A British executor may know that a deceased family member had links with France without knowing every French bank, savings product or safe-deposit box. A bank statement found in a drawer may identify one account but not the others. A French notary may ask for a complete statement of assets, while the executor in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland is still trying to establish what exists. The French answer is often FICOBA, the national register of bank accounts and similar arrangements. It can identify French accounts and rented safe-deposit boxes connected with the deceased. It does not, however, show the balance or the transactions, and it does not itself decide who owns the money.
This distinction matters after Brexit. A UK grant of probate or other grant may establish the executor’s authority to administer an estate in the relevant UK jurisdiction, but it is not automatically a French certificate of heirship. French succession evidence, tax evidence and bank evidence have separate functions. The executor should therefore use FICOBA as an investigative starting point, then ask each identified bank for the date-of-death balance, statements and release requirements. This article addresses that route for a British executor or heir dealing with a person’s estate in France. It does not concern a property purchase or the formation of a company. The legal texts, decisions and official guidance linked below were checked on 28 August 2026.
The existing guide on unblocking a known French bank account after a death deals with the release problem. The present guide starts earlier: what to do when the family does not know all the accounts, suspects that an account was omitted from the inventory, or needs proof before asking a bank to disclose the estate balance.
I. How can a British executor use FICOBA to find a deceased person’s French accounts?
A. What does FICOBA reveal about a forgotten French bank account?
French succession rights arise at death, not when a bank accepts an executor’s letter. Article 720 of the French Civil Code states: Les successions s’ouvrent par la mort, au dernier domicile du défunt.
In English, the estate opens on death at the deceased’s last domicile. That rule identifies the starting point for the estate, but it does not tell the family which institutions held the deceased’s assets. FICOBA fills part of that information gap for accounts and safe-deposit boxes located in France.
The register is maintained by the French tax administration, the Direction générale des finances publiques (DGFiP). The official Service-Public FICOBA guidance explains that it lists current accounts, savings accounts, securities accounts and rented safe-deposit boxes opened in France. It records the bank’s name and address, the identity of the account holder or holders, the essential characteristics of the account, and the date and nature of an opening, modification or closure. The register can therefore answer a first practical question: which French institution should receive a succession inquiry?
It cannot answer the questions that come next. Service-Public expressly states that FICOBA does not contain the detail of operations or the balance. A result showing a savings account is not proof that a particular sum remained in it at the date of death. A result showing a closed account is not proof that the money was paid to the correct beneficiary. A result showing a joint account is not proof that the surviving holder owned all of the funds. Each result must be followed by a direct request to the bank, supported by proof of heirship and the relevant date.
The statutory background is Article 1649 A of the French General Tax Code. Its first paragraph provides: Les administrations publiques, les établissements ou organismes soumis au contrôle de l’autorité administrative, les établissements bénéficiant des dispositions des articles L. 511-22 et L. 511-23 du code monétaire et financier pour leurs opérations avec des résidents français et toutes personnes qui reçoivent habituellement en dépôt des valeurs mobilières, titres ou fonds doivent déclarer à l’administration des impôts l’ouverture et la clôture des comptes de toute nature ainsi que la location de coffres-forts.
That reporting obligation explains why FICOBA may reveal an institution that no family member remembered. It does not turn the register into a valuation or transaction database.
The register also has a time dimension. The current official guidance says that the information is retained for the life of the account and for ten years after closure. Banks are required to update the register after an opening, modification or closure. A British family investigating a recent death should therefore search under every reliable civil-status combination: the deceased’s full name, former name, date and place of birth, and known French addresses. A difference in spelling, a married name or an incorrect date can produce a record that needs to be checked with the bank rather than dismissed.
FICOBA is French in scope. It is not a register of a deceased person’s UK current accounts, ISAs, Premium Bonds, pensions or investment platforms. The executor must open a separate UK asset investigation through the probate and financial institutions relevant to the deceased’s UK life. The second paragraph of Article 1649 A concerns the obligation of persons domiciled or established in France to declare foreign accounts in the French tax return. It does not mean that a UK executor can discover every UK account by asking FICOBA. A French result and a British result should be placed in the same estate schedule, but they should remain separately sourced.
