{ "_meta": { "generated": "2026-07-26", "purpose": "Private-international-law instruments in which NATIONALITY is a recognised elective connecting factor for personal status. Backs the choice_of_law_options MCP tool and the /which-law-governs-your-estate pillar page.", "verification_pass": "2026-07-26", "gate": "CLO review + Chairman sign-off required before any client-facing use." }, "disclaimer": "General information on conflict-of-laws instruments, not legal advice. Whether any election is available or effective depends on the full facts — habitual residence, nationalities and their timing, asset situs, family structure, formal validity, and the forum actually seised. Confirm with qualified counsel in every relevant jurisdiction. Mirabello Consultancy Ltd. does not provide legal opinions and does not advise on tax.", "instruments": [ { "id": "eu-650-2012", "short": "EU Succession Regulation", "citation": "Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 (\"Brussels IV\")", "domain": "succession", "applies_from": "2015-08-17", "applies_to": "Successions of persons who died on or after 17 August 2015.", "territorial_scope": "All EU Member States EXCEPT Denmark and Ireland. (The United Kingdom is outside the regime.)", "scope_type": "all_member_states_except", "excluded_states": [ "DK", "IE" ], "default_rule": { "article": "21(1)", "connecting_factor": "habitual_residence_at_death", "text": "The law of the State in which the deceased had their habitual residence at the time of death governs the succession as a whole.", "escape": "Art 21(2): the law of a manifestly more closely connected State may apply exceptionally." }, "election": { "available": true, "article": "22", "connecting_factor": "nationality", "timing_rule": "Nationality held EITHER at the time the choice is made OR at the time of death.", "multiple_nationalities": "A person holding several nationalities may choose the law of any one of them.", "form_requirement": "The choice must be made EXPRESSLY in a declaration in the form of a disposition of property upon death, or be demonstrated by the terms of such a disposition. Holding the nationality does nothing on its own.", "retrospective_cure": true }, "universal_application": { "article": "20", "text": "Any law designated by the Regulation applies whether or not it is the law of a Member State. A third-country law may therefore be elected and an EU court is directed to apply it." }, "scope_of_applicable_law": { "article": "23", "covers": [ "determination of beneficiaries and their shares", "capacity to inherit; disinheritance and disqualification", "the disposable part, the reserved shares and other restrictions on disposal (forced heirship)", "powers of heirs, executors and administrators", "liability for the debts of the estate", "collation and reduction of lifetime gifts (clawback)" ] }, "limits": [ { "article": "1(2)(a)", "limit": "Revenue, customs and administrative matters are EXCLUDED. The Regulation has no effect on inheritance or succession tax." }, { "article": "1(2)(d)", "limit": "Matrimonial property regimes are EXCLUDED. The marital estate is liquidated as a preliminary question before succession law operates." }, { "article": "30", "limit": "Special rules imposed by the law of the State where certain assets are situated, for economic, family or social reasons (e.g. agricultural holdings, family undertakings), override the applicable law." }, { "article": "35", "limit": "Public policy: application may be refused where manifestly incompatible with the public policy of the forum." }, { "article": "75", "limit": "Pre-existing international conventions between a Member State and a third State prevail over the Regulation." } ], "key_case_law": [ { "case": "C-21/22, OP v Notariusz Justyna Gawlica", "date": "2023-10-12", "holding": "Article 22 must be interpreted as meaning that a THIRD-COUNTRY NATIONAL residing in a Member State may choose the law of that third State to govern their succession as a whole.", "significance": "Direct support for an election of a non-EU nationality's law. Also addressed Art 75 and the priority of a pre-existing bilateral agreement.", "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62022CJ0021", "verified": "2026-07-26" } ], "national_overlays": [ { "state": "FR", "provision": "Code civil art. 913 al. 3 (loi n° 2021-1109, in force 1 Nov 2021)", "effect": "Droit de prélèvement compensatoire: where the deceased OR a child is