A British national who dies while living in France can leave behind a surprisingly difficult asset to identify and collect: UK Premium Bonds held with National Savings and Investments (NS&I). The money is not lost because the holder has died, but the surviving family cannot usually treat the bonds as an ordinary bank transfer to a named relative. NS&I must be satisfied that the claimant has authority, while the French succession file must identify the persons entitled and deal with the tax consequences.

The practical difficulty is that three questions overlap. First, who may make the NS&I claim: an executor, an administrator, an heir or another beneficiary? Secondly, which documents will bridge a French notarial file and the UK Grant of Representation? Thirdly, are the bonds and any later prizes reportable in France, the United Kingdom, or both, and can the France–UK inheritance tax convention prevent double taxation? The answer depends on the deceased’s last domicile, the place of death, the will, the family structure, the total NS&I holding and the legal classification of the asset.

This guide focuses on a death claim for Premium Bonds, not on buying property in France or setting up a company. It explains the documents, the 12-month draw window, French inheritance procedure, UK probate and the treaty points that should be recorded before the estate distributes the money.

I. Can the estate claim UK Premium Bonds when the holder dies in France?

A. Why Premium Bonds form part of the estate even when the family lives in France

The first distinction is between the Premium Bond account and the person who will ultimately receive the estate. Premium Bonds are an NS&I product held in the deceased customer’s name. They do not become the property of a spouse, child or other relative merely because that person is familiar with the account, paid into it in the past or is mentioned informally by the family. The bond holding and the right to any prize are dealt with through the death-claims process.

NS&I’s current bereavement guidance says that Premium Bonds must be repaid before they are moved into another person’s name. It also says that they can remain eligible for the prize draw for up to 12 months after the date of death in the existing holder’s name. That is a special holding period, not a transfer of ownership. Once NS&I has been told of the death, prizes won during the claim process are held and then paid by warrant to the person entitled after the claim is completed; they are not simply paid electronically into a relative’s account or consolidated at the end of the 12 months. The operational rules are set out in NS&I’s guidance on a deceased customer, which should be checked again before documents are sent because response times and forms can change.

The 12-month period can be useful where the family needs time to obtain a French acte de notoriété, meaning a notarial deed identifying the heirs, or a UK Grant of Representation. It is not a reason to postpone the first notification. NS&I currently says that its response time for a bereavement enquiry is eight weeks. A family that waits until the last draw may create a second problem: the claim remains unresolved while prizes are held, original documents may be requested and the estate still has to meet its own French or UK tax deadlines.

French succession law starts from the place of the deceased’s last domicile. Article 720 of the French Civil Code states: « Les successions s’ouvrent par la mort, au dernier domicile du défunt. » In English, the succession opens at death, at the deceased’s last domicile. This does not mean that French law automatically answers every conflict-of-laws question. A valid will, the deceased’s nationality, any choice of law and the rules governing an international succession may alter the law governing devolution. It does mean that a person who was genuinely living and domiciled in France should expect a French notary and French tax authorities to be involved in the evidence and reporting process.

Article 724 of the French 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 acquire the deceased’s assets, rights and actions by operation of law. In practice, that automatic effect does not oblige an overseas institution to release money on a verbal assertion. NS&I still has to protect itself against competing heirs, a forged will, an administrator without authority or a payment to the wrong person.

For UK probate purposes, it is helpful to separate four roles:

• An executor is appointed by a will and administers the estate in accordance with it.
• An administrator is appointed where there is no will or no executor able to act.
• An heir is entitled under the applicable succession law.
• A beneficiary receives money or property under a will, intestacy rules or a later distribution.

The executor or administrator normally makes the institutional claim. The beneficiary may be the final recipient, but that does not make the beneficiary the person authorised to ask NS&I to disregard the estate administration. NS&I’s terminology is explained in its bereavement guidance, and the UK document giving authority may be called a Grant of Probate, a Grant of Letters of Administration or, in Scotland, Confirmation. NS&I uses the wider expression Grant of Representation.