FICOBA should also be distinguished from other French databases. FICOVIE concerns certain life-insurance and capitalisation contracts; a safe-deposit box entry is not an insurance-beneficiary record. Ciclade, operated by the Caisse des dépôts, may help with money transferred after a bank treated an account as inactive. The official Ciclade service is a later recovery route, not a replacement for the FICOBA search. A solicitor, executor or heir should record which database was searched and what it can actually prove.
A FICOBA result also does not establish the governing law of the succession. Article 724 of the Civil Code provides: Les héritiers désignés par la loi sont saisis de plein droit des biens, droits et actions du défunt.
The heirs designated by law are vested by operation of law in the deceased’s assets, rights and claims. In an international estate, that principle must be read with the will, the deceased’s habitual residence, any valid choice of law and the rules applicable to the particular asset. FICOBA identifies a lead; it does not decide whether the account belongs to the succession, a spouse’s separate property, a company or another legal arrangement.
There is a further reason to avoid treating a register entry as a final answer. The bank may have recorded a mandate holder, a co-holder or an address that is no longer current. The official guidance states that the identity of a person authorised to act on an account may also be reported. A name appearing beside the deceased’s name therefore needs interpretation. Ask for the account agreement, the authority recorded by the bank and the movements required to establish beneficial ownership. The word “beneficial” is used here to describe the person entitled to the money, not merely the person whose name appears on a database.
For a British executor, the practical output of FICOBA should be an institution list, not an assumed asset value. Create one line for every result and record the bank, branch or registered address, account type, account number if supplied, opening or closing information, names of holders and the next document required. Add a column for “balance at death requested”, another for “statements requested”, and another for “response received”. This simple separation prevents an executor from reporting a register entry as cash or from treating a bank’s eventual response as if it had been available on the date of death.
B. Who can request FICOBA and which documents prove the right to access it?
The right to request information is connected to the succession, not to the applicant’s nationality. Article 730 of the Civil Code states: La preuve de la qualité d’héritier s’établit par tous moyens.
The evidence may take different forms, but a bank or the tax administration still needs a reliable basis for disclosing information about a deceased person. A British passport proves identity and nationality. It does not, by itself, prove that the applicant is an heir.
The document most often used in France is the acte de notoriété, which means a notarial deed recording the people who have a claim to the succession. Article 730-1 of the Civil Code provides: La preuve de la qualité d’héritier peut résulter d’un acte de notoriété dressé par un notaire, à la demande d’un ou plusieurs ayants droit.
The same article requires the deed to refer to the death certificate, identify the supporting civil-status documents and record the signed affirmation of the applicant’s hereditary entitlement. It is not the same document as an English grant of probate, Scottish confirmation or a grant issued in Northern Ireland.
The effect of the deed is important but limited. Article 730-3 of the Civil Code says: L’acte de notoriété ainsi établi fait foi jusqu’à preuve contraire.
The deed is evidence until contrary proof is produced, and the person relying on it is presumed to have hereditary rights in the proportions it states. If a later will, an omitted child, a spouse’s right or a dispute emerges, the deed and the FICOBA result must be reconsidered together. A register request should never be used to conceal a known dispute from the notary or the bank.
The current Service-Public procedure is specific for a deceased person’s account. An heir must make the request by post to the Centre national de traitement FBFV, BP 31, 77421 Marne-La-Vallée Cedex 02. The required documents are a copy of the death certificate, proof of the applicant’s identity and a document proving that the applicant is an heir. The request is free. The official page also confirms that a notary handling a succession can access FICOBA for the purposes of the mandate. Before sending documents from the UK, keep a complete scan and ask whether the receiving service requires a certified copy, an apostille or a French translation for the particular proof of heirship. Do not assume that one form of UK grant will be accepted in every French file.
