Yes, under European Regulation No 650/2012, applicable to successions opened since 17 August 2015.
- Without a choice, the law governing your whole succession is that of your last habitual residence (Article 21), even outside the EU (Article 20), whatever the nature or location of the assets.
- You may choose the law of a State of which you are a national when choosing or at death. If you have several nationalities, you may choose any of them (Article 22). The choice is made in a will, expressly or clearly implied by its wording.
- The chosen law governs the whole succession: who inherits, in what proportions, children’s reserved shares and the surviving spouse’s rights.
A French national permanently living in London will therefore have their succession governed by English law, which does not recognize forced heirship, unless French law was chosen. French law also provides in some cases for a compensatory claim by children against assets in France (Article 913 of the Civil Code).
Two limits: the Regulation binds neither Denmark nor Ireland, and it does not govern inheritance tax, which follows each State’s tax law and tax conventions.