Letters: It would be wrong for the EU to impose its inheritance rules on France

To the Editor,

I write in response to proposals that the European Union should direct that France be prevented from applying its forced heirship rules to foreign nationals who have elected the law of their native country. 

I understand that many support this proposal by reference to a recent case in which a widow was obliged to sell her home to satisfy a claim brought by her late husband’s estranged child from a previous marriage.

While I acknowledge the hardship in that example, two broader considerations weigh heavily against such a reform.

First, one must recognise the far more frequent and troubling reality that testators who remarry and integrate with stepfamilies may, under the proposed reform, be permitted to disinherit stepchildren entirely—contrary to the intentions of the natural parent and potentially with severe consequences for long-standing family relationships. 

The cited case, while emotive, risks becoming the exception used to obscure the more common and pressing threat of disinheritance. 

I believe that the small number who find themselves in that unfortunate position would be greatly exceeded by the number of stepchildren unfairly disinherited in the absence of forced inheritance rules.

Second, there is a wider principle of equity. 

Those who choose to reside in France and benefit from its legal, economic, and social systems ought not to expect that the host country must modify core aspects of its civil code to suit the private preferences of foreign residents.

While there is, of course, the broader question of whether France is obliged to comply with such a directive, my understanding is that under the principle of subsidiarity, areas of family and succession law remain largely within the competence of the Member States.

It would therefore be inappropriate—and arguably improper—for the EU to impose such changes on a national regime founded upon its own constitutional and legal traditions.

Stuart Ross, Pas-de-Calais

Editor’s note: Just to clarify, French forced heirship stops people disinheriting their  bloodline children (not their stepchildren). The other issue is that for six years from 2015, France followed an EU regulation which allowed people to freely choose the law of their nationality in their wills, and EU law takes precedence over national law.

Do you believe that France should be obliged to comply with the EU on this issue? Let us know at letters@connexionfrance.com