an EU national or EU-habitually-resident at death, AND the applicable foreign law knows no protective reserved mechanism for children, the children may take compensation from FRENCH-SITUS assets up to the French reserved share.", "current_position": "European Commission pre-closure letter CPLT(2022)03325 (June 2026) resolved the infringement complaint on a literal and restrictive reading, treating common-law FAMILY PROVISION regimes as a functional equivalent of the réserve. The levy therefore survives formally but is largely inoperative where the elected law has any protective mechanism.", "caveats": [ "A Commission pre-closure letter does not bind the French courts.", "Exact status (pre-closure vs final closure) and precise date require confirmation.", "A reported Cour d'appel de Versailles decision of 6 November 2025 is UNVERIFIED and may cut the other way." ], "confidence": "medium-high", "verification_status": "counsel_required" } ] }, { "id": "eu-2016-1103", "short": "EU Matrimonial Property Regulation", "citation": "Council Regulation (EU) 2016/1103", "domain": "matrimonial_property", "applies_from": "2019-01-29", "territorial_scope": "Enhanced cooperation — 18 participating Member States only. NOT EU-wide.", "scope_type": "enhanced_cooperation", "participating_states": [ "AT", "BE", "BG", "CY", "CZ", "DE", "EL", "ES", "FI", "FR", "HR", "IT", "LU", "MT", "NL", "PT", "SE", "SI" ], "participating_count": 18, "participation_source": "European e-Justice Portal — matters of matrimonial property regimes", "election": { "available": true, "article": "22", "connecting_factor": "habitual_residence_or_nationality", "timing_rule": "Habitual residence of either spouse, or the NATIONALITY OF EITHER SPOUSE AT THE TIME THE AGREEMENT IS CONCLUDED.", "retrospective_cure": false, "timing_warning": "CRITICAL: unlike the Succession Regulation, there is NO 'or at death' fallback. The nationality must be held when the agreement is made. Acquire first, elect second — the sequence is not interchangeable.", "form_requirement": "The agreement must be in writing, dated and signed by both spouses; additional formal requirements of the relevant Member State may apply.", "change_during_marriage": "Generally prospective only unless the spouses agree otherwise; retrospective effect cannot prejudice third-party rights." }, "universal_application": { "article": "20", "text": "The designated law applies whether or not it is the law of a participating or Member State." }, "limits": [ { "limit": "Governs matrimonial PROPERTY consequences only — not succession, divorce, maintenance, parental responsibility, company ownership or tax." }, { "limit": "Outside the 18 participating states, national conflict rules apply instead." } ] }, { "id": "eu-1259-2010", "short": "Rome III", "citation": "Council Regulation (EU) No 1259/2010", "domain": "divorce_and_legal_separation", "applies_from": "2012-06-21", "territorial_scope": "Enhanced cooperation — 17 participating Member States only.", "scope_type": "enhanced_cooperation", "participating_states": [ "AT", "BE", "BG", "DE", "EE", "EL", "ES", "FR", "HU", "IT", "LT", "LU", "LV", "MT", "PT", "RO", "SI" ], "participating_count": 17, "election": { "available": true, "article": "5", "connecting_factor": "habitual_residence_or_nationality_or_forum", "options": [ "law of the State of habitual residence of the spouses at the time of agreement", "law of the State of last habitual residence where one spouse still resides there", "law of the State of NATIONALITY of either spouse at the time of agreement", "law of the forum" ], "bilateral_only": true, "timing_warning": "CRITICAL: this is a BILATERAL agreement — both spouses must agree. It is not a unilateral lever a client can pull by acquiring a nationality." }, "limits": [ { "limit": "Governs divorce and legal separation ONLY — not jurisdiction, matrimonial property, maintenance, parental responsibility, trusts or succession." }, { "limit": "The forum may refuse a designated law that is manifestly incompatible with its public policy." } ] }, { "id": "ch-pila", "short": "Swiss PILA (revised international succession law)", "citation": "Swiss Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA/IPRG/LDIP), revised succession provisions", "domain": "succession", "applies_from": "2025-01-01", "territorial_scope": "Switzerland. NOT bound by Regulation 650/2012 — an independent, parallel