Article L151 B of the French Book of Tax Procedures gives the notary’s statutory route. It states: Le notaire chargé d’établir l’actif successoral en vue du règlement de la succession pour laquelle il a été mandaté demande à l’administration fiscale et obtient de celle-ci la communication des informations détenues par celle-ci en application de l’article 1649 A du code général des impôts, afin d’identifier l’ensemble des comptes bancaires ouverts au nom du défunt.
The next sentence adds: En vue du règlement d’une succession, les ayants droit obtiennent de l’administration fiscale les informations mentionnées au premier alinéa du présent 1.
The text gives both the appointed notary and the heirs a route, while the practical procedure differs.
A British executor should describe the role accurately. An executor administers an estate under a UK grant. An heir receives rights under the applicable succession law. A legatee receives under a will. A notary or solicitor may act under a mandate. One person can hold more than one of those roles, but the supporting documents should make clear which capacity is being used. If the applicant is only an executor and not an heir, the safer route is usually to instruct the French notary or obtain authority from the persons entitled to the succession rather than signing a request that says “I am an heir” when that is not true.
Do not continue to use a deceased person’s online banking password, card or old power of attorney while investigating. Article 2003 of the Civil Code states: Le mandat finit :
and includes: Par la mort, la tutelle des majeurs ou la déconfiture, soit du mandant, soit du mandataire.
A power of attorney ordinarily ends on death. The fact that an executor needs statements does not authorise a personal withdrawal or an attempt to operate the account as if the deceased were still alive. Notify the bank and request the records through the succession channel.
The FICOBA request should be indexed. Put the deceased’s full identity and date of death on a covering letter, state that the request concerns the settlement of the succession, identify the applicant’s precise capacity, list the enclosures and ask for confirmation if a document is missing. For a British applicant, include a clear explanation of the jurisdiction that issued the grant and the relationship between the grant, the will and the French succession. If the request is made by an heir, include the French acte de notoriété or other document proving that status. If the request is made through a notary, include the notary’s mandate and ask the notary to record the search in the estate file.
Keep the proof of posting and the response. If the response is incomplete or contains an apparent error, compare it with the death certificate and the bank records. A correction of FICOBA data is normally pursued with the bank that supplied the information. Service-Public explains that incorrect data should be challenged by sending the necessary documents to the relevant bank. Since the current succession access route is direct with the tax administration, sending the request to the CNIL as if it were a pre-2025 indirect-access request may delay the investigation. The CNIL’s current explanation confirms that heirs’ succession requests go directly to the tax administration and that notaries have secure access for a succession they are handling.
The response should be reviewed against the estate chronology. A closed account may have been closed before death, after death, or after the balance was transferred elsewhere. An account opened shortly before death may contain a gift, a loan, a pension payment or an ordinary deposit. A safe-deposit box may require a separate inventory and access protocol. None of those conclusions can be drawn from the FICOBA line alone. The register gives the executor a defensible way to ask the right institution the right next question.
II. How can a British executor turn a FICOBA result into a recoverable estate asset?
A. What should the executor demand from each bank after a FICOBA match?
Once a bank appears in FICOBA, send a separate succession request to that bank. The request should identify the deceased, the date of death, the FICOBA reference or account information, the applicant’s capacity and the notary’s details. Ask the bank to confirm every product connected with the deceased: payment accounts, savings products, securities accounts, safe-deposit arrangements, deposits held for another purpose and any account closed during the relevant period. Ask for the date-of-death balance, the valuation of investments on that date, later movements, interest, charges, closure date, destination of any transferred balance and the documents required for release.
FICOBA’s role is discovery. The bank’s statement is the evidence needed for valuation. The executor should ask for a statement covering a reasonable period before death if there is a question about ownership, gifts, unusual withdrawals or a transfer to another institution. The request should not be an unbounded demand for every private record. Explain the issue: reconciling the account with the estate inventory, identifying the date-of-death balance, checking an alleged transfer or establishing whether a second account was funded from the first. A focused request is easier for a bank, notary or court to assess.
