French lawyers and many individuals have widely criticised the 2021 forced heirship law, which affects the option for non-French people to use the law of another country. This law was reportedly brought in to prevent women and girls being treated unequally in the case of a choice of Sharia law but it also affects many foreign law wills. The EU is taking this seriously as a ‘possible breach of EU rules on succession’ by France.
Several people have submitted formal complaints to the Commission on the basis that the law of 2021 is contrary to the intentions of the EU succession regulation, known as ‘Brussels IV’. This allows someone to use EU law to choose the inheritance law of the country of their own nationality to cover their estate.
The Commission recently published an update of the complaint.
This update reports that having assessed the complainants’ allegations and gathered more information from the French government the Commission is now considering its next steps. This indicates that the Commission is seriously considering the possibility that the French law represents a breach, although it has not yet opened formal ‘infringement proceedings’ against France.
As soon as we know what these next steps are will write a follow up article. In the meantime should you have any questions regarding inheritance planning please contact us at info@franco-british-network.com