Who inherits if there is no will?

My husband and I are shortly moving to France and intend to purchase a property there from equity released when we sell our UK home. We are both in our early 40s, and in good health. We have no children and do not plan to have any. We haven’t yet made a will. We both have small families – our parents, one sister each, and my sister has a son, our nephew. 

Should we make an English will before we leave, or a French will after we move? If we don’t make a will, who would inherit if either of us die, or if both of us die, when we have no dependents?

If you are leaving the UK permanently, and not retaining any assets in the UK, it is probably the case that there is little need for an English will. While an English will would in principle be valid for use in France, it would probably be easier to apply a French will at the time of your deaths. 

However, you will need to take specific advice on the inheritance tax consequences that will affect your estates: it is perfectly possible for you to leave everything to the survivor of you two at the time of the first death, and – since you are married – that will not generate any inheritance tax.

However, tax will arise on the second death, the amount depending on who will inherit. French inheritance tax and the level of personal tax-free allowance vary depending on the proximity between the deceased and eventual beneficiary. The tax could well be as high as 60%, depending on who would inherit, and from whom. See here.