French Death Certificate for UK Probate — Translations, Apostilles, and PA19

The Document You Actually Get From France

When someone dies in France, the local mairie (town hall) issues the acte de décès — the official civil death certificate. It records the deceased's identity, date and time of death, and location. It does not include the cause of death, which is kept confidential under French medical privacy law. This omission regularly causes problems with UK life insurers who need cause-of-death verification, so ask the certifying doctor for a separate attestation médicale at the time of death — getting one retroactively is extremely difficult.

Request 15 to 20 certified copies from the mairie. They are issued free of charge, and you will need them for banks, insurers, pension providers, and probate applications on both sides of the Channel.

The Multilingual Extract — Your Fastest Route

Ask the mairie for an extrait plurilingue de l'acte de décès. This is a special extract with standardised English headings built into the document itself. The UK Probate Registry, HMRC, most UK banks, and pension providers accept it without any separate translation. It is, in practical terms, a pre-translated death certificate.

Not every mairie will offer this unprompted — you need to ask for it specifically. If the deceased's funeral director is handling the registration on your behalf, instruct them to request it.

When You Need a Certified Translation

If you do not have the multilingual extract, or if a particular UK institution insists on a full English version of the standard acte de décès, you need a certified translation. The UK Probate Registry and most financial institutions accept translations from a qualified professional translator — they do not require a French court-sworn translator for documents going into the UK system.

If you use a translator who is not a member of a recognised professional body, the Probate Registry requires them to complete Form PA19 — a formal declaration where the translator confirms their linguistic competence under penalty of contempt of court. The translator signs and dates the form, attaches it to the translation, and the Registry treats it as equivalent to a professional certification.

The Apostille Question

Whether you need an apostille depends on direction. French documents heading to the UK generally do not need an apostille — UK probate courts accept the acte de décès with a certified translation or the multilingual extract.

However, UK documents heading to France absolutely do. A UK-issued will, grant of probate, or marriage certificate must be apostilled by the FCDO Legalisation Office in London before any French notaire or bank will accept it. The FCDO charges a fee and processing takes several working days.

Since May 2025, French apostilles are issued through a reformed notary-led system. If you need a French acte de décès apostilled for a conservative UK institution, the application goes through apostille.notaires.fr — the digital portal managed by regional notary chambers. Standard processing costs €10 per document (plus 20% VAT) with delivery in under three working days. Express 24-hour delivery costs €20 per document.

What Goes Wrong — and How to Avoid It

The most common mistakes UK families make with French death certificates:

Not getting enough copies. Twenty copies sounds excessive until you are sending them to six different banks, two pension providers, an insurer, HMRC, and the Probate Registry simultaneously. Each one is free from the mairie — there is no reason to economise.

Skipping the multilingual extract. Every sworn translation costs €30 to €80 per page. The multilingual extract eliminates that cost entirely for most UK purposes.

Not getting the cause-of-death attestation. The acte de décès deliberately omits cause of death. Life insurers will halt payouts without it. Ask the hospital or certifying doctor for the attestation médicale before leaving France.

Using a standard UK translator for French-bound documents. France rejects anything except a traducteur assermenté — a court-sworn translator registered with a French Cour d'appel. Their translation must carry an official stamp, court registration number, and handwritten sworn declaration.

Our complete guide includes a document tracker that maps exactly which French documents go where in the UK system — and which ones need translation, apostille, or both.