The EU Succession Regulation: how to choose which country's inheritance law applies to your estate
2 August 2026 · Inherit Vault
Move to another EU country and your estate doesn't automatically follow the inheritance rules you grew up with, it defaults to wherever you're habitually resident when you die, whether or not that country's rules match what you'd actually want.
The default rule
Under EU Regulation 650/2012, known as Brussels IV, the law of your last habitual residence governs your entire estate by default, moveable and immoveable assets alike, regardless of where each asset is physically located. A British retiree who has lived in France for a decade, for instance, would by default have their whole estate, including a UK bank account, governed by French succession law.
The choice most people don't know they have
Brussels IV lets you override that default with an explicit "choice of law" clause in your will, electing instead for the law of your nationality to apply. That single clause can be the difference between an estate governed by forced heirship rules that override your wishes, and one that follows a will exactly as written.
Who this actually applies to
Anyone habitually resident in a participating EU country, currently all EU member states except Ireland and Denmark, who opted out of the regulation. Ireland's own succession law already resembles the UK's, so this mostly matters to British and Irish nationals who've retired to, or hold property in, countries like France, Spain, Portugal, or Italy.
Why it needs to be explicit
The choice of law clause has to be made deliberately and in writing, usually within the will itself, it doesn't happen automatically just because you'd prefer it. A will drafted years before a move abroad, or drafted without cross-border advice, may say nothing about it at all, leaving the default habitual-residence rule to apply by omission rather than choice.
None of this changes what an executor still has to do: find every account, every property, every policy, across however many countries are involved, before any of it can be distributed under whichever law applies. A cross-border estate makes the map even more necessary than a domestic one, not less.
Leave your family a map, not a mystery.
Inherit Vault is a digital inheritance vault: every account, policy, and instruction your family will need, encrypted so only you can read it, released to your executor when it genuinely matters.
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