Warning about French Wills electing English Law
This is just a very short blog to warn readers that I have seen a few very dangerous French Wills recently, drafted by Notaires, with the intention of electing English law.
They are surprisingly lengthy, but unfortunately, the only thing that they do is make an election of English law. They do not for example state that they are NOT intended to revoke former Wills, nor that they are to be complementary to former Wills. They do not name beneficiaries; they do not name executors. They simply declare that this is the Will of the deceased and elects English law.
The election of law is valid. The Will is valid. Unfortunately, under English law if the Will states that it revokes all former Wills, then this revokes all previous Wills, and leaves the estate intestate.
It is possible that the French Will is silent on revocation, so it does not state whether it revokes former Wills or not. It might then be possible to claim that the Will was not intended to revoke any part of previous Wills that does not contradict the new Will, but it would cause huge confusion and could be challenged in the courts in order to ascertain the true intention of the testator, or simply to create malevolent and expensive chaos by a disinherited beneficiary. At best is would require an expert opinion to be prepared by a specialist lawyer in order to explain the legal position and to confirm what the intention was and what the legal effect is.
If intestacy laws do apply, the order of people who inherit is similar under French and English law; but in some cases the inheritance that the surviving spouse receives under English intestacy is even less favourable and more complicated than under French intestacy law.
I am confident that not all Notaires have done this, so do not panic if your Notaire has prepared a Will for you to elect English law, but please do contact me to check this, as it could well be that you instructed a Notaire to prepare a Will to elect English law, and that is exactly, and only, what it does.
John Kitching
Director
French Law Consultancy Limited