The French equivalent is not a universal replacement for UK probate. Under Article 730-1 of the French Civil Code, « La preuve de la qualité d’héritier peut résulter d’un acte de notoriété dressé par un notaire ». The statute also requires the deed to refer to the death certificate, identify the supporting civil-status documents and record the assertion of the applicants. Article 730-3 adds: « L’acte de notoriété ainsi établi fait foi jusqu’à preuve contraire. » The deed therefore has an important evidential role in France, but NS&I may still ask for the UK document that gives legal authority to deal with the savings.

The Court of Cassation made the evidential point in First Civil Chamber, 24 October 1984, no. 83-12.096. It held that an acte de notoriété « établit la qualité d’héritier dans la mesure où la véracité de ses énonciations n’est pas contestée »: it establishes heir status unless the truth of its statements is challenged. The case concerned a succession being claimed after provisional administration, not Premium Bonds. Its value here is the method: a properly prepared deed is strong evidence, but the evidence must match the actual family tree, will and civil-status records.

B. Which documents prove the right to claim, and what if an heir is missing?

The safest file is built before the first form is submitted. The claimant should collect a death certificate showing the date and place of death, the deceased’s full name and every previous name, the last French address, earlier UK addresses, date of birth, marriage or civil-partnership evidence, the original or certified copy of the will, and all known NS&I correspondence. A Premium Bond certificate is helpful but not essential if the holder details and NS&I account information can be identified. The claim should disclose all known NS&I products rather than treating each prize or certificate as a separate estate.

For the authority section, the file may need the following:

• a Grant of Probate or Grant of Letters of Administration for England and Wales, a corresponding grant for Northern Ireland, or Confirmation for Scotland;
• the French acte de notoriété or another notarial instrument identifying the heirs;
• a statement from the French notary explaining the role of the claimant and the destination of the funds;
• certified translations into English where NS&I requests them and, conversely, a sworn French translation of UK probate documents where the French notary or tax office requires one;
• an apostille or other authentication if the receiving institution requires one for the UK document;
• bank details for the estate or the person lawfully entitled to receive the proceeds;
• a written schedule of the holding and prizes at the date of death and during the 12-month period.

Do not assume that an apostille cures a substantive problem. An apostille authenticates the origin of a public document; it does not prove that the named person is the correct heir or that a will is valid under every potentially relevant law. The notary should identify whether the UK document needs an apostille, and NS&I should state whether it wants originals, certified copies or a particular form of grant. NS&I says it may request a Grant of Representation where total NS&I savings are £5,000 or more and reserves the right to request one for savings of any value. That means the family should not build its strategy around the £5,000 figure as if it were a guaranteed exemption.

The French heir must also decide how to accept the succession. Article 768 of the French Civil Code states: « L’héritier peut accepter la succession purement et simplement ou y renoncer. » It also permits acceptance up to the net assets where the heir has a universal or universal-title entitlement. In practical terms, the Premium Bond balance should not be treated as free cash until the estate’s debts, taxes and other assets have been reviewed. A British family may know about the NS&I holding but not about a French tax liability, a guarantee, a loan, an unpaid care cost or another creditor.

Article 771 of the French Civil Code provides that « L’héritier ne peut être contraint à opter avant l’expiration d’un délai de quatre mois ». An heir therefore has a statutory period before being forced to choose, subject to the further rules that apply after that period. This is not an extension of every tax or NS&I deadline. The estate should run two calendars: one for the succession option and one for each declaration, claim and payment deadline.

Multiple heirs create a further issue. Before distribution, the Premium Bond proceeds may belong to the estate or to the heirs jointly in indivision, meaning co-ownership pending division. One heir should not present a personal bank account as if it were automatically the account of the estate. The notary can set out the identity of the heirs, the proportions, the person authorised to correspond with NS&I and the account into which the funds should be paid. Where the family agrees that one person will receive the proceeds for later distribution, that mandate should be written and should identify who bears the tax and accounting responsibility.

The file also needs a plan for an unknown, omitted or disputed heir. A family tree supplied by one relative is not enough where there are previous marriages, children born outside the current relationship, adoptions, a surviving civil partner, a foreign will or a possible reserved heir. The Court of Cassation decision of 25 March 2009, no. 07-20.774, concerned an heir discovered after a succession had been distributed. The Court accepted that a notary could be liable after failing to carry out investigations prompted by the available family documents. It also distinguished recovery of money from compensation, stating that « une restitution ne constituant pas en elle-même un préjudice indemnisable ». Applied to a Premium Bond claim, that distinction matters: if money has been paid to the wrong person, the first remedy may be restitution by the recipient; a professional-liability claim is a separate question.

