So, we live in the Washington, DC area. I practice here. There are many people here who have come from another country, they’re first generation, who still have assets overseas, or who are American citizens and now who go work overseas for a treaty organization, like the UN or the State Department.

Depending on where your assets are overseas, or depending on where you live overseas, your estate plan may be controlled by that country’s laws. Most typically, let’s talk about the European Union. In the European Union, in most of those countries, they’re called what’s called civil law countries. So that, if I am a resident of France and I live in France and I die in France, my estate is governed by French law. French law dictates who gets my assets. I don’t get to choose.

But, the European Union, in 2015, passed a law that said if you’re an American citizen living in France, you can decide whether French law governs or US law governs. US law lets you decide who’s gonna get your assets. So, if you want it all to go to your spouse, you can say that; in France, you can’t say that. If you want to give it all to two kids and not a third, you can say that under US law; you can’t say that under French law.

However, even though we can choose which law governs, you’re still gonna be subject to French tax law and not US tax law. In France, they don’t understand what a trust is, so they tax it horribly. So, if you’re a US citizen living in France, and assets in France, while you can still select US law to govern the disposition of your assets, you can’t do it through a trust.

So, knowing the country’s laws, or what you may need to learn about the country’s laws, if you have a client who lives there or has assets there, becomes very important.