Settling an estate in France: deadlines, reserved share and division

A death opens deadlines that nobody is in any state to watch. Yet six months later the tax office asks for its declaration, and joint ownership sometimes blocks everything for years. A lawyer reviews your situation in 20 minutes on Avocat20min.fr.

Settling an estate: the first three months

The estate opens on the day of death, at the deceased's last home. A notary becomes compulsory in three cases: property belongs to the estate, a will or a gift between spouses exists, or the assets exceed €5,000.

The notary first draws up the deed of known heirs, which identifies them. They then search the central register of wills, and list the assets.

In parallel, tell the banks, the employer, the pension fund and the insurers. Accounts are frozen, except to settle funeral costs up to €5,000.

The succession option: accept or renounce

Settling an estate starts with a personal choice, which each heir makes separately under article 768 of the Civil Code:

• Unconditional acceptance. You receive your share, but you answer for the debts, even beyond what you received.
• Acceptance up to the net assets. You pay the debts only up to what you receive. The declaration goes to the court.
• Renunciation. You are treated as never having been an heir, and your share passes to your descendants or to the other heirs.

Take time to check the liabilities before committing. You have four months to reflect, after which an heir, a creditor or the State may formally require you to choose. Without such a demand, the period runs to ten years, at the end of which you are deemed to have renounced.

Careful: accepting tacitly is easy. Selling a piece of the deceased's furniture or cashing a rent payment counts as unconditional acceptance.

The declaration and inheritance tax

Settling an estate also means declaring to the tax office, within six months of the death, or twelve months where the death occurred abroad. Late filing costs interest of 0.20 % a month, plus a 10 % surcharge after twelve months.

Relationship to the deceased	Allowance	Rate
Spouse or civil partner	Full exemption	No tax
Child	€100,000	5 % to 45 %
Grandchild	€1,594	5 % to 45 %
Brother or sister	€15,932	35 % then 45 %
Nephew or niece	€7,967	55 %
No family link	€1,594	60 %

Gifts made in the fifteen years before the death come back into the calculation. Life insurance, in contrast, stays outside the estate in principle, unless the premiums were manifestly excessive against the estate.

The reserved share

Settling an estate in France rules out disinheriting your children. Article 913 of the Civil Code reserves a fraction of the assets for the descendants, the rest forming the freely disposable share.

Number of children	Reserved share	Freely disposable share
1 child	1/2	1/2
2 children	2/3	1/3
3 children or more	3/4	1/4

Where there is no descendant, the surviving spouse becomes a reserved heir for a quarter. The deceased's parents have lost that status since 2006.

A will or a gift that eats into the reserved share is not void for all that. The heirs concerned bring an action for abatement, within five years of the death or two years of discovering the encroachment, never beyond ten years.

The surviving spouse's rights

Where all the children are shared, the spouse chooses between a quarter of the estate in full ownership and the whole in usufruct. Where children come from another relationship, only the quarter in full ownership remains open.

Two protections apply on top, whatever that choice:

• Free occupation of the home for one year after the death.
• A lifetime right to the home, on request within the year, which allows the spouse to stay there for life.

A civil partner, in contrast, inherits nothing without a will. Nor does an unmarried partner, who bears 60 % tax on anything received.

Leaving joint ownership

Until the division takes place, the heirs own the estate jointly. Day-to-day decisions need a two-thirds majority of the rights, but selling an asset requires unanimity.

Article 815 of the Civil Code lays down a protective rule: nobody can be forced to stay in joint ownership. A blocked heir therefore applies to the court for judicial division, and the court may order a sale by auction.

Concealment of an asset or a gift also carries a heavy price. Article 778 strips the concealing heir of any share in the concealed assets, while keeping them liable for the debts.

When to consult a lawyer

A lawyer steps in for settling an estate when the notary is no longer enough: encroachment on the reserved share, a contested gift, blocked joint ownership or suspected concealment. They also obtain judicial division. An inheritance lawyer answers within 20 minutes. An ongoing separation changes the spouse's rights. The rates sit on service-public.gouv.fr.