- A legs (bequest) to an association or foundation recognised as being of public interest or public utility is completely exempt from French inheritance tax under Article 795 CGI
- This is different from a lifetime donation: a legs only takes effect on your death, through a will, and only benefits the charity — it doesn't reduce tax on what goes to your other heirs
- The association has to formally accept the bequest for it to take effect, and it can't be used to bypass the reserved share (réserve héréditaire) owed to children or a spouse
- A legs and naming a charity as an Assurance Vie beneficiary are two separate tools — you can use both for the same charity at the same time
- UK charities generally don't qualify for the exemption — it's restricted to EU/EEA-headquartered organisations since Brexit, so leaving money to a UK-only charity is taxed like any other unrecognised bequest
- Several of the animal charities running 2026 wildfire relief accept and actively encourage legs, not just cash donations
Giving to Charities on Death
If you've read our guide on donating to animal charities after the 2026 wildfires, you'll know that a cash donation now gets you a 66% income tax reduction. A legs is a completely different mechanism, done through your will, and it comes with a materially better tax outcome — full exemption, not a partial reduction.
It's also one of the most overlooked tools in French estate planning. Our guide to inheritance tax when you have no children flags this directly: for anyone without close family, a charitable legs is often dismissed as irrelevant when it's actually one of the most tax-efficient ways to direct part of an estate — precisely because the alternative, for anyone beyond your nearest relatives, is a French inheritance tax bill that can run as high as 60%.
What a legs actually is
A legs is a bequest — a gift that only takes legal effect when you die, made through a will rather than during your lifetime. It's fundamentally different from a lifetime donation (like the cash gifts covered in our wildfire charity guide), which happens now and reduces your income tax this year.
There are three types, and the difference matters for how you word your will:
- Legs universel — the charity receives your entire estate (or what's left of it once other bequests and the reserved share, if any, are accounted for)
- Legs à titre universel — the charity receives a defined share of your estate (a quarter, a half, and so on)
- Legs à titre particulier — the charity receives a specific, named asset — a sum of money, a property, a specific item
Most people leaving something to a charity alongside gifts to family use a legs à titre particulier or à titre universel, reserving the legs universel structure for cases where there's genuinely no family to inherit at all.
The tax treatment: full exemption!
Under Article 795 of the Code général des impôts, a bequest to an association or foundation recognised as being of public interest (intérêt général) or public utility (reconnue d'utilité publique) is entirely exempt from French inheritance tax — no allowance to calculate, no rate applied, no cap. Compare that to what a friend or unrelated individual would face on the same amount: a €1,594 allowance, then 60% tax on everything above it, as covered in our no-children inheritance guide.
The exemption specifically covers organisations whose funds go toward recognised public-interest purposes — assistance, education, culture, science, environmental protection, and similar categories.
How to make a legs
You cannot just write a name into a will. The following two conditions have to be met:
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The will has to be validly drafted. Either a holographic will — entirely handwritten, dated, and signed by you, with no crossing-out — or an authentic will drawn up before a notaire, which is the more secure route and the one most notaires recommend once a charity is involved. See our guide to French wills and the notaire process for the full comparison of will types and costs. Important: whichever form you use, the association's exact legal name, address, and ideally its registration number should be stated precisely — an imprecise or ambiguous description of the beneficiary is one of the most common ways a well-intentioned legs runs into difficulty after death.
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The association must formally accept the bequest. A legs cannot be forced onto a charity. A standard formality for an established, well-run association actively seeking bequests.
In practice, this happens through the notaire handling your succession: they formally notify the association of the bequest, and the association's governing board approves accepting it. The notaire then declares the legs to the prefecture where the association is based, by registered letter. The prefecture has 4 months from receiving that letter to object — if it doesn't, the acceptance stands. This process only starts after your death, as part of settling the succession — there's nothing for you or the charity to file while you're alive.
The Reserved Share
If you have children, or in some circumstances a spouse, French law reserves part of your estate for them regardless of what your will says — the réserve héréditaire, covered in more detail in our general guide to how inheritance tax works in France. A legs — however it's structured — can only ever apply to the disposable portion of your estate (the quotité disponible), not the reserved share.
In practice, this means a legs universel naming a charity as sole beneficiary would, if you have children, be automatically reduced down to whatever the disposable portion actually is once the reserved share is set aside. This is a good reason an authentic will (drawn up with a notaire) is generally the safer route once children or a spouse are involved.
What about UK Charities?
For a UK expat, the natural instinct is often to leave something to a charity back home — an RSPCA, a Cancer Research UK, a favourite UK animal shelter. This is where the exemption stops working the way most people assume.
