Moving to France after Brexit can expose a British couple to two different survivor-pension systems. A UK Civil Partnership may be recognised in France for a particular tax or civil-law question, yet that recognition does not automatically turn the partners into spouses for every French social-security benefit. The most important distinction concerns the French pension de réversion, meaning the survivor’s pension paid from an insured person’s French retirement rights.

For the French basic pension scheme, the starting condition is marriage. The French Code de la sécurité sociale refers to the conjoint survivant, or surviving spouse, and the official French guidance expressly says that a French PACS (pacte civil de solidarité, the French civil solidarity pact) and cohabitation do not open the right to the ordinary retirement reversion pension. The same approach is used by the Agirc-Arrco supplementary pension scheme. A UK Civil Partnership is therefore not a safe substitute for a French marriage when a survivor is assessing a French pension claim.

The position is not the same in the United Kingdom. GOV.UK provides separate rules under which a civil partner may inherit some State Pension amounts, claim Bereavement Support Payment in qualifying circumstances, or receive a private pension death benefit under the scheme rules. A British survivor living in France must keep those UK rights separate from any French claim. This guide explains the legal distinction, the evidence to gather, the application timetable, the French appeal route, the treatment of UK benefits and the estate-planning steps that should follow a death.

I. Can a UK civil partner claim a French pension de réversion after Brexit?

A. Why does France distinguish a civil partnership from marriage?

The first question is not whether the relationship is genuine. It is which legal status the French benefit legislation requires. A UK Civil Partnership is a registered legal relationship created under the law of the relevant part of the United Kingdom. The certificate may relate to England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. A French PACS is a different status, registered under French law. Both can organise a couple’s life, but their effects are not interchangeable for every French benefit.

The French conflict-of-laws rule is found in Article 515-7-1 of the Code civil. It states: “Les conditions de formation et les effets d’un partenariat enregistré ainsi que les causes et les effets de sa dissolution sont soumis aux dispositions matérielles de l’État de l’autorité qui a procédé à son enregistrement.” In English, the formation, effects and dissolution of a registered partnership are governed by the substantive law of the State of the authority that registered it. This rule explains why a French authority may ask for the UK registration jurisdiction and the relevant UK legislation before deciding what effect the partnership has in France.

That rule does not create a general French marriage. It tells the authority how to identify the law governing the registered partnership. A UK Civil Partnership may consequently be recognised for a particular civil or tax purpose, while a separate French statute may impose its own condition for a social-security payment. The certificate proves the relationship; it does not by itself prove that every French right attached to a spouse is available to the civil partner.

The French tax administration makes this distinction visible. Its current guidance on a marriage or PACS concluded abroad says that a foreign civil partnership can have effects in France if it is not contrary to French public policy and that, for tax purposes, it is treated in the same way as a PACS concluded in France at the same date. The page also requires proof of the existence of the partnership, its registration date, its legal regime and its assimilation to a PACS. Read the official impots.gouv.fr answer on a foreign marriage or PACS before relying on a joint-taxation position.

The tax answer cannot simply be copied into a pension application. A tax rule may deliberately assimilate a foreign partnership to a PACS. A pension statute may instead reserve the benefit to a surviving spouse. The French pension authority must apply the statute governing the particular pension, not a broad description found on a tax page. This is the central answer for a British couple: recognition for tax does not, on its own, satisfy a French marriage requirement for a pension de réversion.

The wording of Article L. 353-1 of the Code de la sécurité sociale is direct. It begins: “En cas de décès de l’assuré, son conjoint survivant a droit à une pension de réversion”. The English equivalent is not “the surviving partner”; it is the surviving spouse. The same provision makes the right conditional on age, resources and the other statutory requirements, but those additional conditions matter only after the applicant has the required status.

The official Service-Public page on the Assurance retraite reversion pension states the practical consequence even more clearly: the applicant must have been married to the deceased person, and “Le Pacs et le concubinage ne permettent pas d’obtenir une pension de retraite de réversion”. The French words mean that a PACS and cohabitation do not allow the ordinary retirement reversion pension. A UK Civil Partnership which is recognised as analogous to a PACS for another purpose does not become a marriage merely because the partners live in France or pay French social-security contributions.

