Within 24 hours of a death in intensive care, the doctor completes the medical certificate of death, confirming the death and recording its date and time.
Subject to certain conditions, the person’s body may be taken to their home, another residence or a private funeral home outside the hospital. Transport must take place within 48 hours of the death.
The death must also be registered with the town hall for the place where it occurred.
When a person dies in hospital, the hospital administration or mortuary team usually completes this registration within 24 hours.
Following registration, the town hall issues a death certificate and sends the information to INSEE, the French national statistics office. Through the national register of natural persons (RNIPP), other bodies—including pension providers—are informed.
You will need certified copies of the death certificate for several procedures and to establish your status as an heir. Copies can be obtained from the town hall, usually on presentation of the family record book (livret de famille).
Request a copy of the death certificate
In certain circumstances, you may also request access to the deceased person’s medical record. In France, access may be granted to a spouse, civil partner under a PACS, cohabiting partner or child, provided the person did not object during their lifetime. The request must state a legally permitted reason.
Learn more.
To make administrative procedures easier, gather the following documents belonging to the deceased:
In France, the funeral is normally arranged within six days of the death by an authorised funeral director chosen by the deceased. If no wishes were expressed, the family chooses the provider.
To help with this choice, the hospital’s civil-registration office and mortuary can provide the official list of funeral directors. The list is also displayed in both departments. We recommend obtaining several written quotations.
If a funeral must be arranged, contact a funeral director. Ask for a detailed quotation setting out the services and fees.
Note: Funeral expenses can be paid directly from the deceased person’s bank accounts on presentation of invoices, up to a statutory maximum—stated here as €5,000—and subject to the available balance.
Some notifications can be completed online.
In some circumstances, eligible relatives may receive a lump-sum death benefit to help with costs following the death.
Learn more
If the person was receiving unemployment benefit or early-retirement support, contact France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi).
Depending on your relationship to the deceased and your circumstances, you may be eligible for a lump-sum death benefit, a survivor’s pension or other allowances. You should:
To identify and arrange the freezing of bank accounts, you can request access to the French national bank-account register, FICOBA.
The notary will check whether the deceased deposited a will and will administer the estate and succession.
French employment law and civil-service rules provide bereavement leave for private-sector employees and public-sector staff when a member of their family dies.
The law sets minimum periods, but a company or sector collective agreement may provide more.
French law does not provide statutory leave for every other relationship, but the collective agreement or other rules applying in the workplace may cover relatives such as grandparents, brothers-in-law or sisters-in-law.
Note: the source page states that company bereavement leave cannot be fewer than five days following the death of a child and three days in the other listed cases. Where no collective agreement applies, the statutory minimum applies.
Bereavement leave is available to employees regardless of length of service or type of employment contract—permanent, fixed-term, part-time, agency or seasonal—depending on their relationship to the person who died.
It is separate from annual leave. It does not reduce pay and counts as working time for employment purposes.
The leave must be taken around the time of the death, but not necessarily on the day itself.
The employee must inform their employer of the dates and duration of the bereavement leave, normally at least 24 hours before each period of absence begins. A death certificate should be provided with the request.
An employer cannot refuse statutory bereavement leave to an eligible employee.
Sources and further resources:
Association Française d’Information Funéraire
=> An independent funeral-information organisation
=> Includes template letters
Mes Droits Sociaux
=> French government portal
Empreintes
=> Bereavement support
Fédération européenne Vivre son deuil
=> A network of bereavement-support organisations