Stanners Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 [8-)]My husband and I own a holiday home in Burgundy. He sadly died 2 weeks ago and I am going to France in 2 weeks to start to sort out everythingWe have French wills and no children so I assume it will reasonably straight forward.An English friend living in France has been in touch with the Notaire we used for the house conveyancing and he has said I need a French translation of the Death Certificate. Does anyone know if this has to be an official translation or can I do it myself? I assume the French system will want something officialI would aslo appreciate any help anyone can giveWe have both been married before and neither of us has ever had children. Do I need to take the Decrees absolute or is the UK marriage certificate OK?Stanners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony F Dordogne Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Hi StannersSorry to hear of your loss. I had to deal with something similar but in reverse last year, French to English, and was told catagorically by the British Embassy that you no longer need translations, member states should accept the paperwork 'as is'. UK banks etc, financial bodies et al now have to accept French death registrations in French so it should apply the other way around.Though at the moment, it's unlikely that you would want to argue about something like this, just passing it on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stanners Posted May 30, 2007 Author Share Posted May 30, 2007 Thanks TonyI think this will help as the person who told me I needed the translation only works as a property agent for the Notaire and probably hasn't had to deal with this situation recentlyStanners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 [quote user="Stanners"]...An English friend living in France has been in touch with the Notaire we used for the house conveyancing and he has said I need a French translation of the Death Certificate. Does anyone know if this has to be an official translation or can I do it myself? I assume the French system will want something official...Do I need to take the Decrees absolute or is the UK marriage certificate OK?[/quote] I am very sorry to hear of your loss, Stanners... I am sure it will be an emotional time for you going over to your house, and also having to deal with outpourings of grief from friends and neighbours there, when you are just emerging from all that back at home.After my husband's death, I didn't have any problem with the notaire or French bank accepting a UK death cefrtificate - no one asked for it to be translated at all. I wonder if it would be a good idea to take two copies of it, if you have them. You will probably need one for your French bank also.I would definitely take marriage certificate AND divorce decree absolutes. I can't remember if I had to show this (my husband had been married before) when dealing with the death, but we were always having to produce it when we bought or sold property in France. Never had to show it to anybody in the UK in 30 years! Maybe a good idea to take your husband's passport too, in case you have to prove his identity.Bon courage. I hope all goes smoothly in France.Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarkkent Posted June 1, 2007 Share Posted June 1, 2007 When my wife died I showed the English death certificate to the notaire who immediately produced an attestation that our house was now mine - we had bought it en tontine. The bank took photocopy of the certificate. And that was that.No one requested a translation. No one wanted any other document. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 I concur with the other posters here. Your certificate is in a European language and must be accepted as such. Some english friends who married a year ago stood their ground over this with regards to birth certificates etc and won. This translation nonsense is too expensive and out of date. We have never had any documents translated here.Hope all goes smoothly for you and our condolences to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stanners Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 Many thanks to all who have repliedI am going to stand my ground [well try at any rate] and take original English language certificates and see what happens If it goes wrong I will tell you - but for now please keep your fingers crossed I can sort this out without the translations!ReagrdsStanners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stanners Posted June 21, 2007 Author Share Posted June 21, 2007 Just to confrim - I have been to France and did not need any translations of certificates - although I did need 4 original UK death certificates for the Notaire - goodness knows what he will do with them - paper his office I think!Stanners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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