Cross-Border Wills for British Expats: Succession Law Across Jurisdictions

English private international law applies the lex situs rule: succession to immovable property (land and buildings) is governed by the law of the country where the property is situated. A British national who owns a flat in Bristol and a farmhouse in France cannot direct what happens to the French farmhouse through a UK will alone: French courts apply French succession law to French immovable property. The Hague Convention on the Conflicts of Laws Relating to the Form of Testamentary Dispositions (1961) addresses formal validity, confirming that a will is formally valid if it complies with the law of any one of several connecting factors, including the testator's nationality. A UK will executed under the Wills Act 1837 (signed by the testator in the presence of two independent adult witnesses) is therefore formally valid in all contracting states, including France and Spain. But formal validity is not the same as governing law: a formally valid UK will does not override the forced heirship rules that French courts apply to French property.

The EU Succession Regulation (Brussels IV), Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, entered into force for deaths on or after 17 August 2015 and applies in all EU member states except Denmark. The UK did not opt in and is not bound by it. Under the Regulation's default rule (Article 21), the law of the state where the deceased was habitually resident at death governs the succession as a whole. A British national dying habitually resident in Spain without a nationality election would have their estate governed by Spanish succession law. A nationality election clause under Article 22 allows a British national to elect English law to govern their succession, including in relation to EU assets. English law has no forced heirship provisions, which is the principal reason such an election has practical significance. However, Article 35 of the Regulation allows national courts to refuse to apply a designated law where doing so would be manifestly incompatible with the forum's public policy. Whether a French or Spanish court invokes this exception against an English law election is not legally certain for any individual case and depends on the facts and the court's interpretation. A regulated cross-border estate specialist can assess the options available for a particular estate.

Under Section 18 of the Wills Act 1837, a will made in England and Wales is automatically revoked by the testator's subsequent marriage or civil partnership unless the will was expressly made in contemplation of that specific marriage. A British expat who marries abroad after making a UK will, without a contemplation clause, is effectively intestate in England and Wales from the date of that marriage.

The IHT417 form guidance confirms that separate wills for foreign estates are a recognised approach. The coordination risk with multiple wills is revocation clauses: a new will in Spain that includes a standard "this will revokes all prior wills" clause can inadvertently revoke a UK will. Cross-border estate specialists typically draft multiple wills with reciprocal non-revocation clauses that are jurisdiction-specific. A single worldwide will avoids revocation conflicts but provides no opportunity for jurisdiction-specific tax structuring or Brussels IV election language tailored to each asset-holding country.

For IHT purposes, the long-term UK residence test effective from 6 April 2025 determines whether a British expat's overseas assets fall within the IHT net. A person who has been UK tax resident for at least 10 of the last 20 tax years remains within scope of IHT on worldwide assets and faces a tail period of up to 10 years after leaving the UK, depending on their total years of UK residence. How IHT interacts with will structure and cross-border succession planning is a question a regulated specialist can assess in the context of individual circumstances.