The leading decision is Cour de cassation, second civil chamber, 23 January 2014, no. 13-11.362. The dispute concerned a French PACS and a claim to a pension de réversion. The Court upheld the refusal because the statutory expression “conjoint survivant” requires marriage, using the concise formula “ce qui suppose une union par mariage”. The case did not concern a UK Civil Partnership, and it cannot answer every question about an overseas relationship. It does, however, establish the French legal distinction that defeats an argument based only on the words “civil partnership”.

The constitutional background is also important. In Decision no. 2011-155 QPC of 29 July 2011, the Conseil constitutionnel considered the difference between married couples, cohabiting couples and PACS partners and concluded that the difference regarding a reversion pension “ne méconnaît pas le principe d’égalité”. The decision predates later changes in family law, but the relevant statutory distinction remains reflected in the current Code de la sécurité sociale and in the current Service-Public guidance.

Brexit does not alter that starting point. The United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union changed the immigration and social-security framework, but it did not amend Article L. 353-1 so that every UK Civil Partnership is treated as a French marriage. Nor does a Withdrawal Agreement residence card change the civil status of the holder. A British citizen may have a protected right of residence in France, a French tax household, a UK Civil Partnership and French pension contributions at the same time. Each fact answers a different legal question.

Three dates should be kept separate from the outset:

• the date the UK Civil Partnership was registered;
• the date the deceased made French or UK pension contributions and acquired pension rights; and
• the date of death and the date the survivor made the claim.

The date of registration can be decisive for tax treatment or a private pension scheme. The contribution record determines whether a French pension exists. The date of death and the date of the claim govern the opening of the survivor’s rights and any possible backdating. The date on which a couple moved to France, obtained a residence card or began filing a French tax return does not turn a registered partnership into a marriage.

The couple should also distinguish a Civil Partnership from three documents which are often confused with it. A certificate of registration is evidence of a legal status. A partnership agreement can regulate financial arrangements without being a civil-status event. A cohabitation declaration can show a common life without creating a registered relationship. A French caisse de retraite, meaning a pension fund or retirement body, will need the document that corresponds to the status relied on; sending a private agreement where the law requires a marriage certificate will not cure the problem.

Article 47 of the Code civil supplies a useful evidence rule for foreign civil-status documents. The official Article 47 says that a foreign civil-status act “fait foi” when it has been drawn up in the forms used in that country, subject to the statutory checks for irregularity, falsification or inaccurate facts. “Fait foi” means that the document has evidential force; it does not mean that the document creates a different status under a French benefits statute. Authentication and substantive entitlement remain separate questions.

For a British certificate, identify the issuing authority and the UK jurisdiction. Order the complete official record rather than relying on a ceremony certificate or an informal scan. Check that the names, dates of birth and registration date match the passports and French records. If the partnership was amended or dissolved, obtain the official record of that event as well. A pension office cannot assess whether the relationship existed at the date of death if the file contains only a current document with no chronology.

The French administration may ask for an apostille. An apostille authenticates the origin of a public document for international use; it does not translate the document and it does not decide the legal effect of the relationship. The British government’s GOV.UK guidance for documents for British people abroad explains the legalisation process and the need to check the receiving authority’s requirements. Ask the pension fund whether it wants an apostille on the certificate, the dissolution record or another document. Do not assume that an apostille on one paper validates the whole file.

If the certificate is in English, a French authority may request a translation by a traducteur assermenté, meaning a translator recognised for the relevant French procedure. Keep the original, the authenticated copy if one was requested, the full French translation and proof of delivery in one indexed bundle. A translation can explain “civil partnership”; it cannot rewrite the French statute or turn “partner” into “spouse”. The cover letter should use the exact status shown on the certificate and then state the precise benefit being requested.

The survivor should therefore avoid a general request saying, “Please treat us as married for all purposes.” The request should identify the pension scheme, the deceased’s French insurance number if available, the contribution periods, the death date and the statutory basis of the claim. If the application is made because the survivor believes there was a marriage as well as a Civil Partnership, attach the marriage certificate and any divorce or annulment record. If the claim is based only on the Civil Partnership, say so accurately; a clear refusal is more useful than an approval obtained on an incorrect description.

