How to find a notaire following a bereavement in France

Reader question: My father passed away after moving back to the UK due to ill health. His former main residence in France, where he lived for 24 years, will be sold. He made a French will, however the notaire he used has now died. My mother needs to complete the succession process. How do we find a notaire to deal with this? 

Dealing with the administration of a person’s estate can be a very stressful process, particularly when they owned assets in different jurisdictions. Finding out that the notaire they originally used is no longer in practice will only add to the difficulties.

Where a deceased person owned real property – such as a house, apartment, or land – in France, a notaire will need to be involved with the administration of their estate: this is the case whether the deceased actually lived in France or elsewhere. 

Only a notaire can register the new ownership deed at the French land registry.

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In addition, one of the duties imposed upon a notaire is the safekeeping of the original title documents. So whenever any amendments may be required to title deeds, the notaire’s office must be contacted.

Whenever a notaire ceases practising, their business is transferred to another notaire. That new notaire is then charged with ensuring the safe storage of the deeds.

There is a directory of notaires available on the internet. 

If you have already interrogated this using the previous notaire’s name, you could try carrying out a search for other notaires in the same town.

Bear in mind that in rural areas there might only be one notarial office in a town; indeed the practice will probably still run at the same address as before.

Occasionally, though, a practice can be moved entirely, or absorbed into another local one. 

In such cases, it may be harder to trace, although enquiries can be made with the local Chambre des Notaires.

In any event, there is no specific need to return to the practice that administered the original purchase. 

While this may be the easiest way to deal with the estate – particularly where this is the practice nearest to the property – there is no restriction on contacting another notaire in France, if that is expedient for you.

Matthew Cameron is a partner with Ashtons Legal