WHEN someone dies in France one of the most important formalities involves getting copies of an acte de décès.
This document is crucial to many of the procedures you will have to undertake in the subsequent days, weeks and months.
The first step towards getting this is for a doctor to medically certify that a person has died through a confidential medical certificate - le certificat médical constatant le décès.
This is to legally state the person has died. If the death took place at home, it is the doctor called to the house who will sign it. In a hospital, clinic or retirement home a staff doctor will sign it.
Violent deaths, including road accidents, must be notified to the police or gendarmerie, who will supply a certificate. In such cases the body may be transferred to an institut medico-légal, a special type of mortuary, where the body will be kept in a refrigerated facility, where an autopsy may be carried out.
It will then be transferred to a chambre funéraire or mortuaire on judicial permission.
Apart from the basic proof of death, this certificat médical will also contain extra information that is important in the following circumstances:
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■ Admission to a chambre funéraire (private or municipal mortuary)
■ Transport of the body before the coffin is sealed
■ Transport abroad after sealing or if the body is to be embalmed or cremated.
In such cases the certificate needs to show that there are no medical or legal matters of concern, that the person did not suffer from a list of contagious illnesses and (if they are to be cremated) they did not have a pacemaker.
Within 24 hours an official déclaration de décès (declaration of death) must be made, which can be done by anyone.
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If the death occurs in hospital they will do this for you otherwise you should declare the death taking the certificat médical and identification to show who you are as well as some form of identification for the deceased person, such as a passport, birth or marriage certificate or livret de famille.
A funeral director can do this for you. The mairie will give you a copy of an acte de décès - death certificate - ask for about a dozen.
The mairie will provide a permis d'inhumer (burial permit) - the burial may not take place until 24 hours after the death and no later than six days (not including Sundays and bank holidays).
In the case of a violent death, a judge gives permission for the release of a permis d'inhumer after a report by a pathologist and a police investigation.
Authorisation to take the body out of the commune where the coffin was sealed must be obtained from the mairie.
Unless the deceased made specific provisions, you need to organise the funeral and choose the funeral director's (pompes funèbres).
A list of local firms can be found at the mairie.
If repatriation of a body from France to the UK is required, the first port of call should be the local British consulate where you will be given guidance and assistance in terms of procedure.
A relative or a formally appointed representative must instruct a funeral director in France or the UK for a body to be repatriated to the UK or buried or cremated in France.
If the deceased was insured you should contact the insurance company so that they can make the necessary arrangements. If there is no insurance cover, funds for repatriation or burial will need to be met by the family.
If the death occurred in straightforward circumstances (natural causes, illness etc.), there will be no requirement for a coroner to get involved in the UK and a cremation order can be obtained from the Home Office.
If the death occurred in other circumstances (violent or unnatural, no identified cause etc.), then a coroner will hold an inquest and may order a post mortem (even if a post mortem was already performed in France).
Repatriation of a body will require embalming along with specific requirements in terms of the coffin in which the body is transported.
Registering the death of a UK citizen with the British consulate is not compulsory but can be done for a fee.
For more information visit www.ukinfrance.fco.gov.uk
When someone has died there are many organisations which will need to be notified in the coming weeks.
Among the first officials you will want to talk to is a notaire, in order to get inheritance matters under way.
The only case where a notaire does not have to be involved are those where there is no will and the estate is worth less than €5,336, in which case the surviving spouse or direct heirs can seek a certificat d’hérédité from the mairie of the commune where the deceased lived, where they died or where the heir lives, allowing them to inherit.
Other organisations that will need to be informed include the person’s bank, their employer, or their job centre (pôle emploi) if they were a jobseeker. If they were in a pacs the local tribunal d’instance should be notified so they can dissolve the pacs.
■ A helpsheet containing more details about how to cope with a death in France, priced
€5, is available to download from this site. To view our helpguides click here.
