Will I inherit uncle's property?

MY UNCLE has never married, has no children and has a property in France. The only remaining family he has is my brother and I. Will we automatically inherit? Or could he leave the property to someone outside the family? P.M.

You are thinking of the French rules on réserve héreditaire - the part of a person’s property that they must leave to certain family members.

However notaire François Trémosa, from the Groupe Monassier in Toulouse said this only relates to descendants of the person themselves - children or, if there are none alive, grandchildren etc.

Also the réserve is only a part of the estate (half in the case of one child, for example), not all of it. In this case your uncle would be free to leave all of his property to whoever he wishes.