Emergency Checklist: American Dies in France

When someone you love dies in France, you need a list — not an article, not a legal brief, not sympathy. You need the next five things to do, in order, right now. This is that list, organized by the timeline the French administrative system imposes on you whether you are ready or not.

Phase 1: The First 24 Hours

Get the medical death certificate issued. If the death happened in a hospital, the attending physician handles this automatically. If it happened at a private home, call SAMU (dial 15 or 112 from a French phone) to get a doctor to the scene. No funeral director can touch the body without this certificate.

Register the death at the mairie. French law requires death registration at the town hall of the municipality where the death occurred within 24 hours. Any adult with the right documents can do this — it does not need to be a family member. Bring: the medical death certificate, the deceased's passport, and the informant's own ID.

Demand the passport back. Tell the mairie registrar before registration begins that you plan to repatriate the remains. Without this explicit statement, the registrar will permanently archive the passport. You need that physical passport for transit permits, airline cargo booking, and consular processing. Have it corner-clipped and returned.

Request 15–20 copies of the acte de décès. You will use these for every bank, insurer, court, and government agency in both countries. Also request the extrait plurilingue (multilingual death certificate) — it saves translation costs with English-speaking institutions.

Call the US Embassy in Paris. Phone: +33 1 43 12 22 22 (24/7 line). Report the death to the Special Consular Services unit. They will start the file for your Consular Report of Death Abroad (CRODA).

Phase 2: Days 1–3

Contact the deceased's travel insurer or credit card benefits provider. Do this before authorizing any expenses with a funeral home — unauthorized services are frequently excluded from coverage. Have the policy number, medical death certificate, and travel itinerary ready.

Retain a French funeral director. Choose an English-speaking pompes funèbres from the US Embassy's approved list. Sign a written mandate authorizing them to handle the body and the administrative paperwork. The funeral director will manage most local filings on your behalf.

Notify the deceased's employer. This suspends payroll, triggers death benefits, and initiates the return of personal effects.

Decide on disposition: repatriation, cremation, or local burial.

• Body repatriation to US: ~$6,000–$6,400 plus domestic fees ($3,000+), 7–14 days
• Cremation in France + ashes transport: ~$4,500 total, 5–7 days
• Local burial in France: ~$4,500, within 14 calendar days

Phase 3: Days 3–14

If repatriating the body:

• Funeral director arranges embalming by a licensed thanatopracteur
• Funeral director procures a hermetic zinc-lined double-walled casket
• Schedule police-supervised coffin sealing (mise en bière)
• Funeral director files for the laissez-passer mortuaire (transit permit) through the Démarches Simplifiées portal
• Book an approved airline cargo carrier such as Air France-KLM Cargo — booking stays pending until the OK2FWD clearance confirms the US receiving funeral home is ready
• Coordinate with a US funeral home at the receiving airport (JFK, ORD, or LAX) for customs clearance and local transfer

If cremating in France:

• Funeral director obtains cremation authorization from the mairie
• If the deceased had a pacemaker, a doctor must remove it before cremation
• After cremation, obtain the cremation certificate and the laissez-passer d'urnes for transporting ashes out of France
• Ashes can be carried as airline hand luggage in an X-ray transparent container (wood, plastic, or cardboard — not metal or marble)

Phase 4: Weeks 2–12

CRODA from the embassy. Submit the required documents to the US Embassy for the electronic Consular Report of Death Abroad (e-CRODA, Form DS-2060). You will need this to open probate in the US.

Sworn translation of the acte de décès. Hire a sworn translator (traducteur assermenté) registered with a French Court of Appeal for an official English translation.

Apostille the death certificate. Since May 2025, apostilles are issued by the Notaries of France — not the Courts of Appeal. Submit through their online platform. Processing: 3–5 business days.

Notify French banks within 7 days. Banks freeze sole-name accounts on death notification. You can access up to €5,000 from frozen accounts for immediate funeral expenses. Closure fees are capped at the lower of 1% or €857.

File the French inheritance tax return within 6 months. If the death happened on French soil, the filing deadline is 6 months — not 12. Missing this triggers a 0.20% monthly interest penalty and eventually a 10% surcharge.

Notify US Social Security. The WEP and GPO offsets were repealed by the Social Security Fairness Act (January 5, 2025). If the surviving spouse's benefits were previously reduced because of a French pension, check that the SSA has applied the automatic adjustment with retroactive payments back to January 2024. Never-applicants must call SSA at 1-800-772-1213 — survivor claims cannot be filed online.

Open US probate. Present the CRODA and apostilled death certificate to your local probate court to obtain Letters Testamentary and begin estate settlement.

Documents You Will Need (Master List)

Get the Printable Version

The American Dies in France — Family Emergency Guide includes printable, phase-by-phase checklists with checkboxes, a document tracking worksheet, agency contact directories, and cost comparison tools — everything organized so you can work through the process systematically instead of searching for answers one crisis at a time.