can elect for English (or Scots) law to govern their succession, which doesn't have forced heirship — but read the 2021 catch below.
The 2021 catch: a French law now lets reserved heirs claw back their share from French assets even when you've chosen English law. Notaires are applying it, despite the EU disputing it.
Succession law and inheritance tax are two different things. Choosing English law changes who inherits; it does nothing to the French tax bill.
Spouses and PACS partners pay zero inheritance tax on what they inherit. Children get a €100,000 tax-free allowance each, then progressive rates.
Unmarried partners and stepchildren are the exposed ones — taxed as strangers at up to 60%, with almost no allowance.
The notaire runs the whole process and is the gatekeeper. This is an area to take proper advice on, not to improvise.

Few things worry British owners in France as much as inheritance — and few are as widely misunderstood. The fear usually arrives as a headline: "France will force you to leave your home to your children." There's truth in it, but it's only half the picture, and the half that's missing is the part that lets you plan sensibly. So let's take it calmly, from the top.

The first thing to hold onto is that two completely separate systems are at work, and almost every muddle comes from blurring them. One is succession law — the rules about who inherits. The other is inheritance tax — how much the people who inherit have to pay. They are governed by different rules, can point in different directions, and need to be thought about separately. We'll take the law first, then the tax.

Forced heirship: the réserve héréditaire

France, unlike the UK, does not let you leave your estate to whomever you please. Rooted in the Napoleonic Code, French law protects a fixed portion of your estate for your direct descendants — your children. This protected portion is called the réserve héréditaire, and the children who are entitled to it are héritiers réservataires (reserved, or protected, heirs).

The reserved share scales with the number of children:

One child is entitled to half the estate.
Two children share two-thirds between them.
Three or more children share three-quarters between them.

Whatever is left after the reserved share is the quotité disponible — the "freely disposable portion" — which you can leave to anyone you like: your spouse, a friend, a charity. So with two children, you can freely dispose of one-third of your estate; the other two-thirds is theirs by right, and a will that tries to override that will be cut back by the notaire.

Two points trip people up. First, only biological and legally adopted children qualify as reserved heirs. Stepchildren you haven't formally adopted have no protected share — which matters enormously for blended families, a very common situation among British movers. Second, the surviving spouse is not a reserved heir in the same way; French law protects children first. Without planning, a surviving husband or wife can find themselves with far less security than they'd expect, sometimes only a life interest (usufruit) in part of the estate rather than ownership.

Why this catches British owners out

It applies to your French property even if you never live in France

Forced heirship attaches to French real estate regardless of where you're resident. A second-home owner in Kent is just as caught by it, for their French house, as someone living in the Lot full-time. This is why "I have a UK will, so I'm fine" is one of the most expensive assumptions you can make.

Brussels IV: choosing your national law

Here is the good news, and for many people it's the heart of the whole subject. Since 2015, an EU regulation formally called Regulation 650/2012 — universally known as Brussels IV — has allowed you to choose the law of your nationality to govern your entire succession, instead of the law of the country where you live.

For a British citizen, that means you can make an explicit election for English law (or Scots law, if that's your nationality's law) in your will. English law has no forced heirship — so, in principle, this lets you leave your French estate as you wish: everything to your spouse, say, rather than a reserved share to the children.

Brexit doesn't undo this, by the way. Brussels IV works on the basis of nationality, not EU membership, and it applies in France to nationals of any country — so British citizens can still elect English law. The election has to be made clearly and correctly, which is precisely the kind of thing a notaire or a cross-border solicitor exists to get right.

The 2021 catch — and why notaires are applying it

This is the part most casual guides leave out, and it's the most important development of recent years. In November 2021, France introduced a domestic law that, in effect, partially overrides the Brussels IV election. Under it, if you choose a law without forced heirship (such as English law) and a child would have received less than their French reserved share, that child can claim a compensatory amount back out of assets located in France.

In plain terms: you can elect English law, but a disinherited reserved child can still come after your French property to recover what French forced heirship would have given them. French notaires are currently applying this rule. The European Commission regards it as contrary to Brussels IV, and France may eventually face pressure to bring its law back into line — but until that's resolved, the practical position on the ground is that the election no longer offers the clean, complete protection it did between 2015 and 2021.

