When a British national is called to a French succession (the deceased person’s estate as a whole), the apparent choice between accepting and refusing the inheritance can hide a third, highly practical option. An heir may accept the estate while limiting payment of its debts to the value of the inherited assets. In modern French law this is called acceptation à concurrence de l’actif net, meaning acceptance up to the net assets of the estate. It is often described in English as acceptance with the benefit of inventory.
That option is not an informal promise made by a notary. It is a formal civil-law procedure with a declaration, an elected address in France, an inventory, national publicity and strict deadlines. It can preserve the value of a French bank account, shareholding or property without exposing the heir’s own savings and home to an unknown estate liability. It can also fail if the inventory is late, incomplete or deliberately misleading, or if the heir treats an inherited asset as personal property.
Brexit does not remove the need to identify the law governing the succession. The deceased’s habitual residence, a valid choice of law, the nature of each asset and the relationship between French and UK procedures must be checked first. This guide assumes that the French succession procedure applies or that a French court or notary requires the option to be exercised in France. It explains how a UK-based heir can make that decision, preserve the liability limit and coordinate the French file with UK probate and tax work.
I. Can a UK heir accept a French inheritance while protecting personal assets?
A. Why acceptance with net-asset protection is different from renunciation
French law gives an heir three different routes. The first is pure and simple acceptance: the heir takes the rights in the estate and assumes the relevant debts. The second is acceptance up to net assets, which preserves the inheritance but separates the estate’s assets from the heir’s own patrimony. The third is renunciation: the heir is treated as never having been an heir and normally receives nothing from the estate. Article 768 of the Code civil (French Civil Code) expresses the starting point in these words: “L’héritier peut accepter la succession purement et simplement ou y renoncer.” The same provision also recognises acceptance at the level of net assets for an heir with a universal or universal-title entitlement. The official text is available in Article 768 of the French Civil Code.
The expression “benefit of inventory” is useful for a British reader, but it can create a false impression. The heir does not first accept casually and then ask the court to discover the limit. The modern procedure requires the heir to declare that they are taking the status only up to the actif net, the net assets after the estate’s liabilities are identified. The corresponding French wording is precise: “Un héritier peut déclarer qu’il n’entend prendre cette qualité qu’à concurrence de l’actif net.” That sentence appears in Article 787 of the French Civil Code.
This is materially different from a renunciation. A UK heir who renounces cannot later select the French house, a bank balance or family shares simply because those assets turn out to be valuable. Renunciation abandons the status and the inheritance, subject to the statutory rules on changing the option before another person has accepted and within the applicable period. The person who accepts at net-asset value, by contrast, remains an heir. That person can receive the positive balance after creditors and estate expenses have been dealt with, but must administer the assets under the special rules.
The distinction matters in common British scenarios. A parent living in France may leave a mortgage-charged house, unpaid French taxes, a disputed guarantee, a UK credit-card balance, business liabilities or a claim for repairs. The French house may be worth more than the known debts, yet an undisclosed personal guarantee or pending court claim can change the balance. Renunciation may be unattractive where the heir wants to preserve a family asset. Pure acceptance may be dangerous where the liabilities are not yet mapped. Acceptance at net-asset value is designed for that middle position: investigate the estate, pay debts from the estate within its value and keep the heir’s personal assets outside the estate’s liability pool.
The choice of option is separate from the question of which law governs the succession. A UK will, French assets and a death in France do not automatically produce one simple answer. The European rules on international successions can be relevant for France, while the United Kingdom’s relationship with those rules is not the same as that of an EU Member State. The governing law may depend on habitual residence, a choice of law based on nationality, transitional facts and whether the asset is movable or immovable. The official text of the EU Succession Regulation should be read alongside the will and the factual history, not used as a substitute for that analysis.
For that reason, a British heir should not sign a document headed “acceptance” merely because a French bank, estate agent or family member requests proof of status. Ask what option the document records, whether it refers to acceptation à concurrence de l’actif net, and whether it contains any statement amounting to pure acceptance. The earlier guide on whether a UK will works in France after Brexit addresses the choice-of-law and reserved-heir questions that should precede the liability decision. This article deals with the next question: once the French route is engaged, how can the heir accept without taking unlimited estate debts personally?
There is a practical reason not to delay that decision while waiting for perfect information. Article 771 prevents an heir from being forced to choose before four months have passed from the opening of the succession. The official rule says: “L’héritier ne peut être contraint à opter avant l’expiration d’un délai de quatre mois.” It is linked here in Article 771 of the French Civil Code. After that period, a creditor, a co-heir or a person next in line may serve a formal demand to choose. The four-month breathing space is not a reason to ignore letters; it is the period in which the heir should obtain documents, protect assets and decide whether a net-asset declaration is appropriate.
