Planning for Incapacity in France as an American: The Mandat de Protection Future, Advance Directives and the Trusted Person (2026)
By Aurelio Maurici Co-Founder, Master of Business Law, Aix-Marseille Université III
Published
France gives you three separate tools for the day you cannot decide for yourself. The mandat de protection future covers who represents you and manages your affairs. Advance directives cover your wishes about medical treatment at the end of life. The trusted person is the one your doctors consult first. None of the official pages says whether a U.S. power of attorney or living will is recognised in France. This guide sets out what each tool does and where an American should ask a notaire.
The Short Answer
| Tool | What it does | Who is involved |
|---|---|---|
| Mandat de protection future | You organise in advance who represents you and manages your person, your property or both if you can no longer do so | You, one or more agents, and for the stronger form a notary |
| Advance directives | A written statement of your wishes on continuing, limiting, stopping or refusing treatment, used only if you cannot express them | You, your doctor, and your trusted person |
| Trusted person | Accompanies you in your care, and is consulted first and testifies to your wishes if you cannot speak | You and the person you choose |
Source: service-public.gouv.fr (F16670, F32010, F32748).
This is an overview of what the official pages say, not legal advice. A French notaire, or a lawyer who knows both systems, is the person to confirm how it fits your situation.
The Mandat de Protection Future
Service-public describes the mandat de protection future as a contract by which you organise your protection in advance. You name one or more people, called agents, to represent you on the day you can no longer manage your interests because of a physical or mental impairment. It is drawn up without the intervention of a guardianship judge, it can protect your person, your property or both, and it can cover only a part of your assets. It does not remove your rights or legal capacity while it is not in use.
Who can sign one. Any adult or emancipated minor who is not under a guardianship or family empowerment measure. A person under curatorship can sign only with the curator’s agreement. Who can be an agent. An adult or emancipated minor with legal capacity, who can be a relative, a friend or a professional chosen by you, or a legal person on the prefecture’s list of judicial agents for the protection of persons.
The Two Forms and What Each Allows
| Mandate under private signature | Notarial mandate | |
|---|---|---|
| How it is made | Written and signed between you and the agent, on free paper with a lawyer’s countersignature, or on the official form | Drawn up by a notary as an authentic act, in the presence of you and the agent |
| Certain date and monitoring | It must be registered with the tax office of your home to give it a certain date, and must name who monitors the agent | An authentic act; the page describes no registration step for it |
| What the agent can do with your assets | Acts of administration only, meaning day-to-day management. Any act of disposition needs the guardianship judge’s agreement | Broader powers: administration and disposition, for example selling property or making a donation |
| Reporting | The agent must keep an inventory | The agent must keep an inventory and, each year, present accounts of income and expenditure to the notary |
Source: service-public.gouv.fr (F16670, 26 June 2026).
You can also write wishes about your housing, health, leisure, animals and personal relationships into the mandate. The agent must carry out the tasks as set out in it and according to your wishes.
How the Mandate Is Activated
The page says the mandate has no effect until it is activated, and the procedure is the same whatever the form:
- When you can no longer manage your interests, the agent obtains a detailed medical certificate from a specialist doctor on a list kept by the public prosecutor.
- You and the agent appear in person at the registry of the protected-adults service of the judicial court of your home, unless the medical certificate shows that your presence is not compatible with your health, in which case you are informed by registered letter.
- The documents are the original mandate, the medical certificate dated less than 2 months, an identity document for each party and proof of the principal’s home.
- The clerk checks them, initials every page and notes on the mandate that it takes effect from that day. The registry keeps no copy.
- The agent then informs each administration and bank of the mandate, showing it in order to act for you.
If the conditions for activation are not met, the clerk can refuse, and the guardianship judge settles the dispute without a hearing, with no appeal possible against the decision.
Advance Directives
Service-public defines advance directives as a written declaration of your wishes about the end of your life: whether to continue, limit, stop or refuse treatments or medical acts. It helps doctors decide the care to give if you cannot express your wishes, for example in a coma, with a deep cognitive impairment, after an accident or with advanced illness. The page gives examples of what you can accept or refuse, such as cardiac and respiratory resuscitation, kidney dialysis or a particular surgery. They are not used if you are able to express your wishes.
Without them. The page says that if you cannot express your will and have no advance directives, the medical team must seek to know it, including through your trusted person’s testimony, and if there is no trusted person, by collecting testimonies from your family or relatives.
How to write them. You must be an adult. The document is written, dated and signed, with your first and last names and your date and place of birth, and it is handwritten or typed. Service-public offers two templates, one for a person with a serious illness who thinks the end of life is near and one for a person who is healthy. Using a template is not mandatory, and directives can be written on plain paper, but the page says the template guarantees the conditions of validity are met. If you cannot write and sign but can express your will, you can ask 2 witnesses, one of whom can be your trusted person, to write them for you and to attest that the document expresses your will.