B. Which French and UK pension schemes can pay a survivor?

The French answer differs from the UK answer because the schemes do not use the same eligibility conditions. A British civil partner can have a genuine and legally protected relationship and still fail the French ordinary reversion test. The question must be asked scheme by scheme.

For the French basic private-sector pension, the Assurance retraite applies Article L. 353-1 and the related regulatory provisions. The applicant must have been married to the deceased, must ordinarily be at least 55, and must satisfy the resources test. The Service-Public guidance gives the current practical thresholds displayed for the application: €24,710.40 of annual gross resources when living alone and €39,536.64 when living as a couple. Amounts can be updated, and the authority must assess the figures and the applicant’s situation under the rules in force at the relevant date.

The resource test is not a substitute for the status condition. A survivor who has no income, lives permanently in France and can demonstrate serious financial need does not acquire a French reversion right solely because the household is vulnerable. Conversely, a person who was married can fail the resources test even after satisfying the marriage condition. The correct order is status, deceased’s pension record, age, resources and application date.

Article R. 353-1 of the Code de la sécurité sociale describes the resource assessment for the surviving spouse. It refers to the resources of the spouse of the deceased or missing insured person, excludes specific items and provides for a three-month period, with a possible substitution of the preceding twelve months where the statutory threshold is exceeded. A UK State Pension, private pension or French pension in the survivor’s name may therefore matter to a valid spouse’s calculation, but it does not create eligibility for a civil partner who lacks the marriage status required by Article L. 353-1.

The Agirc-Arrco supplementary pension follows its own rules. The official Service-Public guidance on the reversion pension states the marriage condition and explains that a PACS or cohabitation does not create a right to the ordinary reversion pension; the supplementary scheme must then be checked under its own rules. The supplementary pension has no ordinary resource condition, but the absence of a resource condition does not remove the marriage condition. A British Civil Partnership should not be presented as if it were an Agirc-Arrco marriage record.

The same caution applies to public-sector and special schemes. Their statutes may use the surviving spouse, civil spouse, widow or widower, or a defined dependant. Some occupational schemes provide survivor benefits under their own texts or contracts. The correct document is the deceased’s pension statement and the scheme’s written rules, not an assumption based on the fact that the survivor was named as next of kin. A claim to a French invalidity or occupational-accident benefit can also follow different rules from a retirement reversion claim.

This is why the survivor should request a written answer from every relevant French body. Identify the Assurance retraite, Agirc-Arrco, MSA or special scheme separately. Ask whether the fund treats the UK Civil Partnership as a registered partnership for any purpose and, if so, whether the applicable benefit statute still requires marriage. If the answer is a refusal, ask the fund to cite the provision and state whether the refusal is based on status, age, resources, contribution history, missing evidence or late filing.

The UK position is different. GOV.UK’s guidance on inheriting or increasing State Pension from a spouse or civil partner recognises that a civil partner may, in the right circumstances, inherit part of the deceased person’s State Pension, Additional State Pension, Graduated Retirement Benefit, protected payment or a deferred-pension amount. The conditions depend on the age of the partners, the date the Civil Partnership began, whether the deceased had reached State Pension age, whether the survivor has remarried or formed a new Civil Partnership, and which part of the UK pension system is involved.

Those UK benefits are not French pension de réversion. A survivor may be refused by the French caisse because the relationship is not a marriage and still have a valid UK claim. The reverse is also possible: a UK administrator may require a Civil Partnership certificate and a claim under UK rules even though the survivor has a French tax household. The two applications should be filed separately, with a separate chronology and a separate list of requested benefits.

The UK Bereavement Support Payment is a further example. The official GOV.UK eligibility page says that, at the time of death, the claimant must have been under State Pension age, living in the UK or a country that pays bereavement benefits, and married to, in a civil partnership with, or living with the deceased as if married. It also sets National Insurance and claim-timing conditions. The GOV.UK claim page states that a person abroad can contact the International Pension Centre. A British survivor in France should check the residence and contribution conditions directly rather than infer them from the French refusal.

