When Your Spouse Dies in France: What an American Does First, From the Death Certificate to the Consular Report of Death (2026)

When your spouse dies in France, two French documents come first: a death certificate written by a health professional, and a death record drawn up by the town hall after someone declares the death. Everything else, the funeral, the bank, the embassy report for the U.S., depends on them. This page follows the order of the official pages. It is a list of steps, not legal advice, and it does not cover inheritance, which has its own guides.

The Short Answer

Source: service-public.gouv.fr (F16507, F909, F1444); fr.usembassy.gov; ssa.gov.

Service-public’s own page, “Un proche est décédé”, lists twenty steps from the moment of death to the settlement of the estate. I follow the ones that matter most to a surviving American spouse, and I say where the page does not speak to a foreign situation.

Step 1: Have the Death Recorded

The first document is the death certificate. Service-public says a health professional records the death and writes it, and that the certificate is most often digital, sent electronically, otherwise on paper. It is required to declare the death at the town hall and to organise the funeral.

The situation changes with the place of death:

• In a hospital or an Ehpad: the institution declares the death to the town hall of the place of death, and must do so within 24 hours.
• At home: you call a doctor, the person’s treating doctor or SOS Médecins. A health professional comes, records the death and writes the certificate.
• A violent death (for example accidental death or suicide): you alert the police or the gendarmerie, and not a doctor. An investigation opens, and the funeral can only take place after a judicial authorisation.
• A suspicious death noticed by a doctor: the hospital or Ehpad alerts the public prosecutor, the body goes to the forensic institute, an autopsy is usually done, and the funeral cannot take place while the body is not returned.

Step 2: Declare the Death at the Town Hall

Service-public says the declaration at the town hall is mandatory. For a death at home:

• Who: any adult can declare it, preferably a relative. A funeral director can do it with a mandate.
• Where: the town hall of the place where the death occurred, whatever the nationality of the person who died.
• What to bring: your ID, the death certificate from the doctor, police or gendarmerie if possible, and any document on the deceased’s identity such as the family record book, an identity document or a birth certificate.
• When: there is no deadline for a death at home, but the page says to do it as soon as possible, because the other procedures depend on it.

After the declaration, the town hall draws up the death record, called the acte de décès.

Step 3: Get Copies of the Death Record

Service-public says any person can request a copy of a death record, without justification and without proving identity, and that the request is free. In France you can ask online, by post at the town hall of the place of death with the name of the person and the date of death, or on site at the town hall of the place of death or of the person’s last home. On site the copy is given immediately, and no documents are required.

Ask for the full copy, the copie intégrale. Service-public says it reproduces all the information in the record: date, time and place of death, the identity, occupation and home of the deceased, the identity of the parents, the spouse, and the declarant. The death is also noted in the margin of the birth certificate. You will need several copies: the Ficoba request below and the U.S. Embassy’s report each ask for one.

Step 4: The Funeral

Service-public sets out the rules.

• Last wishes: check whether the person left wishes about the funeral, orally, in a will, or in a funeral contract, or in advance directives. Relatives must respect them. The guide to the mandat de protection future and advance directives explains how directives are written and kept. If none exist, the decision belongs to the relatives. A will filed with a notary is recorded in a central register of last wishes.
• Timing: a burial or a cremation takes place at least 24 hours after the death and at the latest on the 14th calendar day after it. The prefect can grant exceptions when circumstances justify it.
• Choosing a funeral company: if no contract was signed before the death, you choose a company. Service-public recommends reading the general price documentation the company must make available, and asking for a quote from at least 3 companies. The quote must be detailed and priced, on an official model, and free. The company normally handles the formalities between the declaration and the funeral, in whole or in part.
• Where a burial can take place: in the cemetery of the commune where the person lived, where they died, or where the family vault is. A burial in another commune is possible, but the mayor can refuse. To be buried in a commune, the person must have died there, lived there, or be registered or qualify to be registered there.
• Cremation: after a cremation, the urn can be kept for 1 year at most at the crematorium or a place of worship. During that time the relatives must decide what happens to the ashes, unless the person stated their wishes.

Who pays: service-public says the heirs must pay the funeral costs even if they renounce the estate, shared in proportion to what each receives, and that if the family lacks resources the mayor of the place of death can decide the commune pays. If a funeral contract was fully paid in advance, the heirs owe nothing, although additional sums are common because of price changes since the contract was signed.

Step 5: The Home and the Bank

On the home, service-public advises removing perishable food and rubbish, but not emptying the furniture in a hurry, and not ending the water, gas or electricity contracts without the heirs’ agreement. The home must stay insured while the estate is settled. If the person rented their main home, you must tell the landlord, and in principle the death does not end the lease, with exceptions the page lists.

