Marital Property Regimes in Western Europe and their Effect on the U.S. Estate Settlement

Description

An adviser’s guide to why the matrimonial property regime must be identified before the U.S. gross estate can be sized; the three families of matrimonial property law and the statutory default regime of each Western European jurisdiction; the participation regimes of Germany and Switzerland and the German equalization claim at death; which law governs the regime of a couple that has relocated, under the EU Regulation, the Hague Convention, national conflict of law rules and the rules applied in a U.S. forum; the composition of the U.S. gross estate, the community property basis adjustment, the marital deduction and the qualified domestic trust; the estate tax treaties that address spousal transfers and community property; the gift tax and reporting consequences of a change of regime; and the practice points that follow.
30 pages. Updated in September 2026.