The EU Succession Regulation: which country's law follows you

The regulation's own recitals set the general connecting factor for determining both jurisdiction and the applicable law as the habitual residence of the deceased at the time of death. To determine it, the authority handling the succession makes an overall assessment of the circumstances of the deceased's life during the years preceding death and at death, taking account of all relevant factual elements. Move your life to Spain, and by default Spanish law frames what happens to your estate — wherever your passport is from.

Source: Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 — EUR-Lex, read 6 September 2026.

The regulation builds in one major election: a person may choose the law of their nationality to govern their succession as a whole. And where the deceased made that Article 22 choice and it is the law of a member state, the parties concerned may agree in a choice-of-court agreement — expressed in writing, dated and signed — that the courts of that state have exclusive jurisdiction over the succession. The mechanism exists precisely for the mover whose life is in one country and whose legal expectations were formed in another.

Source: Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, Article 22 and choice-of-court provisions — EUR-Lex, read 6 September 2026.

A carve-out worth knowing before you rely on any of the above: per Your Europe, EU rules on inheritance do not apply in Denmark and Ireland, so if your heirs settle the estate with an authority in one of those countries, your choice of law may not be taken into account. The same page notes the mirror image — Danish and Irish citizens can still benefit from the rules and choose their national law where the estate is handled in a participating country. Your Europe also states the practical requirement for making a choice count anywhere: express it explicitly and clearly, in a will or in a separate declaration, valid if it meets the requirements of the country where you last lived or of the nationality law you chose.

Source: Your Europe — Planning your cross-border inheritance, read 14 September 2026.

Succession law is where national systems differ most — forced-heirship shares, matrimonial property, tax treatment — and the regulation coordinates which law applies without harmonising what that law says. Nothing here is legal, tax or estate-planning advice. If your assets or heirs span borders, the regulation text is the map; a lawyer qualified in the countries involved is the guide. What we can say descriptively: the default follows your habitual residence, and the nationality election has to be made — it doesn't happen by itself.

Source: Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 — EUR-Lex, read 6 September 2026.