Principal Residence and French Succession Laws
8th Sept 2023
A recent case in the French courts examined the application of French succession laws on those who die outside of France.
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Principal Residence and French Succession Laws
8th Sept 2023
A recent case in the French courts examined the application of French succession laws on those who die outside of France.
In the case, a man and his wife relocated to Portugal, a country where the enforced rights of children (réserve héréditaires) under French law did not apply.
Several years prior to moving to Portugal, the man contracted cancer, following which he and his wife took several holidays in Portugal.
They finally moved to Portugal in June 2016, but 5 months later he suffered a heart attack and died.
Prior to making the move, the man sold all but one of several properties he owned in France.
He also took out several life insurance (assurance vie ) policies, designating as his beneficiaries his wife and their children. His children by a previous marriage were excluded.
His children from his previous marriage contested the validity of the life insurance policies, claiming that the premiums paid under them were excessive having regard to their fathers age and medical condition.
They also considered that he had not established in a stable and effective manner his habitual residence in Portugal and therefore that his estate was subject to French jurisdiction and laws.
They claimed that that their father had claimed residence in Portugal "for the sole purpose" of exempting his estate from French law.
According to European laws, in order to determine habitual residence, the country responsible for the succession must carry out an overall assessment of the circumstances of the deceased's life in the years preceding their death and at the time of their death, in particular the duration and regularity of the deceased's presence in the State concerned and the conditions and reasons for that presence.
After finding that he had moved to Portugal only from 28 June 2016 and that, having died on 20 November 2016, he had resided there for less than five months, the court noted that at the time of his death he was still registered on the French electoral roll and that, although he and his wife owned at least one property in Portugal, where they were officially domiciled, they still owned a house in France and an examination of the numerous certificates produced revealed that the spouses' families, most of their friendly relations, and the main beneficiaries of the life assurance contract, were domiciled in France.
As a result, the court ruled that the succession was subject to French inheritance laws.