Inheriting a property in France when you live abroad: the steps, the duties, and selling or keeping it

What are the first steps after the death?

Everything begins with the notary in France, for it is the notary who processes the succession of French real estate. Three stages structure the start of the file:

• The certificate of inheritance: the notary identifies the heirs and their rights. It is the document that carries authority in France, with the authorities and the land registry.
• The heirs’ option: each chooses to accept the succession outright, up to the net assets, or to renounce it. The choice carries weight, and is made knowing about any debts.
• The French succession declaration: it summarises the assets and lets the administration settle the duties. The calendar is framed, and non-resident heirs do well to start early.

From abroad, these stages unfold largely at a distance: written exchanges, documents transmitted digitally, signatures organised by the notary. The useful partner here is a bilingual notary partner, used to international successions: they speak your language, know the conventions and prevent costly misunderstandings between two legal systems. If the deceased left assets or debts abroad, the coordination between the two notaries, yours and the one handling the succession, becomes the nerve of the file.

Inheritance duties for a non-resident heir

The tax question is real, but it is not handled by guesswork. The duties depend first on kinship: the surviving spouse, children, brothers and sisters, nephews or unrelated third parties do not hold the same position, and both allowances and scales follow that gradation. They then depend on the tax conventions between France and your country of residence, which determine where the succession is taxed and how double taxation is avoided. Depending on the case, specific clauses may apply to buildings located in France.

No figure can be given here without misleading someone: each situation, degree of kinship, country of residence, assets held in France and abroad, changes the picture. The sensible approach is to consult the country guides by residence to set the frame, then to have the duties assessed by the notary before any decision. The same applies to the successorship option: accepting or renouncing is decided once the cost is clear, never before.

Selling or keeping: which path to choose?

Once the succession is clarified, the heirs weigh two paths, which may also be combined when there are several of them:

The trade-off rarely depends on tax alone: the heirs’ attachment, the need for liquidity, the wish to keep a family meeting place, each person’s ability to carry the costs. But be careful: a property nobody clearly wants deteriorates fast. The worst option is prolonged indecision, with no monitoring.

Watching over the property during the succession

A succession takes months, sometimes more. In the meantime the property, often unoccupied, keeps on living: it cools, gathers damp, receives mail, retains an energy contract and an insurance policy to check. Three areas of vigilance:

• Regular visits: an inspection visit with a photographed report documents the property’s condition at regular intervals, reads the meters and flags any anomaly, leak, damp or attempted break-in.
• Insurance: the deceased’s policy does not transfer as it stands. A vacant property or one in succession calls for cover suited to a long absence, otherwise the loss arrives precisely where the policy no longer protects.
• Security and mail: shutters closed, keys distributed among reachable people, letterbox emptied. A property that looks lived-in attracts less attention than an obviously empty home.

The Home Select concierge service can run this system for the whole duration of the succession: the visits, the parties involved, the follow-ups, with a written report at every step. The heirs decide, someone keeps watch.