Private UK pension schemes must be read independently. A defined-benefit scheme may pay a survivor’s pension to a spouse or civil partner if its rules provide for it. A defined-contribution arrangement may pay a nominated beneficiary or dependant, subject to the scheme rules and tax treatment. GOV.UK explains in its guidance on tax on an inherited private pension that the person who died will usually have nominated the recipient, while a defined-benefit pot can use its own dependant rules. A nomination form, a Civil Partnership certificate and the scheme booklet should be reviewed together.

The wording of a nomination matters. “Partner”, “spouse”, “civil partner”, “dependant” and “beneficiary” are not necessarily interchangeable. A form completed before the partnership was registered may refer to a former partner. A form completed after a move to France may use a French address but still be governed by UK scheme rules. The survivor should ask the provider for its definition, the date on which the nomination was recorded and the procedure for challenging a refusal.

French tax recognition may still be valuable even when the French retirement claim fails. The foreign Civil Partnership can matter for income-tax household treatment, inheritance-tax analysis or proof of family status in another administrative file. The official BOFiP guidance on foreign partnerships and income-tax household rules explains that a recognised foreign civil partnership can produce effects analogous to a PACS and that the tax administration may ask for evidence of the contract and its assimilation. That tax doctrine must not be read as extending a pension benefit which Article L. 353-1 reserves to a spouse.

The practical distinction can be summarised as follows:

Question	Likely controlling document or rule	Effect of a UK Civil Partnership
French basic retirement reversion	Article L. 353-1 and Assurance retraite guidance	Partnership alone does not satisfy the marriage condition
French Agirc-Arrco reversion	Agirc-Arrco rules	Partnership or PACS alone does not open the benefit
French income-tax household	Recognition and assimilation under French tax rules	May be recognised if proved and comparable to a PACS
UK State Pension inheritance	GOV.UK rules for a spouse or civil partner	May be available if the UK conditions are met
UK private pension death benefit	Scheme rules and nomination	Depends on the scheme, nomination and dependant rules
French succession	Applicable succession law, will and estate documents	Relationship evidence is relevant but not a pension award

The table is a starting map, not a decision. A treaty, a special regime, a former marriage, an occupational scheme or a court decision can alter a particular file. It is safer to ask each paying body for the exact statutory reason than to treat one favourable answer as binding across the entire France–UK file.

II. How should a British survivor apply, challenge a refusal and protect income?

A. What application, evidence and deadlines apply in France?

If the survivor was only in a UK Civil Partnership with the deceased, an application to a French retirement fund may be useful to obtain a formal decision, but the claim should not be presented as a married-spouse claim. If the couple also married, or if the deceased had a previous marriage relevant to the pension, the survivor must make that fact central to the application. The French pension authority cannot be expected to discover a marriage certificate hidden in a UK probate file.

Begin by identifying every French pension the deceased may have received or could have claimed. Gather French pension notifications, employment records, social-security numbers, pay slips, self-employed records, MSA documents if agricultural work was involved, and correspondence from Assurance retraite or Agirc-Arrco. A survivor who does not know the full career can use the official Service-Public single reversion application service, which is designed to send one request to the relevant retirement schemes for which the deceased contributed. A separate Agirc-Arrco request may still be required or identified by the service.

The application bundle should contain:

• the death certificate, with a French translation if requested;
• the applicant’s identity document and current address;
• the deceased’s identity details and French social-security number;
• the marriage certificate if the applicant relies on a marriage, together with divorce or annulment documents where relevant;
• the complete UK Civil Partnership certificate, clearly labelled as supporting evidence of the relationship and not as a French marriage certificate;
• any official record of dissolution of the partnership or marriage;
• bank details for payment and documents supporting the survivor’s resources;
• French and UK pension statements, including the deceased’s State Pension record and private pension provider details; and
• proof of every submission date, upload receipt, postal receipt and later response.

