Yes, that simplifies the succession. The tax implications are bit more tricky.
General donations while you are alive are similar in terms of French tax, as you get tax credit of 50-75% depending on type of charity. I believe this too will change next year as UK charities will no longer be European ones. I have yet to find an authoritative answer to this…
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GO AND SEE A NOTAIRE!
Sorry to shout but that is really all the advice you need 
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And even louder ONE WITH EXPERIENCE IN CROSS-BORDER ESTATES.
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For once I don’t fully agree with you Véronique. Although seeing a notaire is obviously vital, it’s not all the advice you need - I know this from very long experience of routinely dealing lawyers in my work life. The best way to get the best advice from them is to find out as much as you easily can before talking with them (and this forum can provide useful details and the experience of others) - so when you do go to the lawyer you have a clearer idea of all the things you need to ask, aspects or implications of the issue you perhaps hadn’t previously considered, and a better chance of fully understanding what might be complex answers.
@Geof_Cox
You are right of course - it was an oversimplification 
but I do think it is worth going and seeing what they have to say, and then asking around and going back with more info.
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Thankyou!
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Thankyou all! I always look behind every bush and think about the possibility there will always be surprises. Have a mistrust of taking just one piece of advice but am able to make decisions after being fully informed!
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I thought I had everything covered at the Notaire when I bought MY house 22 yrs ago but when I divorced after 37 yrs of marriage I spent 10 yrs in the French tribunal fighting to keep My house. Laws change all the time and their are always loopholes. Get the best cross border legal advise you can.
- My posts in this thread included two references. The first was europa.eu - an official site of the EU,
the second was an article by Barbara Heslop - she and her team are all French trained lawyers. - The OP stated "at the moment we have wills under British law ", therefore as alluded to, both jurisdictions are relevant.
- Domiciliation rather than residency determines inheritance tax liability.
It wasn’t a scientific analysis of your contributions, merely an impression that you write as if you were non-resident here.
Can’t understand what this means in relation to France … please can you clarify… ??
In the main, I would have thought life is quite clear… (and death… 
) and one knows full well if one is Resident in France (French Resident)… or merely “visiting”… 
Stella, rather than attempt to explain this complicated subject I will include two links and a short extract from one of those sites. Both are from a UK perspective. If somebody was born and / or lived outside of the UK then the domiciliation rules of those particular countries may be applicable. I recommend that professional financial advice is sought.
Extract from HMRC’s website:
## When you will not count as living abroad
HMRC will treat you as being domiciled in the UK if you either:
- lived in the UK for 15 of the last 20 years
- had your permanent home in the UK at any time in the last 3 years of your life
I’ve taken a look at your links… interesting stuff but …
I rather suspect that France will demand its “pound of flesh” re Inheritance Tax for folk Resident in France… no matter what the UK likes to say… 
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Yes, for most of us this who are permanent long term residents this is fairly irrelevant. Brussels IV is useful for people with complicated family structures, but probably not worth the bother for others.
Having had discussions with several french friends as they’ve worked their way through French probate the conclusion I came to is to take advice, and interrogate it hard, but keep things as simple as possible. It is not a moment in your life when you will be wanting to extend or complicate administration. Administering an UK estate is GCSE level, a French one needs a PhD.
Very interesting for Brits, but does all this also apply tp Americans?
Brussels IV applies in relation to deaths on or after 17 August 2015 in all 27 EU member states except Denmark and Ireland and the UK.
I think the US has a whole raft of different requirements.
Has anyone reviewed or does anyone have current knowledge of French law when using a foreign will (USA for us)??
Exactly. Having looked into domicile (as compared to residence) earlier this year, I agree with Nigel. Technically, domicile rules.
However practically, this is France. In the case of ‘real’ ‘immovable’ property i.e. land and buildings, good luck trying to tell the Impôts here that inheritance tax is not owed. Regardless of the difference the UK will respect, between residence and domicile, this is not going to happen without some very clever planning at time of purchase eg SCI or more convoluted structures.
If you think about it, it’s kind of logical. You can’t just physically pick up and move immovable property out of reach of its country’s taxman.
With movable property, i.e.anything owned that is not land or buildings, possibly domicile will be respected. But with immovable property, practically, not a chance.
Forgot to mention a neighbour here seems to have solved the problem by gifting or selling (not sure which) his land & buildings to their (only) child some time ago.