The French procedure also has a scope limit. Article 768 refers to a universal entitlement or an entitlement to a universal portion. A person who receives only a specific legacy may not stand in the same position as an heir for this option. A named beneficiary of a particular item, an executor and a personal representative in England and Wales are not automatically the same legal person as a French heir. The will, the family relationship and any certificate of entitlement must therefore be reviewed before using the phrase “UK heir”.
B. What the liability cap covers—and where it can fail
The central protection is not a discount on every debt. It is a separation between two patrimonies. Article 791 states that acceptance at net-asset value gives the heir the advantage of avoiding confusion between personal property and estate property. It also limits payment of estate debts to the value of the assets received. The opening words are: “L’acceptation à concurrence de l’actif net donne à l’héritier l’avantage”. The full rule is available in Article 791 of the French Civil Code.
Suppose the inventory values the French estate at €240,000 and identifies €310,000 of estate debts. The protected heir does not become personally liable for the missing €70,000 merely because the heir accepts. Estate assets are used in accordance with the statutory order; the heir receives no positive balance unless the administration produces one. If the estate ultimately realises €220,000 rather than €240,000, the limit must be considered against the assets actually dealt with under the procedure and the heir’s share. A calculation is not a promise that every asset will sell at the inventory value. The inventory creates the evidential starting point and the procedure controls what happens next.
The cap is directed at debts of the succession. It does not erase a debt the heir personally signed. If a British heir co-signed the deceased’s loan, gave a guarantee, borrowed money jointly, or entered a fresh contract after the death, that separate obligation must be analysed on its own terms. Article 792 expressly addresses the position of creditors and includes references to security and guarantees; it does not transform every personal undertaking into an estate debt. A UK mortgage or guarantee may require a separate analysis under its governing law, even when the deceased’s French account is part of the estate.
The option also does not authorise the heir to use estate assets as if they were personal cash. An heir who keeps the French property, collects rent, closes a utility account or pays insurance must preserve a clear ledger showing which money belongs to the estate. Estate funds should be held separately where practicable. Each payment should identify its purpose, the creditor, the date and the supporting document. Personal use of an estate account can create disputes with co-heirs and creditors and make it harder to show that the statutory administration was respected.
The French Code civil gives the heir control over some assets, but it imposes a public process. During the period in which creditors may declare their claims, the heir can declare that a particular asset is being kept in kind, meaning the asset itself is retained. The heir then owes the value fixed in the inventory. Alternatively, the heir can sell an asset and must account for the sale price. A creditor can challenge an undervalued retained asset or an informal sale. The price is not the heir’s money simply because the buyer transferred it to the heir’s account.
There are serious consequences for a defective administration. Article 800 says: “L’héritier est chargé d’administrer les biens qu’il recueille dans la succession.” The heir must keep an account of administration, the debts paid and the acts affecting the inherited assets. The same provision states that the heir answers for serious faults and can be forced onto personal assets if, after a formal demand, the heir fails to explain where unalienated or unretained estate assets are located. Article 800 is part of the official Légifrance section on Articles 787 to 803.
Bad-faith omissions are especially dangerous. If an heir knowingly leaves an asset or liability out of the inventory, or fails to devote the value of a retained or sold asset to estate creditors, the Code can remove the net-asset protection and treat the heir as having accepted purely and simply from the opening of the succession. A missing foreign bank account, an undisclosed life-insurance payment, an inherited company interest or a known UK tax claim should not be left for the notary to discover by accident. If information is uncertain, label it as uncertain, preserve the evidence and ask how it should be included.
Acceptance at net-asset value is also not a reversible holding position while the heir changes their mind. Article 801 permits the heir to move from net-asset acceptance to pure acceptance while the right to accept has not prescribed, but it says that net-asset acceptance prevents renunciation. The official text is clear: “L’acceptation à concurrence de l’actif net empêche toute renonciation à la succession.” See Article 801 in the Légifrance section. A British heir who wants the freedom to walk away should not choose this option without understanding that consequence.
The Court of cassation’s reasoning on acts that imply acceptance reinforces the need for disciplined conduct. In its decision of 18 December 2019, first civil chamber, appeal no. 18-21.815, the Court recorded that certain procedural steps had “un caractère purement conservatoire et n’impliquaient pas l’intention d’accepter la succession”. The official decision is available from the Cour de cassation. The point is not that every protective act is safe. It is that preserving a right or defending a position can differ from acting as owner or asserting heir rights in a way that demonstrates acceptance. A UK heir should record the purpose of each urgent step and obtain advice before selling, distributing or appropriating an estate asset.
