Cross-border · Which law applies · Information, not legal advice — as at 28 June 2026
Can a non-EU national choose their own law under Brussels IV?
Yes. The EU Succession Regulation (Brussels IV) has universal application, so the law it points to applies even when that is the law of a non-EU country. A US, Canadian, South African, Australian or other non-EU national who owns property in Portugal, Spain, Italy or France can make an express choice of the law of their nationality in their will — overriding local forced heirship. There are a couple of traps, especially for US nationals, worth getting right.
A common worry for non-European owners of a home in Portugal, Spain, Italy or France is that "EU rules" will force their estate down a path of forced heirship they never intended. The reassuring answer is that the EU Succession Regulation (Brussels IV) was built to let you choose — and that choice is open to non-EU nationals too.
What Brussels IV actually says
Under Regulation (EU) 650/2012, the default law governing your whole succession is the law of the country where you are habitually resident at death (Art. 21). But Article 22 lets you instead choose the law of a country of your nationality — held either when you make the choice or at death. Critically, Article 20 states that the Regulation has universal application: the law it designates applies whether or not it is the law of an EU Member State.
Does it really work for Americans and other non-EU citizens?
Yes. Because of that universal-application rule, a national of the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Brazil or anywhere else can elect their national law to govern their Portuguese, Spanish, Italian or French estate, and the local notary and courts will give effect to it. The choice overrides the forced-heirship rules that would otherwise reserve large shares for children — so, for example, an American couple in the Algarve can usually arrange to leave everything to each other.
The US trap: which American law?
There is no single "United States" law of succession — each state has its own. For a US national the choice under Article 22 should identify the law of the specific US state they are most closely connected with. Getting this right also avoids a technical problem called renvoi (Art. 34), where a country’s own private-international-law rules bounce the question back. An express, well-drafted Article 22 choice of a named national law avoids renvoi and removes the ambiguity. This is exactly the kind of detail we pin down rather than leave to chance.
What about UK nationals after Brexit?
The UK never opted into Brussels IV, and Brexit does not change the point that matters here: when a UK national owns assets in Portugal, Spain, Italy or France, it is the local court applying the Regulation, and it will give effect to an express choice of, say, English law (or Scots or Northern Irish law). So a British owner can still use Brussels IV to choose their home law for their EU estate.
What it does not change: tax
A Brussels IV choice decides who inherits — not who pays tax. Inheritance tax in the country where the asset sits (and possibly at home) is governed by separate tax rules and is unaffected by your choice of succession law. We handle the legal choice, and the succession tax in our four countries; your home-country tax belongs with an adviser there, and we say early when you need one.
How to make the choice properly
The choice must be made expressly, normally in a will — either your home-country will or a local one limited to your assets there. The wording matters, and so does making sure your wills do not accidentally revoke one another. We draft and coordinate that, in plain English, so the law you want is the law that applies. See Can I choose English law? (Brussels IV) and Which law decides who inherits?