A British beneficiary can often deal with a French inheritance without boarding a flight to France. Distance does not remove the need to make a formal choice, however. A person who is entitled to a French estate must identify the law governing the succession, preserve the statutory deadline, choose the correct form of acceptance and give the French notary or court documents that can be relied upon. Where debts are uncertain, the most protective route may be the French acceptation à concurrence de l’actif net: acceptance limited to the net value of the estate, often described in English as acceptance for the benefit of inventory.

The practical question is therefore not simply whether a UK heir may sign from England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. It is whether the heir can give a properly scoped procuration, meaning a power of attorney, have the relevant signature and documents authenticated, file the declaration at the correct French registry or before a notaire (a French civil-law notary), and ensure that the inventory is produced within the legal period. A poorly prepared power of attorney can delay the file; a missed deadline can change the legal option.

This guide focuses on the person of the British heir: residence abroad, the acceptance decision, the remote document pack, creditor protection and the next steps after the inventory. It does not explain the purchase of French property or the creation of a French company. It assumes that a French estate, a French notary or a French court is already involved. Cross-border tax remains a separate analysis, even when the inheritance procedure is handled successfully.

I. Can a British heir choose the French benefit-of-inventory option from the UK?

A. Which succession law and which French option apply after Brexit?

The first task is to separate three questions that are frequently mixed together: which law governs the succession, which authority handles the French assets, and which option the heir should exercise. Brexit did not create a single rule under which every British national is automatically governed by English law. The governing law may depend on the deceased’s habitual residence, the terms of a valid will and any choice-of-law clause. French practitioners also work with the European Succession Regulation, Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, whose rules address the general connecting factor, a possible choice of the law of nationality and the scope of the applicable law. The regulation is available in its official English text from the EUR-Lex text of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012.

That law-of-succession question matters because the French acceptance procedure is not a substitute for deciding whether French law governs the whole estate. A British will may contain a choice of the law of a nationality, but the choice must be tested against the facts, the wording of the will and the instruments recognised by the relevant authorities. A French property, bank account or unpaid French tax bill can require a French procedural step even where another law governs some substantive succession questions. The British heir should ask the notary for a written explanation of the proposed legal basis before signing an irreversible document.

Under Article 768 of the French Civil Code, the heir has three practical positions: accept purely and simply, renounce, or accept at net assets where the statutory conditions are met. The official text begins: L’héritier peut accepter la succession purement et simplement ou y renoncer. Pure and simple acceptance can expose the heir to estate liabilities beyond the cash that the heir expected to receive. Renunciation can be appropriate where the estate is clearly insolvent, but it gives up the inheritance and cannot be treated as a temporary holding position. Acceptance at net assets sits between those choices: it preserves the inheritance while limiting the heir’s liability to the value of the assets received, provided the formalities are followed.

The specific protective option is set out in Article 787 of the French Civil Code, which states: Un héritier peut déclarer qu’il n’entend prendre cette qualité qu’à concurrence de l’actif net. In plain English, the heir accepts the status of heir but does not promise to pay every estate debt from personal funds. Under Article 791 of the French Civil Code, the intended protections include avoiding confusion between personal property and estate property, preserving rights against the estate and limiting debt liability to the value of the estate assets received. The protection is procedural as well as substantive: the declaration, inventory, publications and creditor process must fit together.

The benefit-of-inventory route is especially relevant for a British heir who has not yet seen the full estate file. Typical warning signs include a French property with an uncertain mortgage balance, an agricultural or business liability, guarantees signed by the deceased, unpaid tax, a family loan, a disputed account, a co-borrower claim or assets that are difficult to value. It is not enough to ask whether the estate “looks valuable”. The relevant comparison is the value of the assets, the priority of liabilities, the costs of administration and the possibility that a creditor will appear after the first review.

A broader French-language explanation of the inventory, declarations and estate-debt disputes is available in the firm’s general analysis of acceptance at net assets. The present article deals with the narrower UK-to-France execution problem: how the heir living in the UK can make the decision and appoint a representative without confusing that general French-law analysis with a travel requirement.