There is a further family effect. Several heirs may choose different options, but the special rules can affect the administration of the estate as a whole until partition. If one sibling in Britain accepts at net-asset value while another accepts purely and simply, their communication, valuation and payment records must be aligned. A dispute over an undervalued house or a missing UK account can expose the protected heir to procedural risk even though the original purpose was to protect personal assets. A written protocol among heirs is not a substitute for the statutory filings, but it can prevent avoidable evidence disputes.
II. How does a UK-based heir make the choice and administer the estate?
A. Which deadlines, filing route and inventory must be secured?
The first deadline is the four-month period before a demand to choose can normally be imposed. If a valid sommation (a formal demand to take a position) is served after that period, Article 772 gives the heir two months to choose or to ask the judge for additional time. Its warning is direct: “Dans les deux mois qui suivent la sommation, l’héritier doit prendre parti”. The current official text is linked in Article 772 of the French Civil Code. Failing to choose or request an extension can result in deemed pure and simple acceptance.
That consequence is not theoretical for a British person living outside France. In its 5 February 2025 decision, first civil chamber, appeal no. 22-22.618, the Court of cassation held that an heir who had been summoned after four months and then failed to choose within the following two months, without requesting additional time, was deemed to have accepted purely and simply and could no longer renounce or choose net-asset acceptance. The official judgment states that the heir “est réputé acceptant pur et simple de la succession” in those circumstances. Read the decision in full on the Cour de cassation website. A letter sent to a UK address should be escalated immediately; waiting for a French translation can consume the entire response period.
If no one forces the choice, the option is subject to a ten-year prescription from the opening of the succession. Article 780 says: “La faculté d’option se prescrit par dix ans à compter de l’ouverture de la succession.” The rule appears in Article 780 of the French Civil Code. That ten-year period is an outside limit, not a sensible plan for a cross-border file. Property insurance, rent, tax notices, bank charges, creditors and evidence continue to move while the heir waits. A British family should establish the date of death, the date the succession opened, the date of every demand and the dates for the declaration and inventory in one shared calendar.
The declaration for net-asset acceptance must be made at the registry of the judicial court where the succession is opened or before a French notaire, a civil-law legal professional who authenticates and handles many succession formalities. The French registry is called the greffe. Article 788 adds that the declaration must include one elected address, a domicile élu, for service in France. The official text provides: “La déclaration doit être faite au greffe du tribunal judiciaire dans le ressort duquel la succession est ouverte ou devant notaire.” It is linked here as Article 788 of the French Civil Code.
The elected French address is operationally important. It is where estate creditors notify their titles and where procedural correspondence can be served. A UK address alone does not satisfy the statutory wording. The heir may need to use the address of an accepting heir or the person charged with settling the succession, provided the address is in France. The choice should be written precisely, monitored and kept active until the estate has been closed. A notary’s office can sometimes be the practical address, but that depends on the mandate and the notary’s acceptance of the role.
The declaration is only the first filing. Article 789 requires an inventory, or inventaire, listing an estimate item by item of the estate’s assets and liabilities. It says: “La déclaration est accompagnée ou suivie de l’inventaire de la succession”. The inventory must be drawn up by a commissaire-priseur judiciaire (a judicial auctioneer authorised to value assets), a commissaire de justice—the modern profession that includes the former huissier—or a notary, according to the professional rules. See Article 789 of the French Civil Code.
Article 790 sets the crucial filing period: the inventory is lodged at the court within two months of the declaration. The official text says: “L’inventaire est déposé au tribunal dans le délai de deux mois à compter de la déclaration.” The heir may ask the judge for additional time where serious and legitimate reasons delay the inventory, but the request must be made as part of an active application, not as a private explanation sent after the deadline. If the inventory is not filed in time, the heir is treated as having accepted purely and simply. The complete current provision, including the extension and default rule, is in Article 790 of the French Civil Code.
For a UK-based heir, the document pack should be assembled before the declaration whenever possible. It should usually include the French death certificate, the will and any codicil, evidence of family relationship, passport or identity documents, proof of address, any existing acte de notoriété (a French deed identifying heirs), UK probate papers if already issued, details of French and UK bank accounts, property titles, mortgages, insurance, tax notices, business interests, vehicles, loans, guarantees, gifts and active litigation. The notary may need certified copies, sworn French translations or evidence of authenticity. Requirements vary with the document and issuing authority; an apostille is not a universal answer, so the receiving professional should specify what is needed before the UK original is sent.
