Writing a Will as a UK Expat: Assets in Two Countries

Updated: 17 May 2026 • Reading time: 9 min • By Richard Wood, Founder

For British expatriates living abroad or holding assets in multiple countries, writing a will is more complicated than a simple domestic English estate. Domicile, foreign forced heirship rules, multiple succession laws, and cross-border IHT all interact in ways that can produce devastating outcomes if not planned for. This guide covers what every UK expat needs to understand before writing, or reviewing, their will.

Understanding Domicile: The Foundation of Expat Will Planning

Domicile is not the same as nationality, residence, or tax residence. It is the legal concept that attaches your personal law to a particular country. Every person has exactly one domicile at any given time:

• Domicile of origin, acquired at birth, usually from the father (or mother if parents were not married). For most British citizens, this is England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland
• Domicile of dependence, for children under 16, follows the parent’s domicile
• Domicile of choice, acquired when a person moves to another country with the intention to reside there permanently or indefinitely, abandoning any intention to return to the domicile of origin

Establishing a domicile of choice is legally demanding. English courts have found people domiciled in England even after 30 or 40 years abroad if they retained any intention to return, even in vague “old age” terms. Keeping a UK property, an English bank account, or referring to England as “home” all work against a domicile of choice claim.

Domicile determines the law governing succession to movable property(bank accounts, shares, personal belongings) worldwide. Succession to immovable property (land and buildings) is always governed by the law of the country where it is situated, regardless of domicile.

Which Law Governs Your Estate?

For most British expats who have not established a domicile of choice abroad:

• UK bank accounts, shares, and personal assets, governed by English succession law (your will or English intestacy if no will)
• Foreign bank accounts and movable assets, also governed by English succession law (as the law of the domicile), but subject to the local country’s recognition of foreign probate grants and forced heirship overrides
• Foreign land and real estate, governed by the law of the country where the property is situated, regardless of what your English will says

This creates the critical asymmetry for expats: an English will can distribute your worldwide movables as you choose, but it cannot override the succession law of the country where your Spanish villa, French farmhouse, or Dubai apartment is located.

The EU Succession Regulation (Brussels IV) After Brexit

EU Succession Regulation 650/2012 (Brussels IV) applies within EU member states (except Denmark and Ireland) for deaths on or after 17 August 2015. Its default rule is that the law of the country of habitual residence at death governs the entire succession, and a testator can elect the law of their nationality in their will instead. The UK is no longer bound by Brussels IV: English courts do not apply it. EU courts, however, apply it as between member states, so a French court dealing with a UK national’s assets in France will use Brussels IV, potentially treating French law (including forced heirship) as applicable if the person was habitually resident there.

A related complication is the renvoi doctrine: where English law refers a succession question to the law of the domicile, and that country’s own conflict rules refer it back to English law, an English court may accept the referral and apply English law after all (In re Ross [1930]). Renvoi is uncertain and fact-specific, it is one more reason cross-border estates need specialist advice rather than a single home-made will.

Formal Validity: The Wills Act 1963

Under the Wills Act 1963, a will is formally valid in England if it was executed in compliance with the internal law of any one of the following:

• The place where the will was executed
• The testator’s domicile at the time of execution or at death
• The testator’s habitual residence at the time of execution or at death
• A country of which the testator was a national at the time of execution or at death
• For immovables: the law of the place where the property is situated

Formal validity (correct signatures and witnesses) is distinct from essential validity (capacity, freedom from undue influence) and from the applicable succession law (who actually inherits). A will can be formally valid in England while its effect is governed by foreign law.

Forced Heirship: The Biggest Risk for UK Expats in Europe

Forced heirship reserves a fixed portion of the estate (“the reserve” or réserve héréditaire) for specified relatives, typically children. A will that purports to leave property to someone else (for example, the full estate to a surviving spouse) may be voided to the extent it infringes the forced share.

Key forced heirship positions for common expat destinations:

• France, children are entitled to between half (one child) and three-quarters (three or more children) of the estate; the testator can freely dispose of the remainder
• Spain, two-thirds of the estate is reserved for children; one-third must pass in equal shares, one-third can be given more to one child, one-third is freely disposable
• Germany, children, spouse, and parents can claim a “compulsory share” (Pflichtteil) of half the intestate share they would have received
• UAE/GCC countries, non-Muslim expats can register a will with the DIFC Wills Service or an Abu Dhabi Court to apply their home country law, but without registration, Sharia principles may apply to UAE-sited assets
• Post-Brexit EU, elections of English law made under the EU Succession Regulation (Brussels IV) may no longer be recognised consistently by EU courts, and local forced heirship law applies to EU-sited immovable property; take specialist advice for each country

One Will or Multiple Wills?

There are two schools of thought on this question:

Single UK Will, Simpler but Riskier

A single English will can distribute your worldwide movable estate and your UK immovable estate. The disadvantage is that foreign courts may not recognise it without a local reseal or apostille, probate may be delayed, forced heirship rules may override parts of it, and local formalities may not be met.

Parallel Wills, More Complex but More Efficient

For expatriates with significant assets in one or more foreign jurisdictions, a separate local will for each jurisdiction is usually advisable:

• Each will covers assets in the relevant jurisdiction only
• Each will is drafted in the local language and complies with local formalities
• Each will expressly preserves the other wills (avoiding accidental revocation)
• Probate/succession proceedings in each country can proceed simultaneously
• A local notary or solicitor handles the local will, while WillSafe can cover the English will

Critical drafting point: every will must include a clause limiting it to assets in a specific jurisdiction and expressly stating that it does not revoke any other will covering assets in other jurisdictions. Failure to do this is the most common, and most damaging, error in multi-jurisdictional estate planning.

Inheritance Tax for UK Expats

If you remain domiciled in England and Wales (even while living abroad), HMRC charges IHT on your worldwide estate above the nil-rate band (£325,000), plus the residence nil-rate band (£175,000 where applicable). Foreign assets are included at their full market value.

Relief from double taxation is available where:

• A double taxation treaty exists between the UK and the other country (France, Italy, India, South Africa, and a small number of others)
• Unilateral credit relief under IHTA 1984, s.159 is available where no treaty exists, the foreign tax paid reduces the UK IHT bill on the same asset

Establishing a genuine domicile of choice outside the UK removes worldwide IHT exposure and limits HMRC’s reach to UK-sited assets only. However, there is also a deemed domicile rule: a person who has been resident in the UK for at least 15 of the previous 20 tax years is deemed UK-domiciled for IHT purposes, regardless of actual domicile. Non-dom expats who return to the UK need to monitor this carefully.

Practical Steps for UK Expats

1. Identify all assets and their locations, movable vs. immovable, country by country
2. Determine your domicile status, take specialist advice if you have lived abroad for more than a few years or have deliberately tried to change your domicile
3. Write a UK will covering your UK and worldwide movable assets, expressly limited to those assets
4. Instruct a local notary or lawyer in each country where you hold real estate to draft a jurisdiction-specific will
5. Ensure the wills do not revoke each other, this is the most common drafting error; your English solicitor and foreign notary must communicate
6. Investigate forced heirship rules for each country where you hold immovable property, and take advice on whether planning (trusts, lifetime gifts, pension structures) can mitigate the impact
7. Review your will after any major life change, moving country, buying foreign property, change in family structure, or significant change in asset values
8. Consider the IHT position, if domiciled in England, foreign assets are taxable; seek specialist advice if your worldwide estate exceeds the IHT thresholds

Frequently Asked Questions