The French Succession Process (Probate)

What happens when someone dies in France

When a person dies owning assets in France, a succession (succession) opens and their estate has to be identified, valued, declared to the tax authority and divided among the heirs. There is no court-supervised "probate" in the common-law sense; instead the settlement of the estate (règlement de succession) is handled almost entirely by a French notary (notaire), a public officer who establishes who inherits, prepares the tax return and transfers the assets. The process runs to a fixed statutory clock: the succession declaration must reach the tax office, and the tax must be paid, within six months of a death in France (Article 641 of the General Tax Code).

The first thing each heir must do is decide whether to take the inheritance at all. French law gives every heir, and every universal or general legatee, a choice between three options: to accept the succession outright, to accept it up to the net assets only, or to renounce it (Article 768 of the Civil Code). Accepting outright means taking both the assets and the debts without limit; accepting up to the net assets (acceptation à concurrence de l'actif net, formerly acceptance under benefit of inventory) shields the heir's own property, so that they pay the estate's debts only out of what the estate contains; and renouncing means walking away from the whole inheritance. The option cannot be exercised before the death, and once made it takes effect retroactively to the moment the succession opened (Articles 770 and 776 of the Civil Code).

An heir is not forced to choose immediately, but the choice cannot be postponed forever. For the first four months after the death no one can compel the heir to decide. After that, a creditor of the estate, a co-heir, a subsequent-rank heir or the State can serve a formal demand (sommation) requiring the heir to take a position (Article 771 of the Civil Code). The heir then has two months to accept or renounce, or to ask a judge for more time; an heir who has been served and still does not answer within the deadline is treated as having accepted outright (Article 772 of the Civil Code). Absent any demand, the right to choose is preserved but is lost after ten years, at which point the silent heir is deemed to have renounced (Article 780 of the Civil Code).

Once the heirs are willing to proceed, the estate typically falls into indivision (indivision) — the heirs own it jointly and undivided until they either agree to divide it or sign an indivision agreement. Everything that follows in this article — proving who the heirs are, valuing the assets, filing the declaration, paying the tax and transferring French real estate — happens against that background, and in the great majority of estates it is the notary who drives it.

The notaire's role in a French succession

A French notary is not the heirs' advocate; they are a public officer charged with settling the estate impartially and giving the heirs authentic deeds that third parties — banks, land registry, tax authority — will accept without question. Using a notary is not always a strict legal requirement for the tax return itself, but in practice it is unavoidable in almost every estate of any substance: the tax authority has recognised that, given the complexity of the information to be produced and the often large number of heirs, the intervention of a notary is indispensable most of the time (rép. min., déclaration de succession).

The notary's work spans the whole settlement. They gather the death certificate and the family records, interrogate the central register of last wishes (fichier central des dispositions de dernières volontés) to find out whether the deceased left a will or a gift between spouses, establish the deed proving who the heirs are, draw up an inventory or valuation of the assets, prepare and file the succession declaration, calculate and arrange payment of the inheritance tax, and — where there is French real estate — publish the attestation that transfers title to the heirs. Where the heirs cannot all be found, the notary can appoint a professional genealogist (généalogiste successoral) under a search mandate to trace them (loi 2006-728 of 23 June 2006, Article 36); the drafting of the deed of known heirs alone can take several months where the family tree is uncertain.

Two points about the notary's responsibility matter to foreign heirs. First, the notary owes an obligation of means, not of result: they are liable only if they commit a fault — for example by failing to take the steps needed to secure the timely filing of the declaration and payment of the tax within the fiscal deadlines. Second, and crucially, the notary's fault does not relieve the heirs. The heirs and legatees remain personally liable for the late-payment interest and penalties even where a mandate was given to the notary and the notary is the one responsible for the delay (Article 800 of the General Tax Code and following). That is why heirs cannot simply hand the file over and forget the clock; the six-month deadline is theirs to meet.

The deed of known heirs (acte de notoriété)

Before anyone can deal with the estate, the heirs have to prove that they are the heirs. French law allows the status of heir to be proved by any means (Article 730 of the Civil Code), but the standard instrument is the deed of known heirs (acte de notoriété), which can establish that status (Article 730-1 of the Civil Code). This is the document a bank will ask for before releasing the deceased's accounts, and the foundation on which the whole settlement is built.

