Inheritance Laws for Foreign-Owned Property: A 2026 Country-by-Country Guide

Published on: April 28, 2026

Quick answer: Inheritance laws don't follow your passport, most jurisdictions apply lex rei sitae, so the country where the property sits decides who inherits it. Many civil-law countries (Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Germany) impose forced heirship, reserving a fixed share for children and spouse that your will cannot override. The key tool inside the EU is Brussels IV (Regulation 650/2012), which lets you elect the law of your nationality in your will to override those forced-heirship rules, but it governs succession law, not tax. Inheritance law and inheritance tax are separate questions: the property's country almost always taxes the inheritance regardless of which law applies, so plan both with a country-specific will.

Most cross-border investors discover the truth about international inheritance only after it's too late. When you're buying, succession is an afterthought. When a relative dies and a property in another country sits on the estate, you suddenly find that the law of your home country may have very little say in who inherits it.

This guide covers what every international real estate investor should know about how inheritance actually works when property crosses borders, including the EU mechanism that lets you override default rules with a single sentence in your will.

The Core Principle: Lex Rei Sitae

Most jurisdictions follow the principle of lex rei sitae, the law of the location of the property, for immovable assets. Translation: the country where your apartment, villa, or office sits decides who can inherit it, regardless of your nationality, residence, or where your will was drafted.

This creates two immediate problems for cross-border investors:

1. Forced heirship rules in many civil-law countries override your will entirely
2. Inheritance tax is governed by separate rules from inheritance law, and the two are often in different countries

Let's untangle both.

Forced Heirship: The Civil Law Trap

Most Continental European, Latin American, and Middle Eastern jurisdictions follow some version of forced heirship, a system where a fixed share of the estate is reserved for specific heirs (typically children and the surviving spouse), and you cannot disinherit them.

If you're from a common-law background (UK, US, Ireland, Canada outside Quebec, Australia), this concept is unfamiliar. In your home jurisdiction, you can largely leave your property to whomever you want, subject only to limited family provision claims. In Spain, France, or Italy, you cannot.

Here's how the reserved share works in major investment destinations:

In practice, absent a Brussels IV election, an unmarried British investor with three adult children who buys a villa in Spain would generally be unable to leave it entirely to a partner, a charity, or one favored child under default Spanish succession rules, since roughly two-thirds is reserved for the children. A valid election of national law in the will can change this. Take country-specific legal advice.

The Game-Changer: EU Succession Regulation 650/2012 (Brussels IV)

In 2015, the EU introduced what is arguably the most important cross-border inheritance reform in modern history: Regulation (EU) 650/2012, commonly called Brussels IV.

The headline mechanism is simple but powerful: anyone can elect, in their will, that the law of their nationality should govern the succession of their entire estate, including property located in EU member states.

Concretely:

• A British citizen with property in Spain can include a clause electing English law to govern the succession. English law allows full testamentary freedom. The Spanish forced heirship rules drop out.
• An American with property in France can elect the law of their state of nationality (with some nuance around US states).
• A Turkish citizen with property in Portugal can elect Turkish law (though Turkey itself has forced heirship, so this may not help, sometimes you want the local law to apply).

The election must be made expressly in the will. Without the clause, default rules apply, which means the law of the deceased's habitual residence governs the entire estate, and habitual residence is a factual test that often surprises people.

A few critical caveats:

• Ireland and Denmark opted out of Brussels IV. Property in Ireland follows the old rules.
• The UK also opted out, but UK property is largely common-law in nature and the issue is less acute. However, EU citizens with UK property must rely on UK private international law.
• Non-EU countries are not bound. A clause electing US law and applied to French property works because France applies Brussels IV, not because the US recognizes the regulation.
• Inheritance tax is unaffected. Brussels IV governs succession law, not taxation. French inheritance tax generally applies to French property regardless of which country's succession law governs, subject to available allowances, reliefs and any applicable tax treaty.

This last point is the most misunderstood. Let's address it directly.

Inheritance Tax vs. Inheritance Law

These are completely separate questions:

• Inheritance law asks: who is legally entitled to inherit?
• Inheritance tax asks: how much does the government take from the inheritor?

The country where property sits almost always taxes the inheritance, regardless of where the deceased lived or where the heir lives. Some countries also tax based on the heir's residence, creating double-tax exposure that is partially mitigated by tax treaties, but inheritance tax treaties are far rarer than income tax treaties.

Approximate inheritance tax exposure on directly-held property in 2026, for a non-resident heir of a non-resident decedent:

The US 60,000 dollar exemption for non-residents is one of the most overlooked tax traps in cross-border real estate. A non-resident alien who owns a US property worth $1 million will face federal estate tax on $940,000 of value at progressive rates topping out at 40%. State estate taxes add to this in some states.

Country Deep Dives

Spain

Forced heirship is robust. The legítima estricta reserves one-third of the estate to be divided equally among children. Another third can be distributed unequally among children (the mejora). Only one-third is freely disposable.

A surviving spouse is entitled to usufruct (the right to use and receive income) over part of the estate but not ownership. Brussels IV elections work effectively.

Practical step: As a general approach, many foreign owners of Spanish property choose to sign a Spanish will covering their Spanish assets, reference a Brussels IV election where appropriate, and register it with the Registro de Últimas Voluntades. The right structure depends on your full estate.

France

The French réserve héréditaire is sticky. A 2021 law (in force from 1 November 2021) added a "compensatory levy": broadly, where the foreign law governing the succession provides no reserved-share protection for children, and the deceased or at least one child is an EU national or EU-habitually-resident at death, the children may generally claim a compensating share out of French-situated assets even if foreign law was elected. Its compatibility with Brussels IV is contested, but it stands as one of the few partial reversals of the regulation. Treatment is fact-specific, so take French legal advice.

