British Person Dies in France — What the Family Needs to Do

The First Hours After a Death in France

The sequence of events depends entirely on where and how the death happened. If the death occurred in a French hospital or clinic, the medical staff issue the certificat de décès (medical death certificate) and place the body in the hospital mortuary, which is legally free for the first three days. If the death happened at a private residence, hotel, or rental property, you need to summon a local doctor — SOS Médecins or the deceased's GP — to verify the death and issue the certificate.

If the death was sudden, violent, or suspicious, call 17 (police/gendarmerie) immediately rather than a doctor. The public prosecutor (procureur de la République) will take jurisdiction and may order a forensic autopsy at the regional institut médico-légal. The body cannot be released until the prosecutor issues a formal release authorisation — a process that can take days to weeks.

Register at the Mairie Within 24 Hours

French law requires every death to be registered at the local mairie (town hall) within 24 hours. Any adult with the right information can do this — a family member, a friend, or the funeral director acting on your behalf. You will need the medical certificate, your own photo ID, and any identity documents for the deceased.

Request 15 to 20 certified copies of the acte de décès. They are free and you will need them for bank accounts, pension notifications, insurance claims, and UK probate. Ask specifically for the extrait plurilingue — a multilingual extract with English headings that UK banks and the Probate Registry accept without a separate sworn translation.

There is a passport trap built into this process. French civil registrars routinely impound the deceased's passport permanently during death registration. If you plan to repatriate the body, you must declare this intent before completing the registration so the passport stays with the funeral director for customs clearance.

Contact the FCDO and the Travel Insurer

Call the FCDO consular helpline at +44 20 7008 5000 or contact the British Embassy in Paris. Consular staff can provide lists of English-speaking lawyers and funeral directors, explain French procedures, and help communicate with police if there is a judicial investigation. They cannot pay any costs — not medical bills, not funeral expenses, not repatriation.

If the deceased had travel insurance, contact the insurer's emergency line immediately. Many policies include repatriation coverage, and if the claim is approved the insurer may appoint a specialist international funeral director to manage the logistics. This can reduce both cost and stress significantly.

Repatriation or Local Funeral

Since July 2024, French law allows 14 calendar days from the day after death for burial or cremation — the old six-day rule is gone, though many online sources still quote it. This gives families meaningful time to coordinate.

Repatriation to the UK costs £3,000 to £6,000 for a body. Embalming is generally required for international air transport and most road transports, and the remains are placed in a hermetically sealed zinc-lined coffin. The funeral director applies for a laissez-passer mortuaire (transit permit) through the local prefecture. Road transport via the Channel Tunnel or ferry is usually cheaper and faster than air freight for northern France; air cargo makes more sense from the south or Corsica.

Local burial or cremation in France costs €2,500 to €6,000. If you choose cremation, you can carry the ashes home personally as hand luggage — but the urn must be non-metallic (wood, ceramic, or cardboard) and you need the death certificate, cremation certificate, and a prefectural transit permit.

UK-Side Administration

Once the body or ashes arrive in the UK, the local coroner must issue either a Certificate of No Liability to Register (for burial) or Cremation Form 6 (for cremation). There is no charge for this.

You can use the Tell Us Once service to notify HMRC, DWP, the Passport Office, DVLA, and your local council simultaneously — but you need to take the French acte de décès and its English translation to a UK register office first to get the reference number.

If the deceased had a French sole bank account, the bank freezes it once formally notified of the death. It can release up to €5,000 against a funeral invoice — a lifeline if you are covering immediate French costs.

French succession law applies to any French-sited assets, including property. A French notaire handles this separately from UK probate, and the two processes run in parallel. If the deceased had a UK will, it needs to be apostilled by the FCDO Legalisation Office and translated by a French court-sworn translator before the notaire will accept it.

Our complete guide for UK families dealing with a death in France covers every step from the first phone call through estate closure, with bilingual templates, a repatriation cost worksheet, and a document tracker.