The inventory should not be a list of only the obvious valuable items. It should explain valuation assumptions and identify liabilities that are disputed, contingent or not yet quantified. A pending personal-injury claim, a tax reassessment, a French condominium charge, a business guarantee, a UK inheritance-tax issue or a loan secured on a French house should be included with its status. Article 789 refers to an estimate, not certainty. An honest provisional figure supported by a letter or account statement is safer than silence followed by an accusation of concealment.
The consequences of delay are illustrated by the Court of cassation’s decision reported under appeal no. 17-14.632, available on the official Cour de cassation decision page. The case concerned the loss of the effects of net-asset acceptance after a late inventory and treated the resulting harm as “une perte de chance”. The precise outcome depends on the facts, but the lesson is practical: a professional or heir who allows the filing to drift can create a separate liability dispute, while a successful damages claim is not a replacement for preserving the original statutory protection.
Finally, the costs should be budgeted. The protection requires professional work, valuation, filings and publicity. Article 803 provides: “Les frais de scellés, d’inventaire et de compte sont à la charge de la succession.” These costs are treated as privileged partition expenses under the French rule. That does not mean the UK heir can ignore an initial invoice: an advance may be necessary, and the reimbursement position should be recorded in the estate accounts. The provision is available in the same official Légifrance section.
B. How are creditors, inherited assets and UK formalities coordinated?
Once the declaration has been registered and publicised nationally, creditors must use the elected address to notify their titles. Article 792 allows claims whose amount is not fixed to be declared provisionally on the basis of an estimate. Its deadline is fifteen months from the publicity of the declaration under Article 788. The short official fragment is: “Faute de déclaration dans un délai de quinze mois”. The whole provision, including the treatment of unsecured claims and security, is linked in Article 792 of the French Civil Code.
The fifteen months should be managed as a live claims period, not as a date written on a spreadsheet and forgotten. Send notices to known creditors, maintain proof of delivery and keep a register stating when each claim arrived, whether it is secured, whether it is disputed and whether its amount is final or provisional. A creditor’s silence does not prove that no debt exists. Conversely, a late unsecured claim may be extinguished against the estate if the statutory conditions are met, but a secured creditor or a creditor with an enforceable position may not be treated in the same way.
The Court of cassation clarified the operation of Article 792 in its decision of 12 October 2022, first civil chamber, appeal no. 20-21.016, published in the Bulletin. The official summary repeats that claims not secured on estate assets can be extinguished after fifteen months if not declared, but also explains that payments already made under an enforceable judgment are not subject to the same declaration requirement. The decision states that creditors must notify their title at the elected address and that an unfixed claim may be declared provisionally. See the official Cour de cassation decision no. 20-21.016. This is why an heir should not tell a creditor simply to “wait for the fifteen months”; the title, security and procedural history must be checked first.
The declaration also affects enforcement. Article 792-1 provides that, from publication and during the Article 792 period, the declaration stops or prevents enforcement measures and new security registrations by succession creditors over movable and immovable property, subject to the statutory exceptions. The rule is in the official Légifrance section on the net-asset procedure. If a bailiff threatens seizure of a French account or property, send the declaration and publication evidence to the relevant professional and obtain an urgent assessment of whether the statutory protection applies. Do not assume that an email to a creditor has suspended enforcement.
During the fifteen-month period, the heir must choose how each material asset will be handled. Article 793 says that the heir may declare that one or more estate assets are being kept in kind and must then pay the value fixed in the inventory. The alternative is sale, with the sale price being owed to the estate. The official text begins: “Dans le délai prévu à l’article 792, l’héritier peut déclarer qu’il conserve en nature”. Read Article 793 of the French Civil Code before signing a private sale agreement or transferring a valuable item to a UK account.
Article 794 adds a fifteen-day filing period for the declaration that an asset is retained or sold. A succession creditor may contest the retained value or the private sale price within three months after publicity, if the creditor shows that the true value is higher. The official Légifrance provisions are in the Articles 793 and 794 section. An heir who wants to keep a French house should therefore obtain a defensible valuation, confirm the mortgage and charges, make the statutory declaration and preserve proof of publication. A family agreement that says “the house is worth what the brother and sister agreed” may not protect against an estate creditor.