A UK-registered charity does not qualify for the Article 795 exemption. The exemption extends beyond France's own borders, but only to a specific group: Article 795-0 A extends it to organisations headquartered in an EU member state, or in an EEA state that has concluded an administrative assistance agreement with France (in practice, Iceland, Norway, or Liechtenstein — France's only EEA partners outside the EU) — provided the organisation meets equivalent conditions to a French one. The UK left the EU on 1 January 2021, and no transitional relief was given for this specific exemption. A UK charity simply falls outside it.
In practice, this means a legs to a UK-only charity is treated the same as a legs to any other unrecognised organisation — it doesn't get Article 795's exemption, and depending on the charity's legal form, may not be a valid tax-exempt beneficiary at all under French succession rules.
What this means practically, if giving to a specific UK cause matters to you:
- Check whether the charity has a French or EU-registered arm or "friends of" organisation — many larger UK charities do, precisely because of this kind of cross-border restriction, and giving to the French/EU entity instead can restore the exemption
- Consider a French or EU-based charity working in the same cause area instead — several of the animal-welfare associations in our wildfire donation guide work in exactly the same space as UK equivalents
- This is a genuinely easy detail to get wrong when drafting a will yourself — it's worth confirming the specific charity's status with a notaire before finalising the wording, rather than assuming a well-known UK name will be treated the same as a French one
How this fits alongside Assurance Vie
If you've read our guide on Assurance Vie for estate planning, you'll know that naming a beneficiary on an Assurance Vie contract is a separate, and separately tax-advantaged, way to pass on wealth — up to €152,500 tax-free per named beneficiary, under Article 990 I rather than Article 795.
The two aren't competing options — they're different tools that can be used together. A charity can be named as an Assurance Vie beneficiary (benefiting from that regime's own allowances) and separately receive a legs through your will (benefiting from full Article 795 exemption) — there's no rule preventing both. Which combination makes sense depends on the size of your estate, who else is inheriting, and whether children or a spouse are involved — genuinely a conversation for a notaire rather than a DIY decision, given how much the reserved-share mechanics can shift the outcome.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is a legs to a charity really tax-free, with no cap?
Yes, provided the association or foundation is recognised as being of public interest or public utility. Article 795 CGI exempts the bequest from inheritance tax entirely — there's no allowance to apply and no cap, unlike the income-tax reduction on lifetime cash donations.
How is a legs different from just donating money to charity now?
A lifetime donation happens immediately and reduces your income tax this year, at 66% of what you give. A legs only takes effect on your death, through your will, and is fully exempt from inheritance tax rather than partially reduced. They're separate tools, not two versions of the same thing.
Can I leave my whole estate to a charity if I have children?
No, not entirely. French law reserves part of your estate for children (and in some cases a spouse) regardless of what your will says. A legs can only apply to the disposable portion of your estate — a legs universel naming a charity would be automatically reduced to whatever that disposable portion actually is.
Do I need a notaire to leave a legs to a charity?
Not strictly — a handwritten (holographic) will is legally valid. But once children, a spouse, or any meaningful reserved-share complexity is involved, an authentic will drawn up with a notaire is the safer route, since they can check the wording against the reserved-share rules before it becomes an issue after your death.
Can I name a charity as both an Assurance Vie beneficiary and leave it a legs?
Yes. The two mechanisms are separate and can be combined — an Assurance Vie beneficiary designation under Article 990 I, and a legs through your will under Article 795, don't conflict with each other.
Can I leave a tax-exempt legs to a UK charity?
Generally no. Article 795-0 A extends the exemption to organisations headquartered in the EU, Iceland, Norway, or Liechtenstein — the UK has been excluded since Brexit took effect on 1 January 2021, with no transitional relief. A legs to a UK-only charity doesn't get the exemption, though many larger UK charities have a French or EU-registered arm that would still qualify.
Sources: Article 795, Code général des impôts (charitable bequest inheritance tax exemption) · Article 795-0 A, Code général des impôts (extension of the exemption to EU/EEA-headquartered organisations, and the post-Brexit exclusion of UK-based charities) · BOFiP — BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-20-20-20 (official administrative doctrine on the exemption's scope and conditions) · Fondation pour la Nature et l'Homme — "Comment faire un legs à une association ou une fondation reconnue d'utilité publique ?" (practical will-drafting requirements) · service-public.gouv.fr — "Dons, donations et legs au bénéfice d'une association" (notaire's role, prefecture declaration, and the 4-month objection window, per Article 910 Code civil and Décret n°2007-807)