If the couple had only a Civil Partnership, include a short legal explanation stating that the survivor seeks a decision on the French pension condition and is also pursuing any separate UK benefits. This can prevent the French fund from treating an overseas certificate as a badly translated marriage certificate. If the fund replies that a Civil Partnership is not a marriage, the survivor will have a precise answer. If the fund has ignored an actual marriage or a different pension statute, the error can then be identified.

The form and date of the application matter. Article R. 353-7 of the Code de la sécurité sociale states: “Le conjoint survivant indique la date à compter de laquelle il désire entrer en jouissance de la pension de réversion”. It requires the requested start date to be the first day of a month, prevents it from preceding the age condition or the filing date, and allows an earlier start from the month after death when the request is filed within one year of death. That provision is written for a surviving spouse; a civil partner should still file promptly if there may be another legal basis or a separate scheme.

The date of death should trigger an immediate timetable. A survivor waiting for the UK probate grant, a tax certificate or a French notary’s completed estate file should not automatically wait before notifying the pension funds. Send the minimum complete application available, ask what is missing, and supplement it with the UK and French documents as they arrive. The survivor should state the intended effective date and preserve the fund’s acknowledgement. A later letter cannot safely recreate a lost filing date.

The Court of Cassation has insisted on the formal application requirement. In Cour de cassation, second civil chamber, 9 July 2015, no. 14-20.080, the Court held that claimants “doivent formaliser leur demande au moyen de l’imprimé” required by the applicable rules. The case concerned a different procedural dispute and does not give a Civil Partner a substantive right. Its practical lesson is that a telephone call, an email asking for information or a letter enclosing a death certificate may not establish a complete reversion claim. Use the official form or online service and ask for a receipt.

For a valid married-spouse claim, the age and resource conditions must also be documented. The current Service-Public guidance states that the ordinary Assurance retraite claim requires the applicant to be at least 55 and that the resources of a single person or couple must stay within the applicable ceiling. If the survivor lives in France with a new partner, the new household can matter to the resource calculation even though the deceased was a former spouse. If the survivor lives in the UK, the French authority may request foreign income, pension and bank evidence in an acceptable format.

The regulation governing resources is detailed in Article R. 353-1. It excludes some income of the deceased and some benefits acquired because of the death, but it is not a general exclusion for UK pensions. A valid spouse should list UK State Pension, private pensions, French pensions, investment income and household resources in the format requested. A British Civil Partner who has no French reversion right should nevertheless report UK benefits accurately in any French benefit or tax file where they are relevant.

If a claim is refused, obtain the notification. Ask the fund to identify whether it has rejected the claim because:

• the applicant is not a surviving spouse under Article L. 353-1;
• the deceased did not have the relevant French pension record;
• the applicant is under the statutory age;
• resources exceed the applicable ceiling;
• the marriage certificate or foreign civil-status record is incomplete;
• a previous spouse has a competing claim; or
• the application was not made in the required form or within the relevant period.

These reasons lead to different decisions. A refusal based on the Civil Partnership alone will not normally be cured by sending more payslips. A refusal based on an unrecognised foreign marriage may require a civil-status certificate, translation or authentication. A refusal based on resources requires a calculation. A refusal based on form requires a compliant application and proof of receipt. The appeal letter should address the actual reason, not repeat a general statement that the couple was legally partnered.

The Service-Public guidance warns that an absence of a response for more than four months to an application for a pension de réversion constitutes a refusal. Keep the date the fund received the complete application and calculate the four-month period from that evidence. Do not assume that a portal status such as “under review” suspends every deadline. If the fund asks for additional papers, preserve the request and the date of delivery because the procedural timeline can depend on what was submitted.

For an adverse decision by a French retirement fund, the usual first challenge is the commission de recours amiable, or CRA. The CRA is the internal amicable appeals commission of the social-security body. The official compulsory-prior-appeal provisions state that a challenge to a decision on rights must be sent within two months of the notification and that a late challenge may be inadmissible. Use the fund’s form or its secure upload channel and send a duplicate by recorded post if the online record is unclear.