The notary’s information duties also require a paper trail. In First Civil Chamber, 8 December 2021, no. 20-20.284, the Court stated: « la preuve de l’exécution de son obligation d’information et de conseil incombe au notaire ». The decision involved succession tax delays and the burden of proving advice. It does not make a notary the guarantor of an overseas institution’s processing time, but it shows why the file should record the date of death, the tax deadline, the documents requested, the date supplied and every warning about a delay.

If an heir is missing, the response is not to let one relative withdraw the bonds and promise to share later. The notary may need further civil-status records, a genealogical search or a court process. The Court of Cassation’s decision of 18 November 2020, no. 19-10.965, examined when a genealogist’s intervention was useful in establishing the exclusive heir. A genealogist’s fee should be explained and agreed before a percentage of the estate is accepted. If the family already has reliable proof, a large fee is not automatically justified merely because a professional offers to prepare a family tree.

If NS&I asks for more evidence or does not release the holding, ask for the reason in writing and keep the claim reference. An eight-week current response time is a processing indication, not a decision that the claimant has no rights. A refusal should identify the missing authority, identity mismatch, will issue or payment instruction. The French notary and any UK probate adviser can then answer the precise objection rather than sending a succession file without an explanation of how the documents connect.

II. How are NS&I claims, French succession and UK tax coordinated after Brexit?

A. How to release the holding without losing the draw, the evidence or the tax trail

The most reliable sequence is deliberate but simple. First, notify NS&I of the death using the current bereavement route and ask what claim form applies to the exact products. Give the date and place of death, the deceased’s names and addresses, the claimant’s role and all known NS&I accounts. If the holding is not fully known, say so and ask NS&I to search its records. A partial certificate should not be used as a reason to leave other certificates undisclosed.

Secondly, decide whether keeping the Premium Bonds in the draw is useful. The 12-month period is measured from the date of death, not from the date the family discovers the account or from the date the claim is submitted. The bonds remain in the deceased holder’s name. If a prize is won, NS&I says it will hold the prize until the claim is completed and will then send future prizes by warrant to the person entitled. Keep every warrant and do not treat one addressed to the deceased as a personal cheque. If necessary, return it to NS&I for reissue to the person entitled.

Thirdly, make the authority documents agree with one another. The name on the death certificate, will, French deed, Grant of Representation and NS&I records should be compared letter by letter. Middle names, double-barrelled surnames, a married name, an accent omitted in an English document and a previous address can all cause a manual review. A short covering letter should explain the identity chain and list the enclosures. It should also state whether the payment is requested to an estate account or to an identified heir under the notarial distribution.

Fourthly, prepare a date-of-death statement. Record the number of Premium Bonds, the face value, the NS&I balance, the exchange rate used for the French file, any prize already won before death, any prize won after death and the date on which the proceeds were actually paid. The date-of-death figure is the central estate value; the payment date does not rewrite the asset’s value at death. Later prizes need their own treatment and should not be silently folded into the principal without an explanation.

Fifthly, coordinate the NS&I claim with the French notary. The claim is a collection step; it is not a substitute for putting the asset in the succession inventory. The notary should know that the asset is a UK Premium Bond, that it is held with NS&I, that it may remain in the draw for 12 months and that NS&I may issue warrants after the claim is completed. This prevents the French file from showing a rounded bank balance that cannot be matched to the UK payment.

The UK side has its own forms. HM Revenue & Customs’ IHT406 form for bank and building society accounts expressly covers National Savings and Investments and Premium Bonds when completing the UK inheritance tax account. The form should be read with the current IHT400 instructions and the deceased’s actual facts. Listing Premium Bonds for UK inheritance tax purposes does not by itself decide whether France has taxing rights under the bilateral convention; it is an inventory and valuation step.

Where UK inheritance tax has to be paid before a grant is issued, the estate may investigate HMRC’s direct-payment arrangements. The GOV.UK guidance on paying inheritance tax from a deceased person’s bank account identifies the Direct Payment Scheme and includes NS&I among the institutions that may be involved. The procedure has conditions and is not a general permission for an heir to take money from the holding. Ask the bank or NS&I and HMRC which form and payment authority apply.