For an ordinary sole account, the death notification will usually cause the bank to stop normal operation while the succession file is prepared. For a joint or indivision account, the label of the account is only a starting point. Ask for the account agreement, the names of the co-holders, the rule governing operation after death and the statements needed to separate the deceased’s economic contribution from the surviving holder’s contribution. The present article does not treat every joint-account dispute as a hidden-account case. It identifies the point at which a FICOBA result must be followed by a precise ownership analysis.
The executor must also protect the estate while deciding whether to accept it. Article 784 of the Civil Code states: Les actes purement conservatoires ou de surveillance et les actes d’administration provisoire peuvent être accomplis sans emporter acceptation de la succession, si le successible n’y a pas pris le titre ou la qualité d’héritier.
The provision also identifies urgent payments of funeral costs, last illness expenses, taxes owed by the deceased, rent and other urgent succession debts as conservatory acts. Requesting a FICOBA result, securing statements and asking the bank to preserve records are investigative or protective steps. They are not permission to distribute the account to one beneficiary.
If the account is needed to protect a French property, pay an urgent succession debt or preserve an asset, keep the invoice and show how any payment is applied. A British heir who is still considering renunciation should avoid signing a document that describes a personal withdrawal or transfer as a distribution. The safer format is a written request for a payment required to preserve the estate, made through the notary or another documented channel. The effect of a step on acceptance of the succession depends on its substance and the surrounding documents, not on the heading placed on an email.
The tax file should be updated after the bank responds. Article 800 of the French General Tax Code provides: I. – Les héritiers, légataires ou donataires, leurs tuteurs ou curateurs, sont tenus de souscrire une déclaration détaillée.
The provision contains limited exemptions for certain low-value estates and does not make a FICOBA result taxable cash. Its practical message is that the executor, heir or notary must reconcile the newly identified account with the detailed succession declaration or explain why it is not part of the taxable estate. Where a death, heir or account has a UK connection, keep the French declaration and the UK probate and tax file cross-referenced but distinct.
The bank may ask for a French tax receipt or a certificate showing that French inheritance tax is not payable or has been paid before releasing funds to a foreign beneficiary. That request is separate from FICOBA. FICOBA shows where to ask; it does not issue the tax certificate. Ask the bank to state in writing whether it needs proof of heirship, a tax document, a transfer instruction, a translated UK grant, an apostille, or a combination. A generic answer such as “Brexit documents missing” is not precise enough to identify the next action.
The UK side should be updated as well. Use the official GOV.UK probate guidance for the procedure applicable to the grant, and the official GOV.UK Inheritance Tax guidance for the UK reporting question. A French account may be relevant to the value of the UK estate even if French tax is also considered. Preserve the date-of-death balance, the currency conversion method, later interest, bank charges and any amount paid to the French tax authority. A French bank’s delay does not justify leaving an identified asset out of a UK estate schedule.
If the bank’s reply shows that the account was closed and the balance transferred to the Caisse des dépôts because it became inactive, search Ciclade with the deceased’s identity and the relevant former addresses. If the bank says it has no record despite a FICOBA entry, ask it to explain whether the record concerns a different branch, a different holder, a closed product or a data error. If FICOBA shows nothing but documentary evidence strongly indicates a French account, write to the banks suggested by the deceased’s papers, not only to the register. No single database is a complete inventory of every asset category or every historical transaction.
For each result, the executor should maintain four separate conclusions: existence, ownership, value and destination. “Existence” is supported by FICOBA or the institution. “Ownership” is supported by the account agreement, civil-law analysis and statements. “Value” is supported by a date-of-death statement or valuation. “Destination” is supported by the will, acte de notoriété, tax position and signed payment instruction. A FICOBA line can support the first conclusion while leaving the other three open. This four-part method prevents a family disagreement from being hidden inside one unexplained number.
B. What remedies apply when a bank, notary or co-heir blocks the search?
A blocked investigation should be classified before a remedy is chosen. There are at least five different problems: the tax administration has not responded to a properly documented FICOBA request; a bank will not provide the balance after a register hit; a notary has not included the result in the inventory; a co-heir refuses to provide documents or disputes ownership; or a bank record is inaccurate. Each problem needs a different recipient and a different proof. A general complaint saying that “the inheritance is blocked” is less useful than a letter identifying the exact missing record and the legal purpose for which it is required.