None of this means Brussels IV is useless — far from it, it remains the single most useful planning tool for British owners. It means the planning has to be done with eyes open, by someone who knows the current state of play, rather than relying on an article (including this one) or a will drafted before 2021.

Now the tax: droits de succession

Everything above is about who inherits. French inheritance tax — droits de succession — is a separate question, and choosing English law does nothing to change it. If your French property passes under your will to a friend, that friend still faces French inheritance tax on it. This is the single most important thing to understand about the tax: Brussels IV is not a tax escape hatch.

French inheritance tax is charged on each beneficiary's individual share, not on the estate as a whole, and the rate depends entirely on the beneficiary's relationship to the deceased. Each beneficiary first deducts a tax-free allowance (abattement), then pays progressive rates on what's left.

Spouses and civil partners: nil

Since 2007, a surviving spouse or PACS partner pays no French inheritance tax at all, regardless of the size of what they inherit. This is a genuinely generous exemption and the cornerstone of most planning — though remember, the tax exemption doesn't solve the succession-law problem of children's reserved shares; the two have to be handled together.

Children: €100,000 each, then progressive rates

Each child can inherit up to €100,000 tax-free from each parent. Above that, the tax runs on a progressive scale from 5% up to 45% on the largest shares. So a child inheriting a net share of €150,000 deducts the €100,000 allowance and pays tax only on the remaining €50,000, at the lower end of the scale. With three children inheriting a €500,000 property, the family has €300,000 of allowances between them before any tax is due at all.

Everyone else: the sting

This is where it gets painful, and where the law and tax problems collide. The further the beneficiary is from you in family terms, the worse it gets:

Brothers and sisters: 35% up to about €24,430, then 45%, after a modest allowance.
Nephews and nieces: 55%.
Unmarried partners, friends, stepchildren (not adopted), and anyone unrelated: a flat 60%, after an allowance of just €1,594.

Read that last line again, because it's the one that ruins plans. An unmarried partner — no matter how many years you've been together — is taxed as a stranger at 60% on a French property left to them, unless you're married or PACS'd. The same applies to a stepchild you've raised but never legally adopted. For unmarried couples and blended families, this is the single biggest reason to take advice early.

The planning lever most people don't use

Lifetime gifts and the 15-year cycle

The same allowances (€100,000 per child, for instance) refresh every 15 years and can be used for tax-free lifetime gifts, not just on death. Used deliberately over time, gifting can move significant value out of the estate before it's ever taxed. It's a genuine tool — but it interacts with forced heirship and with your own financial security, so it's one to model properly with a notaire rather than improvise.

What this means for you

Pulling the threads together, in plain terms:

If you're married or PACS'd, you're in the best position: your spouse inherits tax-free, and a Brussels IV election plus the right marital arrangements can do a lot to protect them — bearing in mind the 2021 clawback if you have children who'd otherwise be reserved heirs.

If you're an unmarried couple, you are the most exposed group on both fronts: no automatic inheritance rights and a 60% tax rate. Marriage or a PACS transforms the position. If that's not on the cards, planning becomes essential rather than optional.

If you have a blended family, the gap between biological children (protected, low tax) and stepchildren (no protection, 60% tax) is stark. Bridging it usually means using the freely disposable portion deliberately, or considering French adoption — a significant legal step, not a form-filling exercise.

And whatever your situation: this is the part of moving to or owning in France where improvising is genuinely costly, and where a single conversation with the right professional pays for itself many times over. The person at the centre of it all is the notaire — a public official who handles the whole succession process and who is the gatekeeper for any property transfer. A short review now, with a notaire or a cross-border solicitor, of your will, your title deeds, your marital regime and any past gifts, is worth far more than the best article on the internet.

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This guide offers practical, general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Pimpernel are not notaires, lawyers, or accountants. Succession law, inheritance tax, and the figures quoted change, and how they apply depends entirely on your own circumstances — your nationality, residence, marital status, family, and the assets involved. The 2021 French clawback rule in particular is contested and evolving. Always take advice from a qualified notaire or cross-border solicitor before acting.