French inheritance law, handled before the house is signed.

French succession law protects children through the reserved portion. The size of the reserve depends on how many children there are: broadly, one child is entitled to half the estate, two children to two thirds between them, and three or more to three quarters. The rest, the disposable portion, is yours to leave as you choose. Your notaire confirms the exact fractions for your family.

A surviving spouse has protections too, but they work differently from the US. Depending on the marriage regime and whether there are children, a spouse may take full ownership of part of the estate or a life interest in it. This is why succession law in France cannot be read off a US will: the same family can land in a very different result depending on how the French side is structured.

For most American families the real question is the house, and property inheritance law in France turns heavily on how the property is owned. The form of ownership chosen at purchase can determine, on death, whether the surviving spouse keeps control, whether the children have an immediate say, and whether the estate is easy or painful to settle.

None of these is right for everyone, and the wrong structure is expensive to unwind after signing. The choice belongs with a notaire and cross-border counsel who can see the US estate plan at the same time. This is the heart of French property law on death, and it should be decided before, not after, the deed.

By default, the EU Succession Regulation applies the law of the country where you are habitually resident when you die. So an American resident in France would, by default, have French succession law, and its forced heirship, apply to the whole estate. The planning opportunity is the election: in properly drafted estate documents you can choose the law of a country of your nationality instead, which for many Americans means the law of their US state.

This is the core of French inheritance law for expats, and it is not a sentence to copy into a will. The election interacts with your specific US state, the French property, your spouse and children and your tax exposure. A French provision introduced in 2021 can also let children who are EU nationals or residents claim a reserved share against assets in France even where a foreign law has been chosen. Its scope is debated and evolving, which is exactly why a franco-American succession, a succession franco-americaine, needs current specialist advice rather than a template.

French wills come in two main forms: a handwritten will, the testament olographe, written, dated and signed entirely by hand, and an authenticated will, the testament authentique, made before a notaire. French wills can be registered in the central registry of wills so that the notaire settling the estate can find them.

The danger for Americans is not the absence of a will but the collision of two. A US will and a later French will can unintentionally revoke or contradict each other, and wills in France that ignore the US estate plan can undo careful US planning. The two documents should be drafted to work as one plan across both countries, which is coordination work, not a form to fill in.

Probate in France does not look like the US court process of the same name. France has no probate court for an ordinary estate. Instead a notaire administers the succession: identifying the heirs and issuing the deed of inheritance, the acte de notoriete, valuing the estate, transferring title to real estate, and filing the succession declaration with the French tax authority.

There are deadlines. For a death that occurs in France, the succession declaration and any tax due are generally required within six months, and the clock does not wait for a grieving family abroad to organize. Knowing in advance which notaire will act, and having the ownership and will already aligned, is what keeps probate in France from becoming a cross-border scramble.

Who inherits and who is taxed are two different questions. French inheritance tax, the droits de succession, depends on the value passing and, above all, on the relationship between the deceased and each heir. A surviving spouse or PACS partner is exempt from French inheritance tax; children inherit with an allowance and then at progressive rates; more distant heirs are taxed far more heavily.

Because rates and allowances change and depend on your exact situation, the figures belong with a cross-border tax specialist rather than a web page. There is also a US-France estate and gift tax treaty designed to relieve double taxation, which has to be read alongside US estate tax. Estate planning in France means getting the succession law, the property structure and the tax analysis reviewed together, by professionals who can see the whole picture.

France can be a superb country for affluent American retirees and families: healthcare depth, culture, infrastructure, property diversity, access and long-term quality of life. The inheritance question is not a reason to avoid France. It is a reason to plan France properly.

That is the private-office role: make sure the estate specialist, US advisor, tax team, notaire and property plan are aligned before the family turns a dream house into a permanent asset.