Start with the bank. Send a dated request through its succession or complaints channel, attach the proof of death and heirship, identify the FICOBA result, and ask it to list every missing document and the legal or contractual reason for withholding each item. Ask for the date on which the bank registered the death, the person responsible for the file and the steps required to obtain statements and release. If the bank has already received the acte de notoriété, ask whether its objection concerns the identity of the heir, the proportion stated, a tax document, an internal compliance review or a dispute notified by another person.
Next, write to the French notary. Ask for confirmation that FICOBA has been searched under the correct identity, whether FICOVIE or another relevant search is required, which accounts have been added to the inventory, and what further bank statements are needed. Cite the statutory route in Article L151 B of the Book of Tax Procedures without suggesting that the notary can invent a balance that FICOBA does not contain. The notary’s role is especially useful where the British applicant is an executor but not the heir, where several beneficiaries must sign, or where the bank will only communicate with a professional handling the succession.
If another heir may have omitted or concealed an account, do not call that conduct fraud before the evidence is collected. An unexplained omission can have innocent causes: the account was forgotten, it was closed, the record was under a different name, or the deceased held only a mandate. If evidence shows that an heir deliberately concealed a succession asset or another co-heir, Article 778 of the Civil Code provides: Sans préjudice de dommages et intérêts, l’héritier qui a recelé des biens ou des droits d’une succession ou dissimulé l’existence d’un cohéritier est réputé accepter purement et simplement la succession
. The provision can deprive the concealing heir of a share in the diverted or concealed rights and can require the return of fruits and income. A FICOBA result alone is not proof of the intention required for that sanction.
Where several heirs are entitled to an account, the money may be held in an indivision, meaning joint ownership pending a division. Article 815 of the Civil Code states: Nul ne peut être contraint à demeurer dans l’indivision et le partage peut toujours être provoqué, à moins qu’il n’y ait été sursis par jugement ou convention.
The rule does not authorise one heir to take the whole balance. It supplies a route out of a deadlock through an agreed or judicial partition. A British heir who lives in the UK should ask the notary to identify the proposed distribution and the signature required from each person rather than accepting a transfer to the first person who contacts the bank.
For administration, Article 815-3 of the Civil Code provides that indivisaires holding at least two-thirds of the undivided rights may carry out certain acts of administration, while the consent of all is required for acts outside normal exploitation and for most acts of disposition. The article states: Toutefois, le consentement de tous les indivisaires est requis pour effectuer tout acte qui ne ressortit pas à l’exploitation normale des biens indivis et pour effectuer tout acte de disposition autre que ceux visés au 3°.
This distinction helps explain why a bank may accept a request for information but refuse a final distribution instruction signed by only one beneficiary.
Urgency has its own procedure. The current Article 815-6 of the Civil Code states: Le président du tribunal judiciaire peut prescrire ou autoriser toutes les mesures urgentes que requiert l’intérêt commun.
It also allows, in suitable circumstances, an indivisaire to receive a provision from a depositor of undivided funds for urgent needs, subject to conditions of use, and permits the appointment of an administrator or sequestrator. A British heir should not treat this provision as an automatic order to release the whole account. It is a targeted judicial tool where the common interest and the urgency can be evidenced.
If the problem is evidence rather than immediate payment, consider a focused pre-action application. Article 145 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides: S’il existe un motif légitime de conserver ou d’établir avant tout procès la preuve de faits dont pourrait dépendre la solution d’un litige, les mesures d’instruction légalement admissibles peuvent être ordonnées à la demande de tout intéressé, sur requête ou en référé.
The request must identify the contemplated dispute, the relevant facts and the evidence sought. It should not become a general search through every relative’s private finances.
