Estate planning slides down most people’s to-do lists, and moving abroad makes it more complicated, which tends to push it further down. Yet Americans overseas are exactly the people for whom a bit of planning makes the biggest difference, because without it a family can end up dealing with two legal systems, two sets of banks and two tax authorities at once.

This is a general overview of what to think about, written to help you have a more useful conversation with professionals. It is not legal or tax advice. The rules on wills, inheritance and tax differ from country to country and change over time, so for decisions about your own situation, please speak to qualified lawyers and tax advisers in the country where you live and in the US.

Why living abroad changes the picture

An American’s estate abroad can touch several legal systems at once. The country where you live usually has its own rules about who inherits and how an estate is administered. A US state’s law may apply to a US will or to property in that state. And the US taxes its citizens’ estates on a worldwide basis, while your country of residence may have an inheritance tax of its own.

Some countries, particularly those with civil law systems, also have “forced heirship” rules that reserve a share of an estate for children or a spouse whatever a will says. In most of the European Union, the EU Succession Regulation lets people choose the law of their nationality to govern their succession instead of the law of their habitual residence, by saying so in a will. The EU’s Your Europe page on cross-border inheritance explains the basics. The regulation doesn’t apply in Denmark or Ireland, and how a choice of “US law” works in practice, given that wills and inheritance in the US are mostly a matter of state law, is very much a question for a lawyer.

One will or two

A common question is whether you need a will in each country. There’s no single answer. Some people manage with one will that is recognized in both places; others, particularly those who own property in more than one country, have a will in each, each covering the assets in that country. If you do have two, they need to be drafted so that neither accidentally revokes the other, which is a classic mistake when a new will includes a standard clause revoking “all previous wills”.

Whatever you decide, make sure your family knows where every will is kept, and that your lawyers in each country know about the other.

Beneficiary designations

A surprising amount of many people’s money doesn’t pass under their will at all. US retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs, life insurance, and bank or brokerage accounts with a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death beneficiary generally go to whoever is named on the account. Pensions and insurance in your country of residence may have their own nomination forms.

Reviewing these is one of the easiest and most valuable parts of estate planning. Check every account, make sure the beneficiaries are who you want after any marriage, divorce or birth, and keep a note of who is named where.

US estate tax, in general terms

The US federal estate tax is assessed on the value of everything you own or have certain interests in at death, and for a US citizen that includes property outside the United States. In practice, most estates owe no federal estate tax, because of the basic exclusion amount. The IRS lists it as $15,000,000 for people who die in 2026, and an estate tax return is generally only required when the gross estate (plus certain lifetime gifts) exceeds that threshold. A surviving spouse can also elect to take over the unused part of the exclusion, which is done on a timely filed estate tax return. The IRS estate tax page has the current figures.

That threshold doesn’t make the question disappear for everyone. Some US states have their own estate or inheritance taxes, and your country of residence may tax inheritances starting from far smaller amounts than the US threshold. The US has estate and gift tax treaties with a small number of countries, which can affect how the two systems interact; the IRS keeps a list of estate and gift tax treaties.

If your spouse is not a US citizen

Many Americans abroad are married to someone who isn’t American, and this is one area where the US rules really do differ. Normally, property left to a surviving spouse can pass free of federal estate tax under the unlimited marital deduction. When the surviving spouse is not a US citizen, that deduction generally isn’t available unless the property passes into a qualified domestic trust, known as a QDOT, and the executor makes the election on the estate tax return. The rule is set out in the regulations at 26 CFR 20.2056A-1.

Lifetime gifts are treated differently too. For 2026, the IRS says the annual exclusion for gifts to a spouse who is not a US citizen is $194,000, compared with the general annual exclusion of $19,000 per person. Its 2026 inflation adjustments list both figures. It’s worth raising with an adviser who works with cross-border families.

Guardianship for children

If you have children under 18, naming who would look after them is arguably more important than anything about money. Writing your wishes in a letter doesn’t usually appoint a guardian on its own. That normally needs a will or other formal document, and the rules depend on the country where your children live. If your preferred guardians live in a different country from your children, ask a lawyer how that would work in practice.

Powers of attorney and healthcare decisions

Estate planning isn’t only about death. If an accident or illness left you unable to make decisions, who could manage your money or speak to doctors? The answer depends on local law. A financial power of attorney, a healthcare power of attorney and an advance directive are the usual tools, but a document made under US law may not be recognized where you live, and vice versa. Many people end up with documents in both countries.

Digital accounts and documents

Online banking, email, photos and two-factor authentication are now part of every estate. Make sure a trusted person could get into your password manager in an emergency, consider legacy features such as Apple’s Legacy Contact and Google’s Inactive Account Manager, and note which phone numbers receive security codes. We go into this in our guide to helping your family reach your accounts.

Documents from one country often need an official translation or an apostille before another will accept them, so note where any translated or apostilled copies are.

A checklist to take to your advisers

Pulling the above together, these are the questions worth working through, ideally with professionals in both countries:

  • Do I need a will in each country where I have assets, and do my wills work together without revoking each other?
  • Which country’s inheritance rules would apply to me, and can or should I choose the law of my nationality?
  • Are the beneficiaries on my retirement accounts, insurance and bank accounts up to date?
  • Could my estate be liable for US estate tax, state estate or inheritance tax, or inheritance tax where I live, and is there a treaty?
  • If my spouse isn’t a US citizen, what do the non-citizen spouse rules mean for us?
  • Have I formally named guardians for my children under the law of the country where they live?
  • Do I have financial and healthcare powers of attorney that will be accepted where they’d be needed?
  • Can a trusted person reach my digital accounts and my password manager?
  • Does my family know where all of these documents are, and who my advisers are in each country?

The US embassy or consulate in your country publishes lists of local attorneys, which can be a starting point if you don’t already have a lawyer there. Look yours up at usembassy.gov.

Making the plan findable

The best plan in the world doesn’t help if nobody can find it. Once the legal documents exist, the last step is a simple record of what’s where: which wills, which powers of attorney, which accounts and beneficiaries, which advisers. Just in Case, Abroad: US Edition is a fillable binder that holds exactly that. It isn’t a will and doesn’t replace one, but it helps the people you leave behind find your will and understand what you wanted.

Includes pages for wills in more than one country, powers of attorney, translations and apostilles, beneficiaries and US retirement accounts. See what’s inside the binder.

Official sources