Providing for stepchildren

French inheritance tax depends on the degree of family relationship.

Stepchildren are not blood relatives and the rate of tax applicable to unrelated beneficiaries is 60% after a €1,594 allowance.

President Macron stated in the run up to the 2022 election that he intended to allow stepchildren a €100,000 allowance but this has not so far changed (however, see below about further proposals).

This problem may sometimes be solved by adopting stepchildren to create a legally recognised relationship. Doing this will mean they become reserved heirs, along with any other children you have.

Under the rules of private international law adoption is governed by the national law of the person wishing to adopt.

UK law limits adoption to minors, so if the person to be adopted is over 18 the procedure will not work if the person wishing to adopt is British (taking French nationality, however, is not always a solution – see questions and answers here). In such a case a better way to leave money to stepchildren can be by paying it into a life assurance policy and designating them as the beneficiaries – although this will not be possible with “everything” you own.

Where the person wanting to adopt is French – or if they are British and the person to be adopted is under 18 – the application is made to the tribunal judiciare as long as the person adopting is at least 15 years older than the adopted person (10 in the case of adopting a spouse’s child).

Adults can be adopted by a French person if they consent. French law allows for a person to be adopted even if they have another living parent of the same sex (although this person must consent).

There are two kinds of French adoption – full and simple, and only the latter is possible if the adopted person is aged over 20. Only in limited conditions can a person adopted under the "simple" form be treated as a child for inheritance purposes; however one of these is where the person to be adopted is a spouse's child from a previous marriage (ie. a stepchild).

Proposals for change

Moves are underway that could make things easier for step-parents and stepchildren.

President Macron, a stepfather himself, said prior to the presidential elections in 2022 that he planned to make changes to the inheritance and gift tax allowances to help people who are not direct-line descendants of the deceased.

In a ‘letter to the French people’ in April 2022 about his presidential programme, he pledged that there would be “no inheritance tax up to €150,000 allowance per child” (as opposed to the current €100,000). There would also be no tax up to €100,000 for bequests to other members of the family (grandchildren, nephews, nieces etc), the letter said.

He was also quoted prior to the election saying said that he wanted to adapt the inheritance tax regime to the reality of today’s society so step-children (ie. a partner’s children from another relationship) would also benefit.

However, these changes took a back seat.

During debate on the 2026 finance law, MPs later voted in favour of an amendment increasing the inheritance tax allowance for step-children under certain circumstances.

It stated that children of the surviving spouse or partner in a marriage or Pacs partnership can inherit a legacy left to them by their late step-parent with an allowance of €15,932, the same as currently applicable to the deceased’s siblings. The current allowance is €1,594.

This was under certain conditions: the deceased must have provided the children of their spouse or civil partner with “uninterrupted support and care as their primary caregiver since the marriage or civil partnership with one of their parents”. This must have been the case until the death or for at least five years if the child was a minor at the time of death.

If the stepchild was an adult at the time of death, the deceased must have provided for them for at least five years while they were a minor, or otherwise for 10 years in total.

This was seen as an advance in that at least it recognised the step-parent/stepchild relationship, however the proposal has on writing, failed along with the rest of the 2021 finance law. It may be revived again in some form. 

This came as the French notaires also called for change at their 2025 annual conference.

They voted to support the creation of a formal déclaration de beau-parentalité (step-parenthood declaration), which could be created as a legal deed signed in front of a notaire.

Under the plan, the declaration would link a child with their parent’s spouse or civil partner. While the child is a minor, the act would be one-sided. It would cease to operate if the couple separate, automatically once the child becomes an adult, or if a judge orders it.

Once the child turns 18, if it is reaffirmed (or signed for the first time), it would become bilateral and carry wider legal consequences.

The notaires propose that this be inscribed in the Code civil and have submitted the idea to the Justice Ministry. This does not have legal force but many existing laws put forward by the government or parliamentarians began this way.

Some 1.5 million children are estimated to live in so-called familles recomposées (with parents/children from different relationships) and millions more adults were raised in such families. However, until now there has been little formal recognition.

Notaires say the creation of a special status would avoid step-parents feeling forced into trying to adopt their partner’s child (this is not always desirable or legally possible). They say it could also affirm the step-parent’s specific role, which is neither that of a parent nor just that of a family friend, and also help ease the passing on of property.

During a person’s childhood, it would impose on the step-parent a duty of support and assistance (it would nonetheless be seen as secondary to the duties of the actual parents), while the child would owe a reciprocal duty of respect.

In adulthood, it could evolve into a two-way commitment, creating an obligation of mutual support. However, either party could later revoke it.