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Useful info Factsheets Death in France Death in France - Factsheet
| Death in France - Factsheet |
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| Friday, 19 September 2008 | |
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Contents: Angela Clohessy - funeral director Anne Poulton - bereavement counsellor Check list Woodland burial Economy cremation The ultimate gift Angela Clohessy, funeral director (from French News, May 2008) Few of us are aware of the many practical things that need to be done after a death. Having to deal with this difficult time in a foreign country is even harder. Funeral director Angela Clohessy has practised in the UK and, for five years, in France. Here, she shares her experiences and points out common misconceptions When a relative or loved one dies, we may be faced with a minefield of additional questions and concerns. No matter how well we have learned the language, at one of the most stressful times of our lives it is imperative to know we are doing the right thing. French procedures differ significantly from those in the United Kingdom. Since my relocation to France from the UK in 2003 I have found that death and dying are taboo words. All of us like to think that we are to some extent immortal; because of this the majority of people do not like to think of death, either of ourselves or someone close to us. So what choices are available here in France? France, predominantly a Catholic country, is still conservative about funerals. Most consist of a Catholic service followed by burial in the local churchyard. However, with more crematoriums in France now, the number of cremations is rising and they are becoming more personal, with relatives wanting a funeral service that includes music and personal speeches. Some differences about how things are arranged here in France and the UK: • You have a legal responsibility to declare a death within 24 hours. • Whereas in the United Kingdom you can decide how long you wish to arrange the funeral, procedures in France differ from the onset of death. The ‘six-day rule’ in France requires that upon death, the family has up to six days (the préfecture of the département can make an exemption in certain cases) to decide whether to have a burial or cremation, arrange the funeral with the funeral director, organise the type of service required and arrange for any relatives from another country to attend the funeral. • The death certificate (acte de décès) in France does not indicate the cause or circumstance of death. • You can lay at rest in your own home prior to the cremation or burial. • You can be buried on your own land (after obtaining permission). • You can scatter ashes on your own land, in a river, the sea or out of an aeroplane. • The family of the deceased person must by law follow the deceased’s wishes. • If you die in hospital, unless you have signed an opt-out in your will or registered with the Registre National des Refus, it will be assumed that your organs will become available for donation. These are just a few of the differences. The secret is knowing what to do and who to ask. French funeral directors are very professional, not only informing about choices available but offering a high level of support and advice. Once death has occurred, the family doctor will certify it, issuing a death certificate. In the event of a violent death such as an accident or suicide, the police (gendarmerie) must be notified and they will provide the death certificate. The relatives, legal representative, or the funeral director must register the death within 24 hours at the mairie of the commune where the person died. In the case of a British person dying in France, the death can also be registered at the British Consulate General in Paris; this ensures that it will appear in the United Kingdom General Registry offices. If the relatives decide, or the deceased has made an express wish for their body to be repatriated back to the United Kingdom for burial or cremation, then the French funeral director must be made aware of this as soon as possible. Repatriation by air and sea is allowed, providing all the correct documents are submitted. The funeral home can help arrange these. The documents required to travel with the deceased: • The deceased’s passport • Deceased’s birth certificate and marriage certificate (translated) • Certificate of embalming • Death certificate (translated into English if repatriated to UK) • Certified copy of the registration of the death (translated) • Authorisation to remove the body out of the country • Laissez-passer (provided by the funeral home, this allows the coffin to pass through other communes and countries) It should be noted that if the body is to be repatriated to the UK, the Coroner there is very likely to request an inquest and a post-mortem to establish the cause of death, as this does not appear on the French death certificate. Repatriation is costly, and should be considered carefully. The funeral must be held no less than 48 hours after death. Prices for funerals are similar to the United Kingdom, approximately E3,500 for a burial and E3,000 for a cremation. If there is a life insurance policy, the costs will be met by direct payment. If no policy exists the cost has to be paid out of the deceased’s estate. If the deceased has died with no funds available, then the cost will be passed on to the relatives. You can arrange with your local funeral home a contrat obsèques by which you pay for your funeral in advance. Finally, help is available to ease the trauma to those left behind. The local funeral director, the Consulate in France and French doctors are all very supportive. There are support organisations to help with bereavement in both French and English. If you are religious there is often good pastoral care through your church. Angela Clohessy has worked in the funeral industry for 14 years. She gained her Diploma in Funeral Directing with the National Association of Funeral Directors in the UK in December 2002 and is a licenced member of the British Institute of Funeral Directors. She can help with all the aspects of dealing with a death, arranging and conducting a funeral service, future planning, Seminars for small groups on the procedures, laws and practical advice on death. For more information, contact Angela Clohessy Dip. FD LMBIFD Tel: 05 63 39 55 97 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it www.funeralservicesinfrance.com Anne Poulton - bereavement counsellor (from French News, May 2008) Counselling In France is a non-profit association which gives English-speaking support and information for those who suffer bereavement while living here. Its website has a section aimed at giving information and a network of voluntary listeners and supporters all over France. The hope is that people will volunteer to go onto the support section, either as a listener, supporter or to publicise a support group. The website now has an online secure meeting facility and anyone who joins the bereavement network as a listener can attend monthly online support meetings where a qualified professional counsellor will help deal with anything that may have come up for them. The group also provides email support for listeners who do not have Broadband/ADSL. Anne Poulton of Counselling In France says: “Being a listener or supporter is not a one-way process – there is the social contact aspect for both parties: many people living here are isolated and find it hard to make English-speaking friends. This is a way of making contact with others at a deep and caring level. The support groups that spring up from bereavement or marriage break-ups usually foster strong friendships if they are well-run.” Counselling In France can also help anyone wanting to start a support group. The website gives more details: www.counsellinginfrance.com CHECK LIST (from French News, May 2008) WITHIN 24 HOURS OF DEATH • Declaration of the death must be made within 24 hours at the mairie where the death occurred • Contact the funeral director (pompes funèbres) • Inform the insurance company – if that person had a pre-paid funeral plan with a pompes funèbres home • If on holiday – consult your travel insurance documