Foreign grants, local authority, EU succession rules, long-term UK residence, IHT417, valuation and double-tax relief for cross-border estates.
This guide is part of ProbateHelp's Probate Process guide cluster. Estimated reading time: 11 min.
No. The asset holder or foreign jurisdiction may accept, recognise, reseal or reject it, or require a local notarial, court, tax or succession process. Obtain country-specific confirmation before assuming the UK grant gives authority.
No. Resealing depends on the foreign jurisdiction's current law and court practice. The Colonial Probates Acts concern resealing specified foreign grants in the UK; they do not create one worldwide outbound resealing system.
No. In participating EU states, Regulation 650/2012 generally points to habitual residence but allows a person to choose the law of a nationality for succession. Its application, local public-policy rules, matrimonial property, tax and asset-registration rules still need local advice.
For deaths from 6 April 2025, foreign assets owned outright are generally within scope when the deceased was a long-term UK resident, subject to transitional, tail and excluded-property rules. UK-situs assets and trusts have separate rules.
Use the current IHT417 with IHT400 where HMRC's full-account rules require details of foreign possessions and liabilities. Do not omit an asset because it is difficult to release or because a foreign tax return will also be filed.
Possibly. A double-tax convention may allocate taxing rights and credit, while unilateral relief can apply where no convention covers the charge. Relief depends on the country, tax, asset situs, event and evidence of foreign tax paid.