Is a new will required in France after getting married in the UK?

Reader Question: I am married to a French national. They live in France and I live in the UK for work reasons. I have a house in London in my name, and theirs is in France in their sole name. We got married in the UK a few years ago. I had a UK will made out ages ago, long before we ever thought of getting married. My French mother-in-law says I need a new will, but as we do not have children I am not so sure.

Your mother-in-law is wise to suggest you should both have wills.

Your marriage revoked your UK will under English law, so you are currently intestate. Interestingly, if your French partner had made a French will, then it would not be automatically revoked by marriage under French law.

Read more: What is key information needed in ‘simple will’ written in France?

As your partner is French resident and domiciled, with French assets only, then French intestacy would apply. Their mother would inherit a quarter of his estate, their father would inherit a quarter (if alive) and you as spouse would inherit the rest.

A will would, therefore, be very useful if they want you to inherit the whole estate.

Anything you inherit from your French resident spouse would be assessed for French inheritance tax, and as you are a spouse, it would be exempt.

Regarding your estate, as you are UK resident and domiciled, and only have UK assets, then UK intestacy rules would apply. As you have no children, your spouse would inherit all of the estate. Your parents do not inherit if your spouse survives you.

As you are UK-resident and domiciled, your estate would be subject to UK inheritance tax rules. Ordinarily, a spouse is fully exempt from inheritance tax, however, a strange quirk applies if the surviving spouse is not domiciled in the UK (eg. in France) but the deceased spouse is UK-domiciled. 

Read more: French property and tax: 7 common questions

In that scenario, the surviving spouse benefits from the standard £325,000 Nil Rate Band, plus a non-dom spouse allowance of £325,000 (previously only £55,000) – so £650,000 tax free in total. The rest is taxed at 40%.

I am not an expert on this, but I believe that it may be possible for the surviving spouse to declare themselves as UK-domiciled for the purpose of inheritance tax at (or within a certain time limit of) the date of death, but you would need to seek specialist advice on that.

Perhaps as your lives progress, you will eventually both live in the same country, which would prevent the UK tax problem.

I suggest that you both take expert advice, and thank your mother-in-law for pointing you in the right direction!

John Kitching is a director of French Law Consultancy Limited