The legal rule on the CRA’s silence is in Article R. 142-6 of the Code de la sécurité sociale. It states: “Lorsque la décision du conseil, du conseil d’administration ou de l’instance régionale ou de la commission n’a pas été portée à la connaissance du requérant dans le délai de deux mois, l’intéressé peut considérer sa demande comme rejetée.” In English, if the decision has not been brought to the claimant’s knowledge within two months, the claimant may regard the request as rejected. This two-month rule concerns the CRA stage; it should not be confused with the four-month rule for the initial reversion application.

The CRA submission should contain a chronology, the notification, the statutory argument, the complete civil-status evidence and a calculation showing the amount sought. If the issue is that the fund confused a UK Civil Partnership with a marriage, say so only if there was also a marriage or if the refusal applied a rule which genuinely covers the foreign status. If the claim is solely based on the Civil Partnership, the more useful challenge may concern a different pension, a UK benefit, a private scheme or an administrative error in the refusal—not an assertion that French law treats every civil partner as a spouse.

The CRA route also helps identify the correct court if litigation becomes necessary. The Assurance retraite guidance says that, after the CRA decision, a claimant can bring a claim before the competent tribunal judiciaire. The official Code de la sécurité sociale section on the compulsory prior appeal sets out the framework for this prior challenge. A court will need the decision, the date of notification, proof that the CRA was seized in time and the evidence relevant to the pension rule. A file built only from informal emails may create an avoidable admissibility dispute.

The Court of Cassation’s approach to a formal pension application reinforces this discipline. The 2015 decision in no. 14-20.080 turned on the applicable form and the date of the application, not on the emotional reality of the family situation. A British survivor should therefore use the same level of care for the French file as for a UK DWP or pension-provider claim: keep the original PDFs, confirmation screens, postal tracking, translated certificates and every response in a dated folder.

If the survivor resides in France, the address should be updated with each pension body, but an address change is not a status change. If the survivor resides in the United Kingdom, use the foreign-address procedure and ask which institution handles the claim. A French pension can in principle be paid abroad if the recipient is entitled, but payment abroad does not relax the marriage, age, resource or application conditions. A British bank account may also create currency and bank-verification issues, so retain evidence of the account holder’s identity.

Where the deceased had UK and French insurance periods, do not confuse coordination of contribution records with creation of a survivor status. A treaty or coordination mechanism may help an institution identify career periods or process an application. It does not necessarily replace the marriage condition in the French benefit statute. State clearly whether the request concerns a French pension, a UK survivor benefit or both, and ask each authority to identify its own legal basis.

B. What UK benefits, tax and estate steps must follow?

The French refusal should not end the survivor’s income review. The British Civil Partnership may be the decisive document for UK benefits. Start with the deceased’s National Insurance record and State Pension statement. The official GOV.UK State Pension guidance explains that a surviving civil partner may inherit certain elements of the deceased’s State Pension, but that the answer depends on the old or new State Pension system, the date the partnership began, the deceased’s pension age and whether the survivor has entered a new marriage or Civil Partnership.

Ask the Pension Service for a written calculation. The request should identify the date of registration, the date of death, the deceased’s National Insurance number, the survivor’s National Insurance number, the survivor’s residence in France and the bank details for payment. If the provider says that a part of the pension cannot be inherited, request the legislative or administrative reason and distinguish the basic State Pension, Additional State Pension, protected payment, deferred amount and any occupational benefit.

Bereavement Support Payment has its own timetable. GOV.UK says that a full award normally depends on claiming within three months of the death and that a claim can generally be made up to 21 months later, subject to the rules and a potentially reduced payment. A survivor who is under State Pension age should not wait for the French pension decision before checking the UK claim. If the survivor is in France, contact the International Pension Centre and ask whether France is treated as a country that pays the relevant bereavement benefit for the claimant’s circumstances.

The survivor should also contact every private pension provider. Request the scheme booklet, the death-benefit rules, the beneficiary nomination, the date the nomination was last changed and the list of documents needed to release funds. Provide the Civil Partnership certificate and death certificate, but do not assume the provider will infer the legal result from the word “partner”. Some schemes use the statutory term civil partner; others use dependant or nominated beneficiary. The difference can determine whether a survivor’s pension, lump sum, refund of contributions or discretionary payment is available.