regime.", "scope_type": "national", "default_rule": { "connecting_factor": "last_domicile", "text": "The succession of a person last domiciled in Switzerland is in principle governed by Swiss law." }, "election": { "available": true, "article": "90-91 rev-PILA", "connecting_factor": "nationality", "text": "Professio juris: a testator may submit their estate to the law of one of their national States, by will or inheritance contract. Under the revision both Swiss and foreign nationals have this right.", "timing_warning": "CRITICAL TRAP: the choice is VOID if, at the time of death, the decedent no longer held that nationality OR had acquired Swiss nationality. Naturalising in Switzerland can silently destroy an existing professio juris.", "form_requirement": "Must be made in a will or inheritance contract." }, "limits": [ { "limit": "Swiss forced-heirship rules remain reserved and continue to apply to the estates of Swiss (including dual) nationals notwithstanding a choice of foreign national law." }, { "limit": "Revision entered into force 1 January 2025 — confirm the position for deaths and instruments predating it." } ], "confidence": "medium", "verification_status": "counsel_required", "relevance_note": "Directly relevant to Mirabello's Zurich base: for a foreign national resident in Switzerland this is a live, brand-native election that is independent of the EU instruments." } ], "cross_cutting_principles": [ { "principle": "Nationality is a connecting factor in DEFINED instruments — not a universal choice-of-law key.", "note": "Each instrument has its own domain, territorial scope, timing rule and formalities. There is no single election that governs personal status as a whole." }, { "principle": "An election is an ACT, not a status.", "note": "Holding a nationality achieves nothing by itself. Every instrument requires a properly executed declaration or agreement in the prescribed form." }, { "principle": "Timing rules differ and several cannot be cured retrospectively.", "note": "650/2012 accepts nationality held at choice OR at death. 2016/1103 and Rome III require it at the time of the agreement only." }, { "principle": "The trade is a fixed reserved share for a discretionary dependency claim.", "note": "Electing a common-law testamentary-freedom system does not eliminate family claims. It generally exchanges a fixed forced-heirship reserve for a discretionary family-provision claim. Which is preferable is a question of family facts, not of law." }, { "principle": "Situs discipline survives every election.", "note": "Mandatory lex situs rules, registry practice, local probate procedure and national overlays such as French art. 913 al. 3 operate on assets regardless of the elected law." }, { "principle": "None of this is tax.", "note": "Succession and inheritance taxation follow asset situs, the deceased's residence and, in several states, the heir's residence. No election under any of these instruments changes a tax position." }, { "principle": "Arrange early.", "note": "Structuring undertaken once a dispute has arisen or become foreseeable is vulnerable to abuse-of-process and re-characterisation arguments." } ], "out_of_scope": [ "Tax advice of any kind, including inheritance, gift and exit taxation.", "Legal opinions on the validity or enforceability of any will, agreement or structure.", "Litigation strategy or advocacy.", "Any assurance that an election will defeat mandatory rules or prevent a claim.", "Immigration eligibility determinations." ], "legal_notice": "General information about private-international-law instruments, published by Mirabello Consultancy Ltd., a Swiss investment-migration advisory. NOT legal advice, NOT tax advice, NOT a legal opinion. Mirabello Consultancy Ltd. is not a law firm and does not practise law in any jurisdiction. Use of this data creates no adviser-client relationship and no duty of care. Outcomes turn on the complete facts, habitual residence and domicile, asset situs, formal validity and the forum actually seised; nothing here determines how any estate will devolve. Entries marked \"counsel required\" are our working position and are NOT verified against the governing statute; absence of a recorded protective mechanism is not a finding that none exists. No warranty of accuracy, currency or completeness is given, and to the fullest extent permitted by law no liability is accepted for reliance. Obtain advice from counsel admitted in each relevant jurisdiction before acting." }