Inheriting property in France while living abroad, how does it work?

Which law applies, and who settles the estate

Since 17 August 2015, EU Regulation 650/2012 submits the whole estate, movable and immovable, to the law of the state of the deceased's last habitual residence, meaning the place of actual life. A person may set that rule aside by choosing, in a disposition of property upon death, the law of the state of their nationality. Denmark and Ireland are not bound by the regulation, and the chosen law may be that of a third state.

The applicable law says who inherits and what. It says nothing about tax, which belongs to each state's tax law and to bilateral treaties. Whatever that law, a building located in France changes hands through a notarial deed published at the land registry, the attestation immobilière, which only a French notaire draws up. The notaire computes the duties, files the return and, if the heirs decide so, later receives the sale.

What France taxes when a non-resident is involved

Article 750 ter of the tax code sets three cases. If the deceased was domiciled in France, all assets, in France and abroad, bear French duties. If domiciled outside France, only French-situated assets do, the building of course, but also company shares in proportion to the French property they hold. Finally, if the heir is domiciled in France and has been for at least 6 of the last 10 years, everything received is taxable in France even from a foreign deceased, foreign tax paid on foreign assets being credited against the French tax.

The inheritance tax treaties signed by France, fewer than the income tax ones, may allocate taxation differently, and their definition of domicile prevails over domestic law. Allowances and the scale are those of any heir, according to kinship.

Time limits and where to file

Impots.gouv.fr sums it up, the succession return is filed within 6 months of the death when it occurs in France, and within 12 months in other cases. For a deceased domiciled outside France it must be filed with payment at the non-residents collection office in Noisy-le-Grand, on forms 2705, 2705-S and 2706. The notaire takes care of it in practice.

Forced heirship, even under a foreign law

Since 1 November 2021, the third paragraph of article 913 of the civil code gives children a compensatory right over assets located in France when the foreign law governing the estate has no mechanism protecting the reserved share, provided the deceased or one of the children is a national of a European Union member state or habitually resides there at the time of death. The notaire who notes the infringement informs the heirs, without any court being seized. The surviving spouse does not benefit from it.

Once the attestation immobilière is published, the heirs sell the property like any owner, together or through an attorney, with the non-resident rules on capital gains and, above the threshold, the tax representative. BRIVEO receives the mandate from several co-heirs and has each of them sign it remotely.