UK Opts Out of European Estate Proposals

The UK is to opt-out of European proposals to simplify the rules governing which legal jurisdiction will apply in cases in which a national of one EU country dies having resided or maintained substantial assets in another. The proposals would have made the applicable law when dealing with inheritance law and the administration of a will that of the country in which the deceased ‘habitually resided’ unless the will made it clear that the law of the writer’s native country was to be adopted. Because of the strict inheritance laws in several European states, the UK has decided to opt out of the proposals and to enter into a new round of negotiations.