Tax must be reviewed after the benefit entitlement is identified. A French pension de réversion, a UK State Pension inheritance, Bereavement Support Payment and a private pension death benefit may not have the same tax character. The France–UK income-tax treaty may allocate taxing rights differently from domestic law. The official impots.gouv.fr page listing the France–UK income-tax convention links to the current treaty materials. Use the treaty for the category of payment actually received; do not assume that the payment’s English name decides its French tax treatment.

The UK Civil Partnership can also affect French income-tax and inheritance-tax analysis. French tax guidance may assimilate a properly evidenced foreign partnership to a PACS for relevant tax purposes. That does not make the survivor a French heir for all civil-law purposes and does not create a French retirement reversion. Keep three separate questions in the tax file: how the payment is taxed, who is entitled to the payment and whether the survivor inherits an asset from the deceased.

The estate file should contain the Civil Partnership certificate, the death certificate, all wills and codicils, marriage or divorce records, children’s birth certificates, pension nominations, life-insurance beneficiary forms, property deeds, bank statements and proof of the deceased’s habitual residence. A French notaire, meaning a French civil-law notary and public legal officer, may need this material even when the principal probate process is in the UK. A pension decision does not determine succession, and a succession document does not necessarily determine pension entitlement.

The international succession question may be especially important when the deceased lived in France but retained strong UK connections. France applies the European Union succession framework, including its rules on habitual residence, jurisdiction and choice of law, even where the United Kingdom is the connected third country. In Cour de cassation, first civil chamber, 21 September 2022, no. 19-15.438, the Court held that the French courts had to examine their subsidiary jurisdiction when the deceased had a French nationality and property in France even though the habitual residence was in the United Kingdom. That decision concerns succession jurisdiction, not a pension claim, but it demonstrates why residence, nationality and asset location must be documented rather than assumed.

The same case also shows why the survivor should not use a single sentence such as “we were British and lived in France” for every institution. The pension fund needs contribution and status evidence. The tax office needs residence and income evidence. The notaire needs the estate, the will and the applicable succession law. The UK administrator needs the Civil Partnership and the UK contribution or scheme record. Prepare one master chronology but separate supporting bundles so that a document filed for one purpose is not accidentally treated as an admission for another.

The French inheritance position must be kept apart from the French reversion position. A PACS partner is not automatically an heir without a will, and a recognised foreign partnership may be subject to the same practical warning. The official Service-Public guidance on inheriting without a will says that, where the deceased was not married, a surviving PACS partner or cohabiting partner has no inheritance right without a will. The Service-Public English guidance on the death of a Civil Partnership partner likewise explains that, without a will, civil partners do not inherit from one another, although the survivor may recover personal property and their share of common goods.

The distinction is also supported by French case law. In Cour de cassation, second civil chamber, 10 July 2014, no. 13-18.358, the Court stated that a PACS does not create a vocation successorale, meaning an automatic legal entitlement to inherit. The decision concerned a death benefit and a French PACS, not a UK partnership, but it is a warning against treating a relationship certificate as a substitute for a beneficiary nomination or a will. Use the appropriate UK or French instrument to protect the intended survivor.

If there is a French property or bank account, the survivor should ask the notaire how the partnership affects the asset, but should not assume that recognition transfers ownership. The title deed, the source of funds, the bank mandate, the will and the applicable property regime must be reviewed. If the account is frozen, ask the bank for the exact document required: death certificate, certificate of inheritance, acte de notoriété, probate document, tax certificate, or a court or notarial order. A pension refusal does not authorise a bank to ignore a valid succession document, and a bank’s release of funds does not prove a pension entitlement.

The survivor should review any French or UK will immediately after the death and again after the estate is settled. A will may contain a specific legacy, a choice-of-law clause, a gift to a former partner or a beneficiary wording that conflicts with a pension nomination. A British will can be relevant in France, but it may require the original, a certified copy, a French translation and an explanation of the applicable law. The published Cour de cassation decision of 13 April 2022, no. 20-23.530 explains that a European Certificate of Succession has evidential effect but does not necessarily remove every formality needed to obtain payment of funds in France. The case is not about a Civil Partnership, but it is directly relevant to a survivor dealing with a French bank and an overseas estate.

