Can French forced heirship rules be bypassed?

Reader Question: My husband and I live in France with no property or assets in the UK. My husband has four children and three grandchildren, and I have one daughter. Respecting our wishes, our children and grandchildren want to refuse their inheritance in the event of one of us dying. Is this possible, and if so, would the surviving spouse inherit everything?

Under French law and its forced heirship rules your respective children would be entitled to a share of your estate on the first death. Presuming you are British nationals; it would be possible to bypass these by preparing wills including an election for English law to apply to your estate under the EU Succession Regulation.

However, as French residents, your ability to rely on this is now limited by an amendment to the French Civil Code, which would allow your children to recover their reserved share from your estate on your death. While they may ultimately decide not to, there is no way that this right can be validly waived during your lifetime, so no guarantee that the surviving spouse would receive everything on the first death.

To provide more certainty, your reserved heirs could enter a pacte successoral or renonciation anticipée à l'action en réduction (RAAR) by signing a deed of renunciation. The deed is only revocable in three circumstances: where the deceased has not maintained the beneficiary as expected; where the beneficiary is in a state of need at the date of death, which would not have existed if they had not renounced; or where the person benefitting from the estate in their place has been found guilty of a crime or offence against them.

Read more: Can we leave our French estate to our grandchildren?

For this reason, there are extensive measures of protection in place. The deed is signed in front of two notaires, and they must be entirely satisfied that the beneficiary is entering into the agreement of their own volition, with a complete understanding of the effects.

Importantly, a minor lacks legal capacity and so cannot enter a RAAR agreement. If your husband’s grandchildren are currently minors, they would need to wait until they have attained their majority before completing the deed. If they were still minors at his death or attained majority but failed to enter the RAAR before his death, they would be entitled to their parents’ share in their place.

The notaire’s fees for the preparation and registration of the deed would be fixed by the state. Ask for confirmation at the outset.