There is also a major difference between preserving an option and administering the estate as if acceptance were already unconditional. An heir who sells an asset, withdraws money, signs a settlement or gives creditors information in a way that clearly demonstrates an intention to accept may create evidence of a choice. Before touching estate funds, the British heir should ask the notary to record the proposed action and explain whether it is a protective act, an act of administration or an act that could be treated as acceptance. The safest remote process begins with a written inventory of what has happened since the death.

B. What must be filed, where, and within which deadline?

The French option is time-sensitive. Article 780 of the French Civil Code provides that the right to choose is generally prescribed after ten years from the opening of the succession. That long outer period is not a licence to wait. Under Article 772 of the French Civil Code, after four months, a creditor, co-heir, heir of a later rank or the French Treasury may summon the silent heir to make a choice. Once such a summons is properly served, the heir normally has two months, or a court-ordered additional period, to choose. Failing to respond can lead to pure and simple acceptance rather than the protective result the heir intended.

The point is confirmed by the First Civil Chamber of the Cour de cassation in its decision of 5 February 2025, no. 22-22.618, available on the official Cour de cassation decision page and on Légifrance. The court states that, after the relevant period, the heir ne peut plus ni y renoncer, ni l’accepter à concurrence de l’actif net. The practical message for a UK resident is immediate: a letter from a creditor or a court document should be forwarded to the notary or French lawyer on the day it arrives, with the envelope, service record and attachments preserved.

Acceptance at net assets is declared either at the registry of the tribunal judiciaire (the French civil trial court) in whose area the succession is opened or before a notary. The procedure and the current form references are summarised on the official Service-Public page on accepting or renouncing a succession. The receiving professional should confirm the current Cerfa form, the signatory requirements and whether the notary will transmit the declaration to the court. A form downloaded by an heir is not, by itself, proof that the declaration has been registered; ask for the current information notice directly from the receiving authority if the online reference has changed.

The declaration needs reliable identification of the heir, the deceased, the heir’s capacity and the chosen option. It also needs an address in France selected for procedural purposes. This is the domicile élu, or elected French address. It is not necessarily the heir’s home. It may be the address of the notary, lawyer or another authorised representative if the authority handling the file accepts that arrangement. A British address alone may not perform the function required by the French filing rules, especially for notices to creditors.

The procedural detail appears in Article 1334 of the French Code of Civil Procedure. The declaration must contain the information needed to identify the heir and the elected domicile; where a notary receives the declaration, the notary transmits a copy to the court registry within the prescribed period. A remote heir should request the filing receipt, the date of registration and the exact elected address, not simply an email saying that “the papers have been sent”. Those three details control later proof of the option.

Publicity follows. The declaration and inventory process uses the BODACC, the Official Bulletin of Civil and Commercial Announcements, so that estate creditors can identify the procedure. Article 1335 of the French Code of Civil Procedure describes the publicity mechanism, including the legal notice. The notary or court should tell the British heir the date of the BODACC publication and keep the reference. The fifteen-month creditor period is counted from the legally relevant publication, not from the first telephone call with the family or from the date on which a bank was told about the death.

The inventory is a separate obligation. Article 789 of the French Civil Code requires an itemised assessment of the assets and liabilities. The text refers to une estimation, article par article, des éléments de l’actif et du passif. The inventory may be prepared by a notary, a commissaire-priseur judiciaire (court-appointed auctioneer) or a commissaire de justice (judicial officer, formerly called a bailiff), depending on the asset and the appointment. A spreadsheet made by the family may be useful evidence, but it does not automatically replace the formal inventory.

Under Article 790 of the French Civil Code, the inventory is deposited with the court within two months of the declaration, subject to an extension for a serious and legitimate reason. The official wording includes: L’inventaire est déposé au tribunal dans le délai de deux mois à compter de la déclaration. A UK heir should therefore build a calendar with at least four dates: the date of death, the date four months expires, the date of any summons and the date of the acceptance declaration. Add the two-month inventory deadline and the BODACC publication date once the filing is confirmed.

