Technical article

Civil-law Countries and Your Collection: Shares Set by Law

One law firm's site gives the French shares as half the estate for one child, two-thirds for two and three-quarters for three or more.

By Neil Solomon · 3 min read

Imagine a retired couple from the United States who live in France. The husband has spent forty years on a coin collection. He hopes one daughter, who shares his interest, will keep it whole. His other child lives in Seattle and has never asked about the coins. Can he leave them to the daughter?

In France, the law reserves a share of the estate for children, and the answer comes in two parts.

The reserved share

One law firm's site gives the French shares as half the estate for one child, two-thirds for two and three-quarters for three or more. It says a collector cannot give a whole collection to one child by will. That is a tier C source.

Other countries do the same in different amounts. Chambers, a legal directory, gives Spain at two-thirds of the estate for descendants. Italy reserves fixed fractions: the spouse alone half, the spouse and one child a third each, the spouse and two or more children a quarter and a half. Colombia reserves 50%, with 25% that may favor one heir and 25% free. Mexico has no forced heirship.

How one child can still take the coins

France offers a way through. Service-Public.fr, the government site, says heirs form lots that match each person's rights and assign them by agreement or by drawing lots. An uneven lot is balanced by a cash payment, called a soulte. So the daughter could take the coins, and the other child could take the balance in other assets or in cash.

In the Netherlands, the forced share is a money claim, so a collection need not be split item by item.

The same government page says that real estate in an estate requires a notary, and that a court can order division if one heir refuses. A division can be challenged for error or fraud within five years. It can also be challenged within two years if a lot is worth under a quarter of what the person was entitled to.

A new French law on shared ownership

French law 2026-248 of 7 April 2026 reforms joint ownership of inherited property, with application expected from early 2027. That timing is from a legal news site. Today, acts of administration need two-thirds of the rights and acts of disposition need everyone. The reform adds court routes for one co-owner to act alone in urgent cases, and a lawyer's presence in a court-led division. It matters most to families who keep a collection in shared ownership for years.

The objection

You might say that you hold a US passport, so US rules apply. Under the EU succession regulation 650/2012, a person may choose the law of the state whose nationality they hold. That choice can change how reserved shares reach a collection. It is limited to nationality. One report says a German court applied German compulsory-portion rules although the person had chosen English law.

Who this touches

The children, who may each hold a legal share they have not heard of. The executor, who must make equal lots from unequal things. And the papers, which may need a notary.