Technical article
Can I Choose My Home Country's Law for My Estate if I Move to France or Portugal?
A person may choose the law of a state whose nationality they hold, at the time of choosing or at death.
Imagine a couple from Canada who retire to a village in Portugal, with one daughter in Toronto and one in Lisbon. They hold Canadian nationality only. They ask whether Portuguese rules on who inherits will apply to them, or whether their own country's law can follow them.
For deaths in most of the European Union, one regulation decides this. It is Regulation 650/2012, and it applies to deaths on or after 17 August 2015. The sources below are the regulation itself and the European e-Justice portal (tier A).
The default rule
Under Article 21, the law of the state where the person last had a habitual residence governs the whole succession. The whole estate means all of it, wherever the assets are, for the states bound by the regulation. So for the couple in Portugal, the default is Portuguese law. For a person who retires to France, French law.
The choice
Article 22 gives a way out of the default. A person may choose the law of a state whose nationality they hold, at the time of choosing or at death. Recital 38 explains the limit: the choice is tied to nationality to stop a choice that defeats the expectations of people entitled to a reserved share. The e-Justice portal says citizens may choose their nationality law. The Portugal entry notes that the choice is allowed even where the nationality law is from outside the Union.
So the Canadian couple could choose Canadian law for their estates.
| Topic | What the regulation says |
|---|---|
| Default law | The last habitual residence (Article 21) |
| Choice | Yes, the law of a nationality held when choosing or at death (Article 22) |
| Gifts and advancements | The same applicable law (Article 23) |
| Outside the rule | Denmark and Ireland; the UK is not bound |
| Proof of status | An heir or executor with a European Certificate of Succession, outside Denmark and Ireland |
What the choice does not do
Article 23 says the applicable law decides any duty to bring gifts, advances or legacies back into the count when the shares are worked out. So the chosen law, not the local one, decides whether a lifetime gift is pulled back.
A German court shows one limit. Chambers (tier B) summarises a case where the person had validly chosen English law and the court still applied German compulsory-portion rules on public-policy grounds. The reading was a summary, not the judgment. It tells us that a choice may be accepted in form and still be weighed against local rules for children.
Tax is separate. The regulation covers which law governs succession. Inheritance tax follows each country's own rules, which other articles here set out.
You could
You could write down which nationalities you hold and which states you might die in. You could ask a notary in France or Portugal how a written choice of law is recorded. You could ask your children whether they would be comfortable with the nationality law you pick. Banks in the Union often want local paper too: Germany a certificate of heirs, the Netherlands a notary statement, Spain a foreigner's number for every heir.
Who it touches
Children and a spouse are the first. A friend or relative named in a will meets the reserved-share rules of whichever law applies.
If you have moved inside the Union, what did your notary ask first? Share it here, because someone planning the same move may be reading right now.
Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.
Sources
- EUR-Lex, Regulation 650/2012, Articles 21, 22, 23 and recitals (A)
- European e-Justice portal on succession (A)
- Chambers Succession and Estate Planning 2026 on Germany (B)
- project research on bank requirements (B)
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