For a remote file, the workable sequence is usually as follows:

• Ask the French notary or lawyer to confirm the governing succession law, the required option and the court or notary receiving the declaration.
• Obtain the draft declaration and power of attorney before signing anything, including the elected French domicile.
• Send a complete evidence pack: passport, address evidence, death certificate, will, proof of family relationship, any deed of heirship and all letters from creditors.
• Have the UK documents certified, legalised by apostille where required and translated into French in the form accepted by the recipient.
• Sign the declaration and procuration with the required witnessing or notarial procedure, then send the originals by a trackable method.
• Obtain the filing receipt, BODACC reference and inventory timetable before assuming that the procedure is protected.

This sequence does not guarantee that every file can be completed without a visit. It does establish the correct question: which act must be performed in person, and can that act be performed by a representative under a valid mandate? A notary may ask for a live video identification, an original signature, a French translation by a recognised translator or a further certificate. Those requests should be answered promptly rather than treated as an administrative inconvenience.

II. How can a UK heir complete the French procedure without travelling?

A. How should the power of attorney, apostille and evidence pack be prepared?

The central document is the procuration, or power of attorney. It allows the British heir to authorise a named person to make a defined declaration, receive notices, attend an inventory appointment and communicate with the French court or notary. Article 1984 of the French Civil Code defines the mandate as the act by which one person gives another the power to act in the mandant’s name. The principle is simple, but the document must match the act to be performed. A generic authority to “deal with the estate” can be too vague for a registry and too broad for an heir who does not yet know the estate’s liabilities.

Article 1985 of the French Civil Code recognises that a mandate can be authentic or private, but the receiving authority controls the proof it will accept. The British heir should not assume that a lasting power of attorney created for personal care, property management or banking automatically authorises an inheritance option. It may not identify the succession, the chosen option, the elected domicile or the representative’s power to make a declaration that changes the heir’s legal position. The French document should be drafted for this succession, with the deceased’s identity, date of death, file reference and the precise acceptance option.

A sensible mandate normally states that the representative may:

• receive and sign the declaration of acceptance at net assets for the named succession;
• elect the French domicile stated in the declaration and receive procedural notices there;
• submit identity and heirship documents to the tribunal judiciaire, registry, BODACC service and notary;
• appoint or instruct the professional responsible for the inventory, attend appointments and provide information about assets and liabilities;
• obtain copies of the declaration, filing receipt, inventory, creditor notices and administration account;
• perform acts of preservation and administration that do not amount to an unauthorised sale, gift, settlement or distribution; and
• report every material step to the British heir and obtain a new written authority before any act outside the defined scope.

Whether the mandate should include the power to sell a French property, close a bank account or accept a settlement is a separate decision. Those powers should not be inserted merely because a template contains them. A sale may affect the inventory, capital-gains position, creditor process and the heir’s evidence of how the estate was administered. If the notary asks for a sale power, the heir should request the proposed clause and the reason for it. A limited mandate can be amended later; an overbroad mandate can be difficult to unwind.

The UK authentication chain also needs planning. The GOV.UK guidance on legalising a document explains the role of the UK Legalisation Office and the apostille. An apostille is an official certificate attached to a public document or to a signature certified by an authorised public official. It does not confirm that every clause in a private power of attorney is legally correct. It confirms the origin of the relevant signature or seal for the receiving country. The French notary or court should be asked in advance whether the document must be signed before a solicitor, notary public or another UK official, whether the original is required and whether the apostille must be attached to the original or certified copy.

The British heir should also ask who may translate the documents. A French authority may require a French translation by a traducteur assermenté, meaning a sworn translator recognised by a French court of appeal, or may accept another translation arrangement after review. The phrase “certified translation” is not a universal shortcut: the authority may require the translator’s seal, a specific format or the translated apostille as well as the translated power. Send a scan to the recipient before ordering the final hard copies. This avoids paying twice for a document in the wrong format.

The supporting pack should be assembled as a numbered bundle. It should normally include the heir’s passport and proof of UK address; the death certificate; the will and any codicil; marriage, birth or adoption records proving the family connection; the French acte de notoriété, where one exists, which is a notarial deed recording who is entitled to inherit; the deceased’s French tax number; property deeds; bank statements; insurance documents; loan agreements; business or agricultural records; vehicle records; gifts and advances to heirs; and every known creditor demand. Documents that are not available should be listed with the reason and the proposed method of obtaining them. Silence about a missing liability can damage the quality of the inventory more than an honest “not yet known” entry.

