Since EU Regulation 650/2012, which applies to estates opened on or after 17 August 2015, the applicable law is, by default, that of the deceased’s habitual residence at the time of death, for all their assets, wherever located. The deceased may, however, choose during their lifetime and by will to have the law of their nationality apply: this is the professio juris. For estates outside the European Union, the rules depend on the private international law of each country concerned, sometimes in the absence of a treaty. Determining the applicable law shapes everything that follows in the settlement.

France has signed around thirty tax treaties covering inheritance, notably with the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy, the one with Switzerland having been terminated in 2015. In the absence of a treaty, Article 784 A of the French Tax Code provides for a unilateral tax credit: duties paid abroad are offset against the French duties, up to the French tax corresponding to the assets located outside France. This imperfect mechanism does not always neutralize the whole charge. Planning ahead, during your lifetime, remains the most effective tool.

The European Certificate of Succession, created by EU Regulation 650/2012, is a single document that allows heirs, legatees, executors and administrators of the estate to prove their status in the other EU countries bound by the Regulation, which is all of them except Denmark and Ireland. It greatly simplifies administrative, banking and notarial steps where an estate spans several countries. In France, it is issued by the notary. Applying for it should be anticipated and sometimes requires additional documents depending on the countries.

In close coordination, never as a replacement. The notary remains the family’s main point of contact for the civil settlement of the estate. We handle the tax and international dimension they do not usually cover: applicable bilateral treaties, double taxation, characterization of foreign assets (trusts, holding structures, cross-border real estate), coordination with the foreign advisors on the matter. Many of our cases reach us on the recommendation of a notary who wants to keep control of the matter while relying on specialized expertise for the cross-border angles.

Outside the EU, Regulation 650/2012 does not apply: each country follows its own private international law. France, for its part, looks to the location of the assets for real estate, and to the residence of the deceased or the heir for the rest. Depending on the country, a tax treaty may exist, sometimes tucked into the income tax treaty, sometimes absent. When none covers the estate, the risk of double taxation is at its highest, and only the tax credit under Article 784 A softens it, without always covering all the duties paid abroad. These situations call for even earlier planning, often from the moment the wealth is built.

Ideally several years before death, because wealth-planning tools (gifts, split of ownership, choice of tax domicile, life insurance) become less effective as age and the proximity of the event increase. A gift made fifteen years before death does not have the same effects as one made two years before. For significant estates and multigenerational families, the planning is built over ten to twenty years, in successive stages. For situations already well advanced, room for action still exists, provided the diagnosis is started quickly.