Whether during a trip or when the person is settled there, one of your loved ones may die abroad. There is then a procedure to follow to have an official death certificate drawn up and the body repatriated to France to give it a funeral in France.
⋙ Find out what steps to take with the bank upon the death of a loved one.
Obtain a death certificate
If you learn that a member of your family or a loved one has died abroad, you must first contact the French embassy or consulate there. If you learned about this event through the press, a travel agency or any other means, it is advisable to contact the crisis unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You can also contact the French authorities to have a death certificate drawn up by the local civil registrar. You will then need to have this official document transcribed in France so that it can be added to the deceased’s birth certificate. This transcription is not obligatory, but it facilitates many procedures, particularly for inheritances, retirement pensions, etc.
How to repatriate the body?
Here again, you can request assistance from the embassy or consulate to repatriate the body of your loved one. These administrations can inform you about the cost of a local burial or cremation as well as that of repatriation to France. They can also provide you with the contact details of local or French funeral directors operating abroad. Finally, they can assist you with local funeral directors if you have problems communicating. If you choose to have the body repatriated, the embassy or consulate can issue you with the necessary transport authorizations. In the absence of a specific insurance contract, the costs of repatriating the body are your responsibility.
Read also :
⋙ At what age should you take out death insurance?
⋙ How long should we keep the administrative papers of a deceased person?
⋙ What happens to a bank account after death? Procedures to know