French law imposes forced heirship (réserve héréditaire): your children are legally entitled to a reserved share — 50% with one child, two-thirds with two, three-quarters with three or more. The EU Succession Regulation (Brussels IV, 650/2012) lets you elect the law of your nationality to govern the devolution of your estate, but it does not switch off French inheritance tax, which still applies to the French chalet — and that tax can reach 60% for an unmarried, non-PACS partner. An SCI is often used to smooth transmission. Given the stakes, plan the succession with a French notaire well before it is needed.
Forced heirship and the reserved share
France does not have full freedom of testation. A portion of your estate, the réserve héréditaire, is reserved by law for your children and cannot be freely given away: broadly one-half if you have one child, two-thirds with two children, and three-quarters with three or more. Only the remaining 'quotité disponible' can be left freely to whomever you choose.
For international owners this is often a surprise, because common-law countries generally let you leave assets as you wish. A French chalet owned by a foreigner falls within reach of these rules, which is exactly why cross-border estate planning is needed before, not after, the purchase.
Brussels IV — what it does and doesn't do
The EU Succession Regulation, known as Brussels IV (Regulation 650/2012), lets you elect the law of your nationality to govern how your estate devolves. A British or other foreign national can, in principle, choose their home law so that forced heirship does not dictate who inherits the chalet — a powerful planning tool that must be set out properly in a will.
But there is a hard limit: Brussels IV governs the civil devolution of the estate, not taxation. French inheritance tax still applies to the French-situated chalet regardless of which law governs the succession. And the tax can be brutal for the wrong relationship — an unmarried, non-PACS partner is taxed at up to 60% on what they inherit. Electing your national law does not avoid that tax.
Planning tools
Several tools can soften the outcome: marriage or a PACS transforms the survivor's tax position (a spouse is generally exempt from French inheritance tax), lifetime gifts and gradual transfers use allowances over time, and an SCI with cross-usufruct — covered in our SCI question — can protect a surviving unmarried partner's use of the chalet. Each has trade-offs and must fit your whole estate.
Because civil devolution (Brussels IV) and inheritance tax are two separate questions, and because 60% is at stake for the wrong structure, plan the succession with a French notaire, coordinated with your home-country adviser, well before it is needed rather than leaving it to chance.
Sources
Primary and expert sources behind this answer:
- notaires.fr — Conseil supérieur du notariat (buying costs, capital gains, succession) ↗
- EUR-Lex — Regulation (EU) 650/2012 (Brussels IV, applicable succession law) ↗
This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. French property tax, inheritance and residency rules are complex and change frequently; every figure and rule here must be confirmed with a French notaire, a tax adviser (fiscaliste) or a lawyer for your specific situation before you act.
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