Procedure after a death

On the death of a person living in France those close to the deceased will, first of all, have to deal with the formalities of registering the death and making funeral arrangements (see here).

They should then, as soon as possible, contact a notaire and instruct him or her to wind up the estate and make necessary declarations. This is the same should the person die resident of another country but leave assets in France.

Where there was no will (and no donation entre époux arrangement to help a surviving spouse – see here) and the estate is very simple, relatives sometimes chose not to use a notaire and to deal with the declaration themselves (under: Comment faire la déclaration). This will not however be applicable if any real estate is involved or if the estate is worth more than €5,000.

In limited circumstances no declaration at all is required – where the net value of the estate is less than €3,000, or less than €50,000 if the person inheriting is the deceased's spouse, civil partner or child, as long as they have not previously benefited from an undeclared gift (not including ordinary gifts such as for birthdays).

Although each heir can fill out a declaration for their part of the inheritance, this is not advised. Usually all heirs fill one out together. They can also designate a proxy.

The declaration is made to the local service des impôts if the deceased was resident in France or, if they lived abroad and had French assets, at the Service des impôts des particuliers non résidents at Noisy-le-Grand (tel: 00 33 (0)1 72 95 20 42, Monday to Friday, 9.00-16.00). Usually the notaire will deal with this.

If there is a will, this may have been prepared by a notaire and deposited in his or her archives, or it may be olographe (hand-written by the testator) in which case it may or may not also have been deposited with a notaire. See more on different types of wills here. 

Wills deposited with a notaire will be registered at the FCDDV wills register.

If the will is in English the notaire will require an official translation of both the will and any related probate documents.

If there is no will the notaire will deal with the intestacy situation according to French inheritance rules (see here).

The first step for the notaire is to consider what belonged to the deceased when they died, bearing in mind the nature of any matrimonial regime (ie. so as to separate out, if relevant, what belongs to the person's spouse). 

All marriages in France are deemed to be covered by a marriage regime that determines how property is owned within the marriage. If no deliberate choice was made, there is a default regime, which is different depending on where the marriage took place.

Close family should supply the notaire with relevant documents allowing him or her to identify those set to inherit (livret de famille, marriage contract, divorce judgements etc), and any will that the deceased had kept at home, if one exists.

The notaire will check the FCDDV and draw up a list of the deceased's estate.

This should include an identification and valuation of their possessions, including bank accounts, shares, furniture etc, as well as an assessment of their debts.

The heirs should pass on relevant documents such as share certificates, bank statements, bills, loan offers etc, and make known important prior events related to the deceased's estate, such as purchases and sales, gifts, companies they set up etc.

The notaire can consult the FICOBA register to find out about bank accounts in the deceased's name and the FICOVIE register to discover assurance vie policies taken out in someone's favour, if the potential beneficiary gives permission.

État du patrimoine or inventaire

The notaire draws up an état du patrimoine or inventaire (inventory) which should as far as possible include the deceased's worldwide estate. Only an inventory of French-situated estate was traditionally required if the deceased was not French-resident, but the 2021 inheritance law (see here) has been interpreted to mean that the worldwide estate should be inventoried for purposes of checking on the amount that heirs can potentially claim, even though this may not be easy for the notaire to do. This is one of several reasons why notaires oppose the law.

Where there is difficulty in determining a value, an expert may be required.

The notaire adds where applicable the value of certain lifetime gifts that the deceased made.

Masse successorale

All this gives the masse successorale, the inheritance to be shared between those designated as heirs by law and/or a will.

There are penalties against any heir found to have deliberately hidden the existence of part of the estate or of a significant lifetime gift from the deceased (called recel successoral).

When the notaire has all the details, a document setting out all the information is prepared for signature by those instructing him or her, along with a tax declaration, which they also have to sign.

Acte de notoriété

When this is done the notaire prepares an acte de notoriété – a formal legal deed stating who the heirs of the deceased are and how much of the estate is owing to each (for estates of less than €5,000 the acte de notoriété can be replaced by an attestation signed by all the heirs).

The notaire pays the inheritance duties due by each inheritor out of his or her share and distributes what remains.

Taxes, to avoid penalties, must be paid within six months of death if the deceased died in mainland France, otherwise they must be paid within a year. There are penalties of 0.4%/month for late declaration.

The acte de notoriété is the document that unlocks access to the deceased's assets, such as bank accounts and investments and enables a car registered in the sole name of the deceased to be sold.

Even if executors have been appointed (see here), they play no significant part in this procedure other than to help and advise the notaire. The assets of the deceased do not, as in English law, vest in the executors. They remain in limbo until the acte de notoriété is available.

With regard to real estate there should also be a notarised deed to vest the property in its new owners – this can be left until a sale is envisaged.

For work on the inheritance the notaire receives a fee fixed by law (plus expenses) to which will be added the costs of any additional deeds (notarised documents) that must be prepared.

When heirs cannot be found...

The acte de notoriété, setting out who will inherit, can only be drawn up once the notaire has run checks, which should go beyond just asking the closest known relatives. If in doubt as to who all the heirs are or how to contact them a généalogiste successoral may be appointed.