Succession rules

Children and grandchildren – and, in their absence, a surviving spouse – have reserved rights to a share of the estate.

They are called héritiers réservataires (heirs to a 'reserved' portion). Then what is left to be disposed of by will is the quotité disponible.

In the absence of a will there are rules providing for children, surviving spouses and parents (see here) and, in their absence, other relatives in decreasing order of closeness. See here for a tool to see who your legal heirs would usually be.

In theory an heir can lose their right by 'unworthy' behaviour towards the deceased but in practice this is usually only in extreme cases where they have murdered them or attempted to!

When it comes to spouses (called époux or conjoints) have the most rights.

Partenaire refers to those with a French pacs – or UK civil partnership.

Others living together are called concubin(e)s or compagnon (m) / compagne (f).

If you are unmarried a will or assurance vie may help to provide for your partner.