Marital property regimes (community vs. separation) interact with succession law in complex ways. French notaires almost always need to be involved.

Italy

Italy applies legittima, but inheritance tax is among Europe's lowest. The €1 million per-child exemption means most family transfers of Italian property attract little or no tax.

Italy has historically been a friendly jurisdiction for trusts as estate planning vehicles, though this has been tightened recently.

Portugal

Forced heirship exists but inheritance tax was abolished in 2004. As of 2026, direct family transfers (spouse, children, parents) of Portuguese assets are generally exempt from the 10% stamp duty. Rules can change, so verify the current position before relying on it. Other transfers attract a flat 10% stamp duty.

This makes Portugal one of the most favorable European jurisdictions for property succession, a frequently overlooked Golden Visa benefit.

Turkey

Turkey applies forced heirship via the saklı pay (reserved share) provisions in the Turkish Civil Code. Children, spouse, and (in some cases) parents have minimum entitlements that cannot be overridden by will.

For foreign owners, Turkish private international law generally applies Turkish law to immovable property in Turkey, regardless of the owner's nationality. Brussels IV does not apply (Turkey is not in the EU).

A foreign owner can structure ownership through a Turkish company (LTD or A.Ş.), the shares are then movable property, governed by the deceased's national law, which often opens more options.

United Kingdom

The UK allows broad testamentary freedom. A will can leave UK property to anyone the testator chooses, subject only to the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, which allows certain dependants to claim reasonable financial provision.

UK inheritance tax (IHT) at 40% above the nil-rate band is a separate concern. The £325,000 nil-rate band, plus the £175,000 residence nil-rate band where applicable, can be transferred to a surviving spouse, meaning married couples can pass up to £1 million of UK property without IHT.

United Arab Emirates

UAE law defaults to Sharia for Muslim decedents. For non-Muslim foreigners, the situation depends on the emirate:

• DIFC Wills Service Centre allows non-Muslim expats to register a will that overrides Sharia for assets within the DIFC's covered territories (Dubai, Ras al Khaimah).
• Abu Dhabi Judicial Department offers a similar registered will option for non-Muslims.
• Since Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 came into force on 1 February 2023, non-Muslim foreigners who die without a will no longer have Sharia applied by default. The estate passes under a secular equal-share rule: half to the surviving spouse and half divided equally among the children, with no difference between sons and daughters. Sharia still governs by default only for Muslim decedents. A registered DIFC or ADJD will remains valuable for certainty and to customise how your estate is divided.

Registering a properly drafted DIFC or ADJD will is strongly recommended for certainty and customisation, for non-Muslim foreign owners of UAE property.

Practical Checklist for Cross-Border Property Owners

1. Know which law governs. Identify the inheritance law that will apply to each property based on its location and your nationality/residence.
2. Use Brussels IV where it helps. If you're a non-EU national with EU property, evaluate whether electing your national law improves the outcome.
3. Write a country-specific will. A separate will dealing only with property in each country reduces the risk of revocation conflicts and speeds up probate.
4. Coordinate marital property regime. In civil-law countries, the marital property regime determines what is in the estate before succession rules apply. Many cross-border couples have never formally chosen a regime.
5. Consider holding structures carefully. Companies, trusts, and similar vehicles can shift the analysis from immovable to movable property, but many countries (France, Italy, Spain) have anti-avoidance rules that look through them.
6. Don't confuse tax and law. Solving the succession-law question doesn't reduce inheritance tax. Plan both separately.
7. Update on every life event. Marriage, divorce, birth of children, change of residence, all can invalidate or undermine your planning.

Frequently asked questions

Which country's law decides who inherits my foreign property?
Most jurisdictions apply lex rei sitae, the law of the property's location, to immovable assets. So the country where the property sits generally decides who can inherit it, regardless of your nationality, residence, or where your will was drafted.

What is forced heirship?
A system in many civil-law countries (Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Germany) that reserves a fixed share of the estate for specific heirs, typically children and the surviving spouse, which you cannot override in your will. In Spain, for example, two-thirds is reserved for children.

Can I use my home country's inheritance rules for EU property?
Often yes. Brussels IV (EU Regulation 650/2012) lets you elect, expressly in your will, that the law of your nationality governs your succession, overriding local forced-heirship rules. Ireland, Denmark and the UK opted out, and the election governs succession law, not inheritance tax.

Does Brussels IV reduce my inheritance tax?
No. Brussels IV governs succession law, not taxation. The country where the property sits almost always taxes the inheritance regardless of which succession law applies, so inheritance law and inheritance tax must be planned separately.

Bringing It Together

Inheritance is the part of cross-border property ownership that nobody wants to think about, until it's the only thing that matters. The good news is that with a Brussels IV election where eligible, a country-specific will, and a clear understanding of which jurisdiction taxes what, the chaos is largely avoidable.

The expensive mistakes are made not by people who plan badly, but by people who don't plan at all.

JanusHermes maintains country-level legal and tax intelligence across 50+ markets, including succession rules and inheritance-tax treatment. Browse Country Intelligence →

Disclaimer: This article is general information, not legal advice. Inheritance law is highly fact-specific and changes frequently. Consult a qualified lawyer in the country where your property is located before making any decisions.

Last updated: April 2026. Tax rates and thresholds verified against official sources at the time of publication.

A note on the numbers: where no source is named, the market figures in this article (prices, yields, costs) are indicative estimates compiled from publicly available market data and industry reporting at the time of writing. Markets move and rules change, so treat them as a starting point and verify current figures with official sources before acting on them.