A British heir can reduce delay by preparing a one-page chronology. Record the death date, last residence, date the notary was contacted, date the will was located, date the heir was told about French assets, date each creditor wrote, date any summons was received and date each document was signed. Include the delivery tracking number for the originals. If the case later turns on whether the heir responded in time, a dated evidence trail is more useful than a recollection that the matter was “handled by email”.

The remote signing appointment should be treated as a legal appointment, not as a formality for a courier. The heir should have the final French text and an English explanation, confirm the exact option, identify the representative and check every spelling of names and dates. If the heir does not understand a clause, the signature should wait. A UK solicitor can advise on the English-law authentication stage, but the French notary or French lawyer must confirm that the mandate and declaration meet the French filing requirement. No professional should promise that an apostille cures an incorrect legal choice.

The following questions should be answered in writing before dispatch:

• Who will receive the original declaration: the court registry or the named notary?
• What is the exact French address elected for notices, and who monitors it?
• Which person may attend the inventory and answer the valuer’s questions?
• What translation and apostille format will be accepted?
• What is the filing date, and how will the heir receive the registration receipt?
• What is the inventory deadline and what extension evidence would be needed?
• Which actions are permitted while the option remains under administration?

If the heir is a joint heir, each person’s decision must be tracked separately. One heir’s acceptance does not automatically select an option for every other heir. A minor or protected adult may require an additional authorisation. A surviving spouse may have rights or powers that affect administration but do not eliminate the need to identify each beneficiary’s capacity. The mandate should therefore name every principal and every representative, not simply refer to “the family”.

B. What happens after the inventory: creditors, assets, tax and remedies?

Once the declaration is registered and the inventory is made public, estate administration becomes a controlled accounting exercise. Creditors must use the statutory route to preserve their claims. Article 792 of the French Civil Code requires creditors to declare their title at the elected domicile and provides a fifteen-month period linked to the national publication. Claims whose amount is not finally known can be declared provisionally. The First Civil Chamber confirmed this in its decision of 12 October 2022, no. 20-21.016, on the official Cour de cassation page: Les créances dont le montant n’est pas encore définitivement fixé sont déclarées à titre provisionnel.

The heir’s representative should keep a creditor ledger with the name, address, legal basis, amount claimed, date received, documents supplied and response sent. A creditor’s email is not necessarily a valid declaration, and a valid declaration can be missed if it is sent to the wrong address. In a decision of 22 March 2017, no. 15-25.545, the First Civil Chamber explained the creditor’s duty to declare; the official Légifrance decision records that il incombe aux créanciers de la succession de déclarer leurs créances. That does not mean an heir can ignore a credible claim. It means that the representative must distinguish a declaration that enters the process from informal correspondence that still needs clarification.

The publication also protects the separation between the estate and the heir’s property. Article 792-1 of the French Civil Code links the publication and fifteen-month process to restrictions on enforcement against the estate and new security registrations, subject to the statutory position of secured creditors. A creditor cannot simply treat the heir’s UK bank account as the deceased’s account. In a decision of 8 March 2017, no. 16-14.360, the First Civil Chamber stated that aucune confusion ne peut être opérée entre les biens de la succession et les biens de l’héritier; the official text is on Légifrance. The representative should use a dedicated estate account where appropriate and keep receipts for every payment.

A creditor’s failure to use the prescribed declaration route can matter. In its decision of 31 March 2016, no. 15-10.799, the First Civil Chamber held that a pre-publication notice to a notary did not replace the statutory declaration; the official Légifrance decision uses the words ne pouvait valoir déclaration de créance. A UK heir should not rely on that rule as a tactic. The better practice is to ask for every claim to be put into the form required by the French procedure, then preserve a copy and assess it against the inventory.

Assets can be retained or sold, but each choice needs a record. The provisions in the French Civil Code section on acceptance at net assets address the heir’s ability to retain property in kind or dispose of it and the consequences of doing so. The representative should not distribute an estate asset to a family member, transfer a vehicle, remove valuable objects or pay a personal expense from the estate account without instructions. Photographs, valuations, receipts and a chain of custody can be as important as the headline value of a property.

