The legal background
Since August 2015, EU Regulation 650/2012 — known as Brussels IV — has established that the law of the deceased's habitual residence applies to the entire estate unless they validly chose their nationality's law. The regulation applies across the EU except in Denmark and Ireland, which opted out.
Under traditional French law, children are designated as 'reserved heirs' entitled to fixed portions of an estate. One child must receive at least half, two children share two-thirds equally, and three or more share three-quarters. This contrasts sharply with Anglo-Saxon legal systems that allow greater testamentary freedom.
France's 2021 rule, adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic when parliamentary scrutiny was less intensive than usual, introduced article 913, line 3 of the Code civil. It requires notaires handling estates under foreign law to contact children and offer them an optional 'compensatory levy' from French assets if the foreign law lacks protections comparable to France's reserved portions.
The rule sparked numerous complaints to the European Commission starting in late 2022, particularly from British couples hoping to use English law to leave everything to surviving spouses. After publicizing the complaints as a 'multiple complaint' in February 2023, the Commission gave France a 10-week deadline in July 2025 to address what it called 'a problem' requiring remedy.
France's clarification and its limited reach
In its June 2026 response, France clarified that foreign laws need not mirror French fixed portions exactly — they need only contain some protection for children. The government specifically cited 'family provision' rules in English and similar Anglo-Saxon systems as 'functional equivalents,' since these allow children left in financial need to seek judicial provision from estates.
French law professor Louis Perreau-Saussine from Université Paris-Dauphine, a specialist in international family law, had previously stated the 2021 law 'clearly breaches' the EU regulation designed to give testators more choice. The Commission accepted France's clarifications and closed its investigation in June 2026.
However, France's public communication of these explanations remains minimal: a note on the final page of a June newsletter to legal professions and an addition to a Service-Public webpage. The European Commission posted information only in the English-language version of its e-Justice website's general EU inheritance introduction.
Notaires remain uncertain
The limited dissemination is creating practical problems. Brian and Naomi Key from Deux-Sèvres report their notaire, who holds their wills electing English law, says he lacks formal confirmation of a 'verified change in the law' and would therefore enforce the 2021 rules if either died.
When the EU regulation came into force, we thought everything was sorted, but the new law put us into quandary. Now our notaire says there's been no change. The government doesn't seem to want to own the fact that there was perhaps a lack of foresight, and unintended consequences.
The issue affects an estimated 150,000 British nationals living in France, particularly those concentrated in regions like Dordogne, Charente and Deux-Sèvres who commonly use English law for estate planning.
Another reader reported 'very mixed reactions from local notaires' after her stepfather died leaving everything to her mother rather than to his estranged daughter. 'They seem reluctant to take a risk as long as, they say, the system hasn't been made clear to them. My mother needs the inheritance for her care.'
Notaires are government-appointed lawyers with a legal monopoly on handling inheritance matters involving real estate or estates above certain thresholds. They must draft estate documents, calculate inheritance taxes and distribute assets according to French law, making their understanding of the rules essential for estate settlement.
Expert guidance available
David Boulanger, director of CRIDON nord-est, a technical advisory body for notaires, said his position is clear and he stands ready to clarify matters for readers or their notaires.
Asked how he would advise a notaire whose client's English spouse had died leaving them everything despite having children in the UK, he said: 'I would tell the notaire that the compensatory deduction under article 913 line three does not apply. Furthermore, it seems to me that English law does not require the children to be informed; consequently, in my view, the notaire is not under any such obligation either.'
He said he could envisage cases requiring court rulings, typically where the levy rule applies because foreign law contains no protective provisions, or where uncertainty exists and parties cannot agree. He was not referring to English law cases, which France specifically named in its clarifications.
Questions remain over laws in many US states, which generally lack family provision rules, with the exception of Louisiana's hereditary reserve system. Boulanger said laws likely covered include those of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and nine Canadian provinces with common-law systems.
This is a major undertaking in comparative law.
He added he hopes France will consider repealing the 2021 law given the complications it creates for notaires.
Renewed calls for EU complaints
The Conseil supérieur du notariat, the governing body for notaires, said it has yet to take a 'definitive position' and discussions are continuing.
Campaigners Trish Miller and Ronnie Bennett, who report several cases of notaires refusing to apply the clarification, are lodging fresh EU complaints citing continuing legal uncertainty for citizens and practitioners given limited publication of the clarifications. They can be contacted at mywillmyway64@gmail.com.
Affected individuals can also submit complaints through the European Commission's online system, referencing the inadequate communication of the June 2026 clarifications.