On the French side, the Premium Bond should be described by its legal and financial nature, not hidden under an imprecise label such as “savings”. The file should state that it is a UK NS&I Premium Bond, give the holding at death in pounds sterling, provide the supporting statement and show the conversion into euros. If a prize is received after the death, the date, amount and reason for payment should be added to the schedule. This distinction helps the notary decide what belongs in the inheritance declaration and what may require separate income or prize analysis.

The family should also reconcile the NS&I account with the UK will and the French succession declaration. A will may appoint an executor but not change the institution’s product rules. A beneficiary clause in a will may determine who receives the estate, but it does not necessarily instruct NS&I to pay that person directly. Conversely, a French act of notoriété may establish the heirs without answering whether a UK court grant is required for NS&I. Each document has a job; the claim succeeds when the jobs fit together.

If the deceased was resident in France and the surviving family is in Paris or elsewhere in Île-de-France, the practical issues are the same as elsewhere in France: identify the competent notary, obtain civil-status documents, arrange translations and preserve the UK claim record. A local address does not turn Premium Bonds into French bank assets, and a British passport does not remove a French succession or tax analysis. The decisive facts are domicile, the applicable succession law, the asset terms and the identity of the person entitled.

For related issues, see our guide to a UK executor dealing with a French inheritance after Brexit. The separate Premium Bonds tax declaration guide addresses the living holder’s tax problem; this article adds the death-claim, authority and probate layer. If there is no will, our guide for a British resident who dies in France without a will explains why the heirship analysis should be completed before an institution is asked to pay.

B. How French inheritance tax, UK inheritance tax and the 1963 treaty interact

The tax analysis begins with three dates that are often confused: the date of death, the date of the French declaration and the date NS&I pays the claim. The date of death opens the succession and fixes the principal valuation. The declaration deadline depends on the applicable French rule and the place of death. The NS&I payment date is an administrative event. It does not normally transform an estate asset into a new asset merely because the claim took months to process.

French inheritance tax is called droits de mutation à titre gratuit, meaning taxes on transfers made without consideration, including inheritances and gifts. Article 750 ter of the French General Tax Code includes movable and immovable property in France or abroad, including public funds, claims and securities, when the deceased has French tax domicile. It also contains rules for a beneficiary who is French tax resident for at least six of the ten years before receiving the property. The article must be applied to the actual domicile and beneficiary facts; British nationality alone neither creates nor removes French tax.

The place of death and the tax domicile are not interchangeable. The official impots.gouv.fr guidance on declaring an inheritance in France states that assets in France and abroad may be covered where an heir has been French resident for at least six of the ten years before death. It also states that a death in France generally leads to a six-month filing deadline, while a death abroad generally leads to twelve months, with payment to the Non-Residents Collection Office in the cases described by the guidance. Article 641 of the French General Tax Code uses the same core distinction: « De six mois, à compter du jour du décès, lorsque celui dont on recueille la succession est décédé en France métropolitaine ». A British family should therefore check where the death occurred, where the deceased was domiciled and which beneficiary-residence rule applies before relying on a deadline.

The France–UK inheritance tax convention is separate from the income tax treaty used for pensions, salaries or savings interest. The inheritance convention was signed on 21 June 1963, approved by law no. 64-562 and brought into force by decree no. 64-789. The official text of the France–UK convention on inheritance taxes and the French decree published in the Journal officiel should be used, rather than an online summary of the income-tax treaty.

The treaty matters because Premium Bonds are cross-border rights. A Premium Bond is not a French savings account and it is not obviously identical to an ordinary listed share or a UK government gilt. It gives the holder a right against NS&I under the product terms, together with eligibility for prize draws. For treaty analysis, Article 4(c) says that certain claims « sont réputées situées au lieu où la personne décédée était domiciliée au moment de son décès ». Article 4(d) applies a domicile rule to securities issued by a public authority. Those words create a serious argument for examining the deceased’s domicile and the legal classification of the bond, but they do not justify an automatic conclusion that every Premium Bond is exempt from UK inheritance tax or taxable only in France. The estate should state the classification it is relying on and obtain written confirmation where the value is material.