The administration account is the document that ultimately shows what entered the estate, what was paid, which creditor claims were admitted or disputed, what assets were sold and what remains for distribution. Article 1337 of the French Code of Civil Procedure addresses the filing and publicity of the administration account after the statutory process. The British heir should ask for an English explanation of each accounting line, but should sign the French version only after checking that the figures, dates and creditor status are correct. If there is a dispute, reserve it in writing rather than signing a broad release.

The acceptance decision also does not settle tax. French inheritance tax, a declaration to the French tax authority and any payment or instalment arrangement are separate from the civil-law option. The UK side must be reviewed separately as well. HMRC publishes guidance for cases where someone living outside the UK dies and for the post-6 April 2025 long-term UK residence rules on its official inheritance-tax guidance and long-term-resident guidance. HMRC also publishes its interpretation of the France–UK inheritance-tax treaty material. Those sources do not replace advice on the individual estate, domicile, residence, situs of assets or double-tax relief. A French acceptance at net assets is not a tax clearance certificate.

If the notary refuses to transmit the declaration, the registry rejects the document, a creditor claims that the heir accepted purely and simply, or the inventory is incomplete, the heir needs a procedural response quickly. The first response should identify the exact decision, date, authority and legal reason. Ask for a written refusal, not an oral summary. Collect the signed mandate, apostille, translation, delivery proof and filing receipt. A French lawyer can then determine whether a corrected filing, an application to the tribunal judiciaire, an action concerning the option or a creditor response is appropriate. The remedy depends on what happened; there is no universal “Brexit appeal”.

Travelling to France may still be requested in unusual cases: a disputed signature, a vulnerable adult, a contested will, a family disagreement, an asset that must be secured immediately, an inventory that cannot be conducted through a local representative or a court hearing requiring personal evidence. It should not be assumed at the start. The correct remote plan is conditional: appoint a representative with a limited mandate, authenticate the documents in the format accepted by the receiving authority, keep the heir available for identification and reserve travel only if the authority gives a reason that cannot be addressed through representation.

Before the final distribution, the British heir should receive four confirmations:

• the acceptance declaration is registered and the elected French domicile is active;
• the inventory was deposited within time, or an extension was obtained and recorded;
• the BODACC and legal-notice publication dates are known, and creditor declarations have been logged; and
• the administration account reconciles assets, liabilities, costs, tax payments, sales and the proposed amount for each beneficiary.

Those confirmations turn a remote inheritance from a chain of informal emails into an auditable legal process. They also protect the representative. A notary, lawyer or family member working in France should be able to show which instruction was given, which document was relied upon and why each payment or asset decision was made. The UK heir should keep the full file in both the original language and an English working translation, with a secure copy outside the French representative’s office.

Conclusion

A British heir can often accept a French inheritance without travelling to France, but not without completing the French procedure. The key is to decide early whether acceptance at net assets is appropriate, verify the governing succession law, monitor the four-month and two-month triggers, appoint a representative under a mandate drafted for this estate, and obtain the required apostille and French translation before the declaration is filed.

The benefit-of-inventory route is protective because it separates the heir’s personal wealth from the estate, but the protection depends on the declaration, inventory, publicity and creditor timetable. A UK heir should obtain the registration receipt, the inventory deposit evidence, the BODACC reference and the administration account. The heir should also keep civil-law acceptance, French inheritance tax and UK inheritance tax in separate workstreams.

The most useful first message to a French notary or lawyer is not “Can I avoid coming to France?” It is: “Please confirm the governing law, the option deadline, the exact filing authority, the mandate wording, the authentication and translation requirements, the inventory date and the elected French domicile.” Once those points are written down, a remote procedure can be organised with much less risk of a missed deadline or an unintended acceptance.

Need a quick opinion on your case

We offer a telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer from the firm.

A short review can identify the right document, deadline and first procedural step for a French inheritance handled from the UK.

Call +33 6 46 60 58 22 or use the contact form.