The file should also account for the possibility of a later dissolution or a new relationship. If the Civil Partnership had been dissolved before death, the survivor must not claim it as current. If the couple had married after registering the Civil Partnership, attach both records and identify which status was in force. If the survivor later remarries or forms a new Civil Partnership, UK State Pension rules and some pension-provider rules may change. French resource-based reversion rules may also consider the new household. Every institution should receive the document relevant to its own rule.

For a survivor dealing with a refusal, the following sequence is practical:

1. Identify the exact pension or benefit: French basic, Agirc-Arrco, another French scheme, UK State Pension, Bereavement Support Payment or a private occupational benefit.
2. Ask for the written eligibility rule and the written reason for any refusal.
3. Build the civil-status chain: Civil Partnership, marriage, divorce, dissolution, death and name changes.
4. Obtain the deceased’s French and UK pension records and preserve the contribution evidence.
5. File the correct French and UK forms separately, with a receipt and an intended start date.
6. If a French decision is wrong, seize the CRA within two months of notification and attach the complete evidence bundle.
7. If the CRA rejects the challenge or remains silent for two months, calculate the judicial deadline and identify the competent tribunal judiciaire.
8. At the same time, notify pension providers, insurers, banks, the notaire and tax authorities without asking one institution to decide another institution’s rules.

An appeal should be framed around a legal error that can be corrected. Examples include treating a genuine marriage as a Civil Partnership only, ignoring a valid foreign marriage certificate, applying the wrong pension scheme, using the wrong date of death or application, miscalculating resources, or failing to process a form. An appeal that simply repeats that a Civil Partnership is “the same as marriage” is unlikely to overcome the statutory wording confirmed by no. 13-11.362.

If the survivor believes the French law itself should be changed or that the distinction is unfair, that policy argument is different from proving an existing entitlement. The Conseil constitutionnel’s decision no. 2011-155 QPC rejected the equality objection in the context then before it. A court or authority remains bound by the statute in force. The most effective file usually identifies the benefit that does recognise the Civil Partnership—often a UK benefit or a private scheme—while reserving any genuinely available French appeal for a specific error.

The survivor should keep a financial calendar. Record the date of death, the French application date, the four-month initial-response point, the two-month CRA deadline after any French notification, the two-month CRA silence point, the UK Bereavement Support Payment deadlines, private-pension response dates, tax-return deadlines and any notarial appointment. A calendar prevents the French appeal and UK benefit claims from being lost while the family is waiting for probate or a translated document.

Finally, the survivor should avoid signing a settlement or releasing a bank account before the pension and estate consequences have been mapped. A payment from a private scheme might be a survivor pension, a lump sum, a discretionary benefit or an advance. A transfer from a joint account might be the survivor’s own money, a co-owned asset or part of the estate. A French tax treatment might differ from the UK provider’s withholding. Obtain the document that explains the payment before distributing it among beneficiaries.

Conclusion

A UK Civil Partnership does not, by itself, give a survivor the French pension de réversion. France’s ordinary basic pension and Agirc-Arrco supplementary scheme require the applicant to be or to have been married to the deceased. The French tax administration may assimilate a foreign civil partnership to a PACS for a tax purpose, and French private international law may recognise effects of the relationship, but neither point removes the marriage condition in the French social-security legislation.

The survivor should still pursue every separate entitlement. GOV.UK provides routes for certain inherited State Pension amounts, Bereavement Support Payment and private pension death benefits where the UK conditions are met. In France, use the correct application, preserve the Civil Partnership and marriage evidence, obtain a written decision, respect the four-month and two-month procedural stages, and challenge a genuine error through the CRA within two months. At the same time, coordinate the UK and French tax, notarial and estate files without treating a pension decision as an inheritance decision.

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We can review the UK Civil Partnership certificate, French pension refusal, UK survivor-benefit claim and cross-border estate documents.

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