Article 796 sets the payment order. The heir settles the estate liabilities, pays secured creditors according to the rank of their security and pays other declared creditors in the order of their declarations. Monetary legacies come after creditors. Article 797 then requires payment within two months after the declaration that an asset is retained or after the sale proceeds become available; if a dispute prevents payment, available funds may have to be placed in a deposit arrangement. These rules are contained in the official Légifrance section, Articles 796 and 797.
The heir should keep an estate ledger with four separate columns: asset, valuation or sale proceeds, claim or expense paid, and supporting evidence. Keep bank statements for the French estate account, completion statements, invoices, tax receipts, the creditor register, the notary’s correspondence, valuations and proof of each statutory publication. Never mix a distribution to a UK heir with a payment to a creditor without showing which statutory step authorised it. When there are co-heirs, require written approval or a professional record for major transactions, especially a sale to a connected person.
An heir may also appoint a representative or ask the judge about administration where distance, conflict or the complexity of the estate makes direct handling unsafe. That is not a way to transfer responsibility invisibly. The mandate should state who may access accounts, instruct valuations, respond to creditors, sign a sale and report to the co-heirs. If an English personal representative is involved, their UK authority should not be assumed to give them unrestricted authority over French estate property. The French notary, court and bank may require separate evidence of entitlement and power.
The UK side must be run in parallel. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s guidance on what to do when someone dies in France points British families towards the local death registration process, translators, lawyers and UK formalities. A French acceptance declaration does not itself obtain a UK grant of probate or letters of administration. If the deceased held UK bank accounts, shares, pensions or a house, the UK personal representative may need a separate application, asset release process and tax review. If a grant is needed, the executor should tell the UK adviser that a French net-asset acceptance is being used and identify which person is authorised to deal with each asset.
Civil liability and taxation must also be separated. Acceptance at net-asset value limits an heir’s exposure to estate debts under French succession law; it is not a ruling on where French or UK inheritance tax is due. The UK inheritance-tax treatment can depend on domicile, the asset and the relevant treaty or credit mechanism. HM Revenue & Customs publishes a France-related inheritance-tax manual at IHTM27174. A tax payment, a French succession declaration and a creditor claim may use different dates and different concepts. Pay one because the other is due only after checking the document and the legal basis.
The same caution applies to French estate tax notices. A French tax authority claim may be a debt of the succession, but the statement of inheritance tax, the civil inventory and the payment of a secured loan do not necessarily follow the same timetable. A British heir should ask the notary or tax adviser to label each amount as a tax, cost, secured debt, ordinary creditor claim, legacy or personal liability. That classification determines whether it belongs in the inventory, how it is paid and whether a creditor must declare it at the elected address.
The closing stage is as important as the opening. After the claims period and the asset decisions, prepare a final account showing the estate assets, realised values, expenses, creditor payments, tax payments, legacies and balance for each heir. Obtain evidence that the declaration and subsequent asset notices were publicised. Keep the original English documents, French translations and the legal file together. A UK heir who later faces a bank query, a tax audit or a co-heir challenge must be able to show not only that the option was chosen, but that the estate was administered within its limits.
If the real objective is to avoid any responsibility for the estate, the answer may be renunciation rather than protected acceptance. The separate guide on renouncing a French inheritance as a UK resident explains that route. If the objective is to preserve a potentially valuable French asset while unknown liabilities are investigated, acceptance at net-asset value may be the better starting point—but only if the declaration, inventory and administration deadlines can be met.
Conclusion
A UK heir can accept a French inheritance without automatically exposing personal savings and property to unlimited estate debts. The protection is the French acceptation à concurrence de l’actif net: the heir remains an heir, but the estate and personal patrimony are kept separate and the estate debts are paid only within the value of the assets governed by the procedure. That protection is not created by a casual letter, a family agreement or a notary’s general explanation. It requires the right choice of law, a formal declaration, an elected address in France, an itemised inventory, national publicity and careful administration.
The immediate priorities are to identify the date of death and every demand to take a position, preserve the four-month and two-month rules, obtain a complete asset-and-liability picture, and instruct the French notary or court before the two-month inventory period expires. The fifteen-month creditor period must then be monitored, and every retained or sold asset must be reported and valued correctly. The heir should keep estate funds and records separate, disclose uncertain UK and French liabilities honestly and avoid any act that could be read as personal appropriation.
Brexit makes coordination more important, not less. French civil succession procedure, UK probate, inheritance tax, bank release requirements and the law governing a guarantee may all be different questions. A British family should run those workstreams together and obtain a written decision on whether the goal is to accept, accept with net-asset protection or renounce. Acting quickly is particularly important when a creditor, co-heir or notary has already sent a formal demand.
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