On the bank, service-public says to contact each bank where the person held an account. Any heir, a relative or the notary can inform the bank of the death. The page adds three points:

• Finding accounts: you can consult the national register of bank accounts, Ficoba, for the accounts and safe deposit boxes the person held in France. The request is made in writing, with a copy of the death record, proof of your identity and a document proving you are an heir.
• Individual accounts: once the bank knows of the death, it blocks the accounts the person held alone.
• Fees: a bank can charge for its work on the estate, capped at 1% of the total balance of the accounts and savings products, and never more than €857. The fees are a debt of the heirs, paid in the settlement.

Step 6: Tell the U.S. Embassy

For a U.S. citizen who dies in France, the embassy prepares a Consular Report of Death Abroad. The U.S. Embassy in Paris says it is an official report on the essential facts of the death, based on the French death certificate. It is in English, and certified copies are sent to the next of kin. The embassy says it can generally be used in U.S. courts to help settle estate matters, bank accounts, insurance policies and similar matters.

The embassy lists what the next of kin or legal representative provides, to send as scans by email, except the passport, which goes to its office:

• the full copy of the French death certificate from the town hall,
• the deceased’s address in the U.S. and in France,
• the most recent U.S. passport if still valid, which the embassy cancels and returns,
• a doctor’s letter stating that the cause of death was natural, or the death certificate (blue part); if neither is available, the doctor’s and the funeral home’s contact details,
• the place of burial, and whether the person was cremated or buried,
• the name, relationship and addresses of the custodian of personal effects, and of the recipients of the report.

When the embassy learns of the death of an American in its district, it says it will determine the next of kin as quickly as possible and contact them by telephone. The embassy page also lists contact details for the consulates in Marseille and Strasbourg for deaths in their regions, so check its current page.

Step 7: Social Security

On the U.S. side, SSA’s page “What to do when someone dies” says funeral homes generally tell it of a death, so you do not typically need to report it yourself. If no funeral home is involved or the death is not reported, you call SSA with the name, Social Security number, date of birth and date of death. If you live outside the United States, the page says to contact a Federal Benefits Unit or call its International Call Center, and that if the person who died was a U.S. citizen you should also report the death to the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.

SSA says a spouse might get a one-time death payment of $255, that a spouse who does not live in the same home may be eligible if they can get benefits on the deceased’s record, and that you must apply within 2 years of the death. It also lists monthly survivor benefits for certain family members; SSA’s pages I read give the entry point for them and I do not state the amounts. For how your own Social Security works while you live in France, see the guide to Social Security and the totalization agreement.

Taxes the Following Spring

If you were married to the person who died and you are in the French income tax system, service-public says to report your change of situation to your tax office within 2 months of the death, which updates your withholding rate. The following spring you file two returns: a joint return for the couple from 1 January to the date of death, and an individual return in your name alone from the date of death to 31 December. The guide to the French income tax return covers the filing itself. The page does not address a US return, which I do not cover here.

Service-public also lists a step on survivors’ pensions for people aged 55 or more. Among its cases are a deceased retiree who was a private-sector employee and one who was a civil servant. In the part I read, I found no case for a pension paid by U.S. Social Security, so I do not state a rule for it.

What Comes After: the Estate

This page stops where the estate begins. The legal side, whose law applies, how forced heirship works, what an heir owes, and what a surviving spouse is exempt from, is in the guide to French inheritance law for Americans, the guide to making a will in France and the guide to U.S. estate tax for a non-citizen spouse. A notary handles a French estate, and the service-public page says the estate settlement runs from the death to the division of the property among the heirs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who declares a death at home in France?

Service-public says any adult can declare it, preferably a relative, at the town hall of the place of death, and that nationality does not matter. A funeral director can do it with a mandate.

Is there a deadline to declare a death?

For a death in a hospital or an Ehpad, the institution must declare within 24 hours. For a death at home, service-public says there is no deadline, but to do it as soon as possible.

How many copies of the death record do I need?

Service-public gives no number and says the copies are free. The Ficoba request and the U.S. Embassy’s report each ask for one, so ask for several full copies.

How long do we have to hold the funeral?

Service-public says at least 24 hours after the death and at the latest on the 14th calendar day, and that the prefect can grant exceptions.

Does the U.S. Embassy have to be told?

SSA says that if the person who died was a U.S. citizen you should report the death to the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. The embassy prepares the Consular Report of Death Abroad from the French death certificate.

What can the report be used for in the U.S.?

The embassy says it can generally be used in U.S. courts to help settle estate matters, bank accounts, insurance policies and similar matters.

Do I have to pay the funeral costs?

Service-public says the heirs must pay the funeral costs even if they renounce the estate, in proportion to what each receives, and that the commune can cover them if the family lacks resources.

Is there a Social Security payment for a surviving spouse?

SSA says a spouse might get a one-time payment of $255, with an application within 2 years of the death, and that certain family members may be eligible for monthly survivor benefits.

Conclusion

When a spouse dies in France, have the death recorded, declare it at the town hall, get several full copies of the death record, and keep the funeral within the 24-hour to 14-day window. Then tell the banks, send the French death certificate to the U.S. Embassy for the Consular Report of Death, and contact Social Security from abroad. After that, the estate begins, and it deserves a notary and the guides on French inheritance law.