The treaty’s allocation rules can change the result reached by reading domestic law in isolation. If the deceased was domiciled in France, Article 5 addresses UK taxation of property that is not situated in Great Britain. If one state taxes property that the convention treats as situated in the other state, Article 6 provides for a credit, within the stated limits, for the tax charged by the other state. The mechanism is relief from double taxation, not a general exemption from filing. A French declaration may still need to include the asset while the executor seeks a credit, refund or confirmation that tax is not payable.

GOV.UK says that an executor may be able to reclaim inheritance tax through a double-taxation treaty where the same assets are taxed by the UK and the country where the deceased lived. That statement is useful but deliberately general. The GOV.UK guidance for someone based outside the UK also warns that different rules can apply to government gilts, trusts and other assets. Premium Bonds should not be placed in one of those categories by assumption. The executor should keep the NS&I terms, the date-of-death statement and the legal analysis together.

The treaty also contains a time limit for relief. Article 7 says that a treaty-based tax credit or refund request « doit être présentée dans les cinq ans à compter de la date du décès ». The five-year period is not a safe substitute for the domestic filing and payment deadlines. A family that pays one country first should preserve the payment proof, the tax assessment, the computation, the certificate issued by the other authority and the explanation of why the same Premium Bond value was included. The HMRC Inheritance Tax Manual guidance on France and treaty credit should be read with current forms and with advice on the particular death.

The estate should ask five tax questions in writing:

• Was the deceased French tax resident or domiciled in France at death, and what evidence supports that conclusion?
• Was the deceased also within the UK inheritance tax net under the UK rules applicable to the date of death?
• Is the Premium Bond principal included in the French declaration, the UK IHT account or both, and at what exchange rate?
• Does the 1963 treaty allocate the claim by reference to the deceased’s domicile, or does another treaty category apply to the precise NS&I right?
• If both countries assess tax, which authority grants the credit or refund, what evidence is required and when does the five-year treaty period expire?

Do not confuse the inheritance value with later investment income. Premium Bonds do not pay interest in the ordinary sense; a prize received after death still needs to be recorded and classified for the period and person concerned. The tax treatment of a prize, a repayment and an estate distribution can differ. A clean schedule avoids the common error of reporting one pound amount to France and a different unexplained amount to HMRC.

Debt and expense deductions should also be evidenced. Article 768 of the French General Tax Code provides that, for calculating death-transfer taxes, debts owed by the deceased are deducted where their existence at the opening of the succession is duly established. That does not make every family expense deductible. Keep invoices, loan agreements, proof of payment and the date on which the liability existed. A Premium Bond claim should not be delayed while an unsupported deduction is debated, but the tax file should not omit a genuine, documented liability.

The final risk is an unexplained distribution. Once NS&I pays the person entitled, the money remains subject to the estate’s distribution rules, any reserved-heir rights, creditors and tax. The recipient should not treat the payment as a personal windfall simply because NS&I used that person’s bank details. The estate accounts should show the NS&I principal, each post-death prize, any tax paid, professional fees, exchange-rate conversion and the amount allocated to each heir. That account is useful if a sibling challenges the payment, if the French tax office asks how an overseas asset was handled or if HMRC requests evidence for treaty relief.

Conclusion

Yes, a British family can claim UK Premium Bonds after the holder dies in France, but the claim is an estate administration task rather than an informal transfer to the nearest relative. Notify NS&I promptly, preserve the 12-month draw option if it is useful, obtain the correct Grant of Representation or Confirmation, and have the French notary establish the heirs through an acte de notoriété or the appropriate succession instrument. Keep the UK and French documents consistent and record the holding at the date of death.

The tax answer requires a separate domicile, beneficiary and asset-classification analysis. French filing deadlines can run before NS&I pays, and the 1963 France–UK inheritance tax convention may provide an allocation rule, a credit or a refund without removing the need for a careful declaration. If there is a will conflict, an omitted heir, a disputed Premium Bond balance, a UK grant problem or tax in both countries, obtain written advice before distributing the proceeds.

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We can review the death certificate, will, Grant of Representation, acte de notoriété and tax papers with you. Call Maître Reda Kohen on +33 6 46 60 58 22 or contact the firm.