France clarifies treatment of forced heirship rights for children in cross-border wills

When dealing with a cross-border estate that has assets and beneficiaries in France and the UK, the interaction of the conflicting inheritance regimes in these two countries can lead to unintended outcomes and unnecessary disputes.

French forced heirship, English law and Brussels IV

English law has a system of freedom of testamentary disposition, meaning that individuals can leave their assets to whomever they choose. This freedom is only lightly constrained, most notably by the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the 1975 Act), which permits certain classes of people to make a claim for reasonable financial provision from a deceased person's estate.

France, on the other hand, has a system of forced heirship whereby a 'réserve héréditaire', or fixed proportion of an individual's assets, must pass to their children.

In 2015, France signed up to the EU Succession Regulation (known as Brussels IV), which allowed an individual making a will to choose the law of their nationality to govern the entire succession of their estate.

Where the choice made was for English law to apply, this could effectively circumvent the French forced heirship regime, allowing people with UK connections to leave all of their assets to their spouse or civil partner, with the advantage that the whole estate could benefit from the spousal exemption from the UK's 40% rate of inheritance tax (IHT).

In 2021, France sought to reassert its underlying policy of forced heirship by introducing the 'droit de prélèvement compensatoire' (DPC). This mechanism requires French notaires dealing with estates governed by foreign law to identify and inform children who have not received compensation in accordance with their forced heirship rights under French law. These children have a right to claim financial compensation from assets located in France.

However, as France is a signatory to Brussels IV, the DPC has been controversial, and multiple complaints have been made to the European Commission on the basis that the DPC breaches the EU rules on succession matters.

France clarifies the scope of the DPC

Following correspondence from the European Commission setting out its concerns about the compatibility of the DPC with EU law, the French authorities issued a clarifying letter to explain the French legislature's aims and intended scope of the regime.

The key point in that response is that the DPC only applies where the foreign law does not provide any mechanism for the protection of children. The French authorities explicitly refer to family provisions of Anglo-Saxon law as qualifying as a mechanism for the protection of children.

In this context, the relevant protection is the 1975 Act, which is one of the only fetters on the freedom of testamentary disposition enjoyed by individuals making a will under English law. If the French interpretation can be upheld in practice, it may mean that estates governed by English law under a Brussels IV-compliant election fall outside the scope of the DPC, even where children have been disinherited.

If so, this would be a welcome development for individuals with Anglo-French connections, particularly those with second marriages, blended families and UK-focused IHT planning objectives.

Remaining uncertainty for Anglo-French estates

Despite the clarification by the French authorities, a number of important uncertainties remain:

• The provisions of the 1975 Act only apply to deceased estates where the deceased died domiciled in England and Wales. This is one area where the concept of domicile survives (having now become broadly irrelevant for UK tax purposes). It remains to be seen whether a French notaire will accept that the existence of the 1975 Act means the DPC does not apply where the deceased was domiciled in France.
• France continues to treat forced heirship as a matter of public policy, preserving a residual ability for the French authorities to intervene and this is explicitly mentioned in France's reply to the European Commission.
• The exemption from the DPC depends on the presence of child-protection mechanisms similar to the 1975 Act within the chosen governing law. It is questionable, therefore, whether an election for US law to apply, for example, would be successful in avoiding the application of the DPC.

While France’s clarification offers a pragmatic pathway through the tension between testamentary freedom and forced heirship, it stops short of delivering full certainty. For now, the DPC may be less of a threat to English law wills than previously, but it has not disappeared. Careful structuring and cross-border advice remain essential to ensure that succession plans achieve their intended effect across all relevant jurisdictions.

This briefing is based on the law as at July 2026 and does not purport to give legal advice. We are a firm of English solicitors and the French law position as described in this article is based on our best understanding of the applicable law in France. Legal advice should be obtained.

This publication is a general summary of the law. It should not replace legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.

© Farrer & Co LLP, July 2026