EU Civil Law and Life Insurance: When a Trust Is Not the Answer
In the UK, a trust removes a life insurance policy from the estate and eliminates its Inheritance Tax exposure. In France, Germany, Spain, and Belgium — the four largest continental European UHNWI markets — the trust either does not exist in local law or is explicitly ignored for tax purposes. This piece examines what that means in practice and what tools actually work in each jurisdiction. GLOBAL ESTATE PLANNING SERIESOverview — The Global LandscapePart 2 — EU Civil Law: France, Germany, Spain and Belgium (You are here)Part 3 — The UAE and GCC: Succession Without Estate TaxPart 4 — Japan and Asia: The World’s Highest Inheritance Tax RatePart 5 — The United States: Estate Tax, the ILIT, and Where PPLI