ABSTRACT
Whether the réserve héréditaire (forced heirship under French inheritance law) forms part of French international ordre public, and therefore falls within the public-policy exception, has long been the subject of a major doctrinal debate in France. While the traditional answer was positive, the contemporary evolution of French private international law, driven in particular by the EU Succession Regulation (No 650/2012) and by recent case law and legislation, has unsettled that position. This chapter examines how European private international law reshapes the place of forced heirship in cross-border succession cases in France, analysing the tension between freedom of choice of the applicable law and the mandatory protection of heirs, and assessing what the European framework implies for the future of the réserve héréditaire.
Rass-Masson, Lukas, The Impact of European Private International Law and the réserve héréditaire in France (October 31, 2021) in JM Scherpe, E Bargelli (eds), The Interaction between Family Law, Succession Law and Private International Law: Adapting to Change, Intersentia, 2021, p 195.
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