Making them known. Doctors will look for them, so the page says they must be easy to find, and to tell your doctor and family where they are. You can:
- save them in Mon espace santé, the shared medical record;
- give them to your treating doctor, who keeps them in your file;
- give them to your trusted person or a relative;
- give them to a hospital or facility for older people if you are admitted;
- keep them at home, carrying a note of where they are.
The Trusted Person
Service-public says the trusted person, the personne de confiance, can accompany you in your medical procedures and interviews, to help you decide and understand your rights. If your state of health no longer lets you give your opinion, the doctor or the team consults that person first, and their testimony takes precedence over any other testimony. Advance directives can also be entrusted to them.
Points from the page:
- When: you can designate one at any time, including when you have no health problem, and a hospital will suggest it when you are admitted.
- How: in writing, co-signed by the person you choose, using the available template. It is integrated in Mon espace santé.
- Who: anyone you trust who agrees, a relative, a family member or your doctor, and it can be someone outside your family.
- How long: with no time limit unless you and that person set one, and it can be changed or revoked at any time, in writing. Inform the former trusted person, destroy the documents that designated them and tell the people you had informed.
- Not the same as the person to warn: the person who is telephoned in an emergency can be the same person or a different one.
What This Means for an American in France
Three points follow from the pages I read, and one limit.
- These tools are French. They are described by French law, and the pages say nothing about a U.S. durable power of attorney, healthcare proxy or living will. I do not state whether any of them is recognised in France or by a French hospital, bank or notary. A French notaire can tell you, and the U.S. Embassy in Paris keeps a list of English-speaking notaires in France.
- The embassy can notarize a U.S. document, but cannot advise on it. The embassy’s notarial page lists powers of attorney and estate documents among the U.S. documents it notarizes, with the same signature verification as a U.S. notary public. It also says notarizing officers are not attorneys and cannot give legal advice, and that appointments are extremely limited.
- Tell your French doctor and your people. Service-public says to tell your doctor and family that directives exist and where they are, and to inform the trusted person that their name is recorded. Service-public recommends saving directives in Mon espace santé. For how an American joins the French system and finds a doctor, see the guide to registering with CPAM and the guide to the treating doctor.
- Care and estate sit next to this. For care in a nursing home, see the guide to long-term care in France. For a will, see the guide to making a will in France and the guide to French inheritance law for Americans.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a mandat de protection future?
A contract by which you organise in advance who will represent you, and manage your person, your property or both, if you can no longer manage your interests because of an impairment. Service-public says it is drawn up without a guardianship judge and does not remove your capacity while it is not in use.
What is the difference between the private and the notarial mandate?
Service-public says the private mandate limits the agent’s management of your assets to acts of administration, with the guardianship judge’s agreement needed for any act of disposition, and the notarial mandate allows broader powers, including selling property or making a donation.
When does the mandate start to apply?
Only when it is activated. Service-public says the agent obtains a detailed medical certificate from a doctor on the prosecutor’s list, and that you and the agent appear at the court registry with the original mandate, the certificate, identity documents and proof of home.
Do I need a notary to write advance directives?
No. Service-public says they are a written, dated and signed document with your name, date and place of birth, handwritten or typed, and that a template is available but not mandatory.
Who should keep my advance directives?
The page says to make them easy to find and lists several options: Mon espace santé, your doctor, your trusted person or a relative, a hospital or facility, or your home. It adds to tell your doctor and family where they are.
Can my trusted person be someone who is not family?
Yes. Service-public says anyone you trust who agrees can be designated, and gives the example of a person who is not part of your family.
Does a U.S. power of attorney work in France?
The official pages I read do not say. Ask a French notaire. The U.S. Embassy says its notarizing officers cannot give legal advice.
Conclusion
The mandat de protection future, advance directives and the trusted person are three different French tools. The first decides who acts for you and with what powers, the second records your treatment wishes, and the third speaks for them. Choose the form of the mandate according to the powers you want to give, write and place your directives where doctors can find them, and name a trusted person in writing. For anything involving a U.S. document, ask a French notaire first.
How do you plan to handle French healthcare?
Written by
Aurelio Maurici
Co-Founder, EasyFranceNow
Aurelio Maurici is a French entrepreneur and co-founder of EasyFranceNow. His work focuses on the intersection of French administration, banking constraints affecting U.S. nationals, tax residency and cross-border reporting, healthcare enrollment, and the procedural realities Americans encounter while settling in France.
