With the ongoing difficulties caused by the UK’s pending European BREXIT, Laura Richardson’s latest article discusses whether your Chelmsford Will

I own a house in France, how can I be sure that it will be passed under my Chelmsford Will?

Up until 2015 under European Succession laws any property owned in an EU country would be passed down according to that country’s inheritance laws, rather than under the laws of the country in which the property owner legally resided. In other words, if you permanently lived in a property which you owned in the UK and also owned a property in France it would have been the case that, following your death, the French property would be passed down according to French inheritance laws, and the UK property would be passed down under UK inheritance laws.

It was, therefore, previously advisable to make separate Wills under the laws of each country within which you owned property to ensure that your wishes would be carried out. However, this was not always beneficial. For example, in France, there is little choice when it comes to inheritance. Under French inheritance law, your surviving spouse would not automatically inherit your Estate. In fact, the share of your Estate that they would receive is dependent upon the number of children you have. Regardless of your wishes, the majority of your Estate would always be passed down to your children, with a much smaller share of your Estate being passed to your spouse.

However, thanks to a change of law brought into force in August 2015, an individual can now elect to apply the inheritance rules of their country of residence or their country of nationality to any property owned within the EU. Therefore if you reside in the UK or have UK nationality, you can elect for any property that you own in the EU to be dealt with under UK inheritance laws after your death under your Chelmsford Will or anywhere else in Essex. In order for your EU property to be dealt with under UK inheritance law, you must write a Will which is valid under UK law and include a special clause within your Will that specifically states that you wish to apply UK inheritance law to your EU property rather than the laws in place in that
particular EU country. Therefore, this means that you can then detail precisely how you would like your EU property
to be passed on after your death.

At Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services, we offer the peace of mind that comes with ensuring that your assets will be passed down according to your exact wishes. Therefore, if you own a property abroad within the EU, contact us today to discuss how to legally protect your assets in your Chelmsford Will with a free initial consultation.

Posted and maintained by Gareth Davies | B2B Webmasters

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