The decision of the Second Civil Chamber of the Cour de cassation dated 3 February 2011, appeal no. 10-14.070, is a useful boundary. In its decision, the Court accepted a defined expert mission and described it as la mission expertale était limitée à la vérification des transferts d’actifs survenus durant une période dûment précisée entre le patrimoine du défunt et celui de deux de ses héritiers
. The official decision is available on Légifrance, Cour de cassation, Second Civil Chamber, 3 February 2011, no. 10-14.070. For a British heir, the lesson is practical: a request for bank evidence should be tied to an identified estate issue and a defined period, such as transfers between a date before death and the date of death.
The Conseil d’État addressed the specific right of heirs to access FICOBA in its decision of 29 June 2011, no. 339147. The case concerned heirs seeking the list of accounts held by their deceased aunt. The decision upheld the reasoning that they were regarded, en leur qualité d’ayants droit héritant des soldes des comptes bancaires
, as persons concerned for the purpose of access. The official decision is available on Légifrance, Conseil d’État, 29 June 2011, no. 339147. The modern statutory route now directs succession requests to the tax administration, but the decision explains why an heir’s request is not a request by an unrelated stranger for another person’s financial data.
If the FICOBA data itself is wrong, send the correction request to the bank that declared the account. Attach the death certificate, the relevant FICOBA response and the document showing the error. Ask for confirmation that the bank has corrected both its own record and the data transmitted to the tax administration. If the error has affected the succession declaration, the notary or tax adviser should record the correction and assess whether a supplementary declaration or explanatory letter is needed. Do not delete the original incorrect response: retain it with the date of discovery and the correction evidence.
If the account was omitted from the notary’s inventory, ask for a written explanation and a corrected asset schedule. If the notary says that the account was not part of the succession, ask which legal or factual reason supports that conclusion. An account held by a company, a spouse, a trust-like arrangement or a nominee may need a different analysis. The executor should ask for the documents supporting the classification rather than demanding that every FICOBA line be treated as personal cash. The distinction protects both the estate and the person whose account was recorded.
If a bank has all the necessary documents and still refuses to state its position, use the bank’s formal complaint route and request a final written answer. Keep the complaint, the delivery proof and the response. A British applicant should avoid sending repeated unstructured emails from different family members, because that can create inconsistent descriptions of the deceased, the executor and the beneficiaries. One indexed file, with one nominated contact, makes a later complaint or court application easier to understand.
Finally, coordinate the French and UK evidence without merging the legal conclusions. The French bank needs the documents that prove the French succession and authorise the requested payment. The UK probate adviser needs the grant, the estate value and the authority to administer. HM Revenue & Customs may need evidence for a UK Inheritance Tax analysis, while the French tax service may need the detailed succession declaration and proof of the account value. A FICOBA result can be attached to all three files, but it answers only the question of where an account was recorded. The date-of-death bank statement, notary analysis and tax documents answer the later questions.
The most effective escalation package contains a chronology, the FICOBA request and response, the acte de notoriété or other heirship evidence, the UK grant if relevant, the bank’s written refusal or silence, the specific statements requested, the notary’s position, the tax deadline and the remedy sought. State whether the immediate objective is identification, preservation of evidence, correction of a record, payment of an urgent expense, release of funds or division between heirs. The recipient can then respond to a defined legal and practical question.
Conclusion
FICOBA is a powerful first step for a British executor who suspects that a deceased person held forgotten French bank accounts or rented a safe-deposit box. A British heir can request the deceased’s information from the Centre national de traitement FBFV with a death certificate, identity document and proof of heirship. A French notary handling the succession has a direct statutory route. The Conseil d’État’s decision no. 339147 confirms the legitimate interest of heirs in identifying the accounts that form part of the estate.
The register is not a bank statement, valuation, tax certificate or release instruction. It does not show the balance, transactions or ultimate ownership. After every result, the executor should contact the institution, obtain the date-of-death balance and statements, update the notary’s asset schedule and coordinate the French and UK tax files. If a co-heir, bank or notary blocks the investigation, use a focused written request, a correction procedure, a partition route or a targeted evidence application. A defined issue and a documented chronology are the foundation of an effective remedy.
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We review the FICOBA response, the French succession documents and the bank’s next release requirement.