The deed must be drawn up by a notary at the request of one or more heirs — whether they are called by law or under a will. It has to refer to the deceased's death certificate and set out the supporting documents produced to establish it: civil-status records, the family record book, any will, any gift between spouses, and the reply from the central register of last wishes (Article 730-1 of the Civil Code). The heirs who asked for it appear in the deed; where a genealogist found the heirs, the genealogist also appears and summarises the research in a table annexed to the deed.

What gives the deed its force is the affirmation it contains. The heirs sign a statement that they have a vocation, alone or with others they name, to take all or part of the estate. That affirmation is proof until the contrary is shown, and a person who relies on it is presumed to have succession rights in the proportion the deed indicates (Article 730-3 of the Civil Code). Two limits are worth knowing. The affirmation does not, by itself, amount to acceptance of the succession — signing the deed does not commit an heir to taking the estate (Article 730-2 of the Civil Code). And heirs who knowingly and in bad faith rely on an inaccurate deed incur the penalties for concealment of estate assets (recel successoral), on top of damages (Article 730-5 of the Civil Code).

When a deed of known heirs is not needed

For very small estates there are lighter routes. A mayor could historically issue a certificate of inheritance (certificat d'hérédité) where the sums at stake were modest, below €5,335, on production of the family record book — though in practice many mayors decline. For direct-line heirs, a simplified proof now allows the heir to give the deceased's bank a signed attestation from all the heirs, confirming there is no will and no other heirs, in order to release conservatory sums or close the accounts up to €5,000 (Article L. 312-1-4 of the Monetary and Financial Code). These simplified routes do not displace the deed of known heirs, which the heirs may always use whatever the size of the estate. For any estate that includes real property, a business or cross-border assets, the notarial deed of known heirs is the practical starting point.

Valuing the estate

The inheritance tax is charged on the net value of what each heir receives, so the estate has to be valued asset by asset. The gross estate (actif brut) comprises the movable and immovable property that belonged to the deceased; property the deceased merely held in a precarious capacity — as agent, depositary or guardian — is not included where it is individualised (Article 761 and following of the General Tax Code). In principle every asset is taken at its open-market value (valeur vénale) at the day of death — the price it would fetch if sold on that date.

Scope depends on where the deceased was tax-resident. Where the deceased was fiscally domiciled in France, tax is due on their worldwide assets — property in France and abroad alike (Article 750 ter, 1° of the General Tax Code). Where the deceased was a non-resident whose heirs are also outside France, only the assets situated in France need be declared and taxed (Article 750 ter, 2°). For a foreign owner, this is the pivotal point: a French holiday home or apartment is within the French net whether or not anyone in the family has ever been French-resident.

The main home and the 20% reduction

The most valuable valuation rule for a resident family concerns the main home. A reduction of 20% is applied to the real open-market value of the property that was the deceased's main residence (résidence principale) at the day of death, provided that on the same date the property was also occupied as a main residence by the surviving spouse, the deceased's PACS partner, or one or more minor or protected children of the deceased, their spouse or their partner (Article 764 bis of the General Tax Code). The reduction rewards a home that is still lived in by the protected family: where the deceased lived alone, or had a main residence different from that of the spouse or the children, the 20% reduction does not apply. One consequence is easy to overlook — the value after the 20% reduction becomes the acquisition price used to compute any future capital gain (plus-value) if the heirs later sell, so a reduction taken now can enlarge the taxable gain on a later sale.

Debts, deductions and the one-year presumption

From the gross estate the heirs deduct the deceased's liabilities to reach the taxable net estate. Deductible items include the taxes the deceased owed, even if assessed after death (income tax and local property taxes for the year of death, for example), and, for estates opened since 30 December 2013, the costs the notary charges the heirs to reconstitute the property titles (Article 775 sexies of the General Tax Code). Not everything is deductible: debts that fell due more than three months before the death are presumed repaid unless the contrary is shown, and debts the deceased owed to their own heirs are in principle disregarded as presumed fictitious (Article 773 of the General Tax Code).

Heirs should also be aware of a broad anti-avoidance presumption. Any asset of which the deceased had ownership, drew income, or in respect of which they carried out a transaction less than a year before death, is presumed to form part of the estate (Article 752 of the General Tax Code). The tax authority can invoke it to pull an asset back into the taxable estate, and the burden then falls on the heirs to prove otherwise. Accurate, documented valuation is therefore not a formality — it is the difference between a return the authority accepts and one it reassesses.

The succession declaration (déclaration de succession)

The succession declaration (déclaration de succession) is the inheritance-tax return: the document in which the heirs list the whole estate, apply the allowances and calculate the tax. In principle a declaration must be filed after each succession where the heirs accept the estate, outright or up to the net assets (Article 800, I of the General Tax Code). It is prepared on the official forms — 2705-SD, 2705-S-SD and 2706-SD, with 2705-A-SD for life-insurance contracts — which notaries are authorised to reproduce by computer.

Who must file, and who pays, are two different questions the heirs need to keep straight. The co-heirs are jointly and severally liable for the inheritance tax, so a single heir has standing to file the declaration for the whole estate without distinction of line (Article 1709 of the General Tax Code); that solidarity does not, however, extend to legatees and donees, who are not jointly liable and must each file their own declaration. Any heir, legatee or donee may appoint an agent (mandataire) — typically the notary — to file on their behalf, and several non-solidary parties may give a single agent a single power of attorney. In practice the notary files one declaration covering the estate and the heirs sign it.

When no declaration is required

Not every estate has to be declared. Direct-line heirs, the surviving spouse and a PACS partner are relieved of the obligation to file where the gross estate is below €50,000, provided they have not previously received from the deceased an unregistered or undeclared gift (BOI, obligations déclaratives). For other heirs, legatees and donees, the relief applies where the gross estate is below €3,000. Above those thresholds the return must be filed even where no tax is ultimately due, because an exemption from tax does not carry an exemption from filing. A declaration is also generally unnecessary where the heir renounces the succession. And where the estate would produce a return but is small, note that a declaration is drawn up in duplicate unless the gross estate is below €15,000, when a single copy suffices.

One duty survives almost every excuse: the person who has the status of heir, and is seised of the estate by operation of law, must file within the legal deadlines and cannot escape that obligation by pointing to a dispute over who inherits (Cass. com. 26 March 2008, no. 07-11703). Filing an incomplete declaration can itself be treated as a failure to file (Cass. com. 14 February 2012, no. 11-10765). The message is that a declaration — complete, and on time — is the pivot of the whole process.

Deadlines and penalties

The central deadline is unforgiving and easy to state. The declaration must be filed within six months of the death where the death occurs in metropolitan France (Article 641 of the General Tax Code). Where the death occurs abroad, the deadline is a year. The period runs from date to date; if the last day is a Sunday, a public holiday or a closing day it rolls to the next working day, and the tax offices tolerate filing up to the last day of the month. So a death on 15 December 2023 gives a deadline of 30 June 2024.

Two special deadlines matter for foreign owners. Where the estate contains real property or real-estate rights whose title was not established, before the death, by a duly registered or published deed, the filing deadline is extended to 24 months from death (Article 641 bis of the General Tax Code) — a period once reserved for uncertain-title property in Corsica and now general. And in the overseas departments the deadline is six months where the deceased died in the department of their domicile, and a year otherwise, with a two-year period for Réunion and Mayotte in defined cases (Article 642 of the General Tax Code).

Missing the deadline is expensive, and the penalties stack in a defined sequence. First, late payment carries interest of 0.20% per month (Article 1727, IV of the General Tax Code). Second, a surcharge equal to 10% of the tax applies (Article 1728, 2 of the General Tax Code) — but not immediately: it runs only from the first day of the seventh month following the end of the six-month period, that is, from the first day of the thirteenth month after death. In other words, a declaration filed between the seventh and the twelfth month after a death in France is sanctioned by interest only, and the 10% surcharge is added from the thirteenth month. Third, the surcharge rises to 40% if the declaration is still not filed within 90 days of a first formal demand (mise en demeure) sent by registered post; in practice the authority does not send that demand before a year has passed since the death.

Paying the tax (instalments and deferral)

Inheritance tax is, in principle, payable in cash at the moment the declaration is filed (BOI, modalités de paiement). Where the estate cannot be declared within the six months, heirs can pay instalments on account (acomptes) to reduce the penalties that would otherwise build up. But the law also lets heirs spread the burden in two distinct ways — by paying in instalments, by deferring payment, or by deferral followed by instalments (Article 1717 of the General Tax Code and Articles 396 and following of Annex III). Both are a genuine credit from the Treasury and both come at a price: the deferred or fractioned duties bear interest, and a formal application with sufficient security is required.

Paying in instalments (paiement fractionné)

Instalment payment is open to every estate. The duties are paid in equal instalments over one year — three payments, the first when the declaration is filed and the last no later than one year after the legal filing deadline, with no more than six months between two payments (Article 404 A of Annex III to the General Tax Code). Where the estate is made up, to at least 50%, of illiquid assets — property, a business, unlisted shares, works of art, patents — the period is extended to three years and seven payments. Each instalment after the first carries interest.

Deferring payment (paiement différé)

Deferral is narrower and targeted. Heirs or legatees who take assets in bare ownership only (nue-propriété) — because a spouse or someone else holds the usufruct — can defer the tax on those assets until they become full owners, whether by the death of the usufructuary or by acquiring the usufruct (Article 397 of Annex III). Deferral is also available where the surviving spouse has opted for the lifetime right of occupation of the main home, for the fraction of tax corresponding to the value of the property charged with that right (Article 764 of the Civil Code). During the deferral the tax is not paid, but interest runs, and a later sale of the bare-ownership asset generally makes the whole deferred tax immediately due.

Both mechanisms require the heir to apply expressly for the credit, offer sufficient security — a mortgage on estate property, a pledge, a bank guarantee — and constitute it within four months, with the tax accountant then having three months to decide (Articles 399 and 400 of Annex III). The interest rate is the average rate for fixed-rate home loans set for the year of the application; for applications made in 2023 it was 1.70% (Article 401 of Annex III). Only the principal of the tax can be spread this way — the late-filing penalties themselves cannot be deferred or fractioned. A separate, more generous version of deferral-then-instalments exists for qualifying transfers of a business, allowing the tax to be deferred for five years and then spread over ten (Article 397 A of Annex III), but that regime has its own conditions.

Transferring French real estate: the attestation

Paying the tax settles the estate with the Treasury, but it does not, by itself, put the heirs' names on the deceased's French property. That requires a separate notarial deed — the real-estate attestation (attestation immobilière, sometimes called an attestation de propriété) — which records the transmission of the real-estate rights by death and, once published, serves as the heirs' title of ownership. These notarial attestations, recording any transmission or creation of real-property rights by death, must be published at the land registry (service de publicité foncière) within 24 months of the death (Article 641 bis of the General Tax Code; décret 55-22 of 4 January 1955).

The attestation has to contain the cadastral descriptions of the property, the identity of the deceased and the heirs, and the origin of the property (the "effet relatif"). Once published, these deeds constitute the title of the heirs to the real property transmitted — which is why an heir cannot sell or mortgage the inherited property until the attestation has gone through. Where a deed of division (acte de partage) covering all the estate's real property is drawn up and published within ten months of the death, it stands in place of the attestation (décret 55-22, Article 29). A deed of known heirs drawn up to establish acquisitive prescription is itself treated as a real-estate attestation for these purposes (Article 776 quater of the General Tax Code).

The timing carries a real cost if it slips. The notary's costs of reconstituting the property titles are deductible from the taxable estate only where the attestations are published within two years of the death (Article 775 sexies of the General Tax Code). And where the estate's real property had uncertain title, failure to publish the attestation within the 24-month window exposes the heirs to the same late-filing sanctions — interest and the 10% surcharge — as a late declaration. For a foreign family inheriting a French house, the attestation is the step that actually delivers ownership, and it should be planned alongside the tax return, not after it.

How long a French succession takes

There is no single statutory length for settling a French estate, but the deadlines set the rhythm. The binding date is the six-month filing-and-payment deadline (twelve months where the death is abroad), and a straightforward estate — one heir or a united family, clear title, liquid assets — is often declared and taxed within that window. Most estates therefore reach the point of paying the tax within six months to a year of the death.

Several things stretch the timetable. Tracing missing heirs through a genealogist, and drafting the deed of known heirs, can take several months on their own. The heirs' own decision to accept or renounce can run to two months once a formal demand is served, and up to ten years if no one forces the issue (Article 780 of the Civil Code). Real property of uncertain title pushes the filing deadline out to 24 months, and the attestation transferring the property must in any event be published within that same 24 months. A contested devolution — where an heir's rights are challenged in court within six months of the death and they are dispossessed by the appointment of a court administrator — can suspend the filing deadline until the dispute is finally resolved.

Where the estate is at risk of remaining ownerless, the law imposes its own clock: a succession is treated as vacant (succession vacante) where, six months after it opens, the known heirs have not opted, and the State's property service can be appointed to administer it (Articles 809 and 809-1 of the Civil Code). For the great majority of estates, though, the practical answer is that the tax stage is driven by the six-month deadline, while the division of the assets and the transfer of real property can comfortably run beyond it, provided the declaration was filed and the tax paid on time.

Frequently asked questions about the French succession process

How long does a French succession take?

There is no fixed duration, but the deadlines set the pace. The declaration must be filed and the tax paid within six months of a death in France, or twelve months where the death is abroad (Article 641 of the General Tax Code), and a straightforward estate is usually settled to that point within six months to a year. Tracing heirs, uncertain property title (which extends the deadline to 24 months) or a court dispute can push the settlement out considerably further.

Do you need a notaire for a French inheritance?

Almost always, in practice. Using a notary is not a strict legal condition for the tax return in every case, but the tax authority itself recognises that the intervention of a notary is indispensable most of the time given the complexity of the information and the number of heirs. Any estate that includes real property, a business or cross-border assets needs a notary to establish the deed of known heirs, file the declaration and transfer title.

What is the deadline to file the declaration?

Six months from the death where it occurs in metropolitan France, and a year where the death occurs abroad (Article 641 of the General Tax Code). Where the estate includes French real estate whose title was not established before the death, the deadline is extended to 24 months (Article 641 bis). Late filing carries interest of 0.20% per month, plus a 10% surcharge from the thirteenth month after death, rising to 40% after a formal demand (Articles 1727 and 1728).

How is inheritance tax paid?

In principle in cash when the declaration is filed. Heirs can instead apply to spread the tax — instalment payment (paiement fractionné) over one year, or three years where at least half the estate is illiquid — or to defer it (paiement différé) where they take assets in bare ownership only, until they become full owners (Articles 396 and following of Annex III to the General Tax Code). Both require an application, security and interest; only the principal, not the penalties, can be spread.

What is an acte de notoriété?

It is the notarial deed of known heirs — the document proving who is entitled to inherit. Drawn up by a notary at the heirs' request, it refers to the death certificate and the supporting records and contains the heirs' signed affirmation of their entitlement, which is proof until the contrary is shown (Article 730-3 of the Civil Code). Banks and the land registry rely on it, but signing it does not itself amount to accepting the succession (Article 730-2).

Who has to file the succession declaration?

Any heir can file for the whole estate, because the co-heirs are jointly and severally liable for the tax (Article 1709 of the General Tax Code); legatees and donees are not jointly liable and must each file their own. Direct-line heirs, the spouse and a PACS partner are relieved of the obligation where the gross estate is below €50,000 (and no earlier unregistered gift was received), and other heirs where it is below €3,000 — but an exemption from tax is not an exemption from filing above those thresholds.

Can the notaire's delay excuse a late filing?

No. The heirs and legatees are personally liable for the late-payment interest and penalties even where a mandate was given to the notary and the notary is responsible for the delay (Article 800 of the General Tax Code and following). A reserved heir must also pay their tax within the six months even if they have not yet received the taxable sums, as the Constitutional Council has confirmed (decision 2023-1051 QPC of 1 June 2023).

How our French lawyers help with a French succession

A French succession runs to a strict six-month clock, and the heirs — not the notary — carry the penalties if it is missed. We act for heirs, spouses and foreign owners in settling French estates: establishing who inherits, valuing the estate correctly (including the 20% reduction on the main home), preparing and filing the succession declaration on time, and arranging instalment or deferred payment of the tax where the estate is illiquid or held in bare ownership. Where there is French real estate, we make sure the attestation that transfers title is published within the deadline so that heirs actually own what they have inherited.

This article is for general information only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create a lawyer-client relationship. How the French succession process applies depends on the assets, their location, the family, any will and the tax residence of those involved. Contact our French lawyers for advice on your situation before acting.