France.

France preserves a strong réserve héréditaire under the Code Civil (Articles 912–917-1) — descendants are entitled to fixed shares of the estate, with the quotité disponible (testamentary portion) ranging from one-half (one child) to one-quarter (three or more children). The droits de mutation à titre gratuit (DMTG) impose progressive rates up to 45% for direct-line transfers and 60% for non-relatives, with abatements and the spouse exemption (since 2007) shaping the effective burden.

France is bound by EU Succession Regulation 650/2012 (Brussels IV), which since 17 August 2015 has made the law of the decedent’s habitual residence the default succession law, with optional professio juris election in favour of the law of nationality. Article 9.8 Code Civil (the Mahnkopf and Welte case-law context) and the prélèvement compensatoire under Article 913 alinéa 2 (since November 2021) preserve French réserve rights for French-resident or French-national heirs even where foreign succession law would not protect them.

The memoranda in this series address the recurring fact patterns in French cross-border estate planning — including the réserve héréditaire tension with Canadian and US testamentary freedom, the prélèvement compensatoire mechanism, the US–France 1978 Estate and Gift Tax Treaty (the only such French treaty with a North American jurisdiction), the Canada–France 1975 income-tax treaty’s silence on estate matters, French-resident decedents holding US-situs assets, and the trust-recognition framework under Article 792-0 bis CGI.