French Succession – Can You Exclude People From a French Will?

by | Oct 22, 2025 | Uncategorised | 0 comments

French Succession, Can You Exclude People From a French Will?

It is important that you fully understand the rules of French succession if you own assets in France or have family members who do. French probate laws differ from those in the UK and France, and this blog explains these differences.

You can learn more about the laws of succession in France and how they affect foreign nationals.

Send a Message

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Forced Heirship

Forced heirship is a legal concept that reserves a mandatory amount of your estate for your children. This key difference in French inheritance law means that you are not about to disinherit your children through your will, as they are known as reserved heirs.

The size of the reserved amount will depend on the number of direct dependents you have. If you only have one child, they are entitled to 50% of your entire estate. If you have two children, then they will be entitled to 2/3 of the estate, to be split equally, so around 33.3% each. 

If you have three children or more, then they are entitled to 75%, to be divided equally between them.

Whatever remains of your estate after your children’s shares have been distributed is known as the freely disposable quota. You can allocate this portion to whoever you wish through your will. 

You can view the French government’s explanation of these inheritance rules on Service-Public.fr Les règles de succession.

Spouses

French inheritance law differs significantly from that of the UK, and surviving spouses are not automatically entitled to a share of an estate when children are involved. If there are no children to consider, a spouse can be a reserved heir and be entitled to 25% of the estate. If there are children involved, the options for the spouse are:

  • Full ownership of one-quarter of the estate.
  • A life interest over the entire estate (the right to use and enjoy the property for life, after which it passes to the children).

Learn more about how to reduce inheritance costs in France on our Avoiding Succession Tax page.

The Brussels IV Regulation

For non-French nationals, a key tool in estate planning is the EU Succession Regulation (known as “Brussels IV”). This regulation enables citizens of EU member states (and many non-EU nationals) to opt for the law of their nationality to govern the succession of their entire worldwide estate.

Electing Foreign Law

If you are a British, American, or another nationality, you can include a clause in your will to elect for the law of your nationality to apply to your French assets. Since many of these common law systems offer testamentary freedom (the right to leave your assets to anyone), this was a popular way to bypass the French forced heirship rules.

For official information about UK inheritance tax on overseas estates, visit GOV.UK Inheritance Tax on Foreign Assets.

If you need help with French Probate, contact French Probate Matters on 020 8150 2010 or info@frenchprobatematters.com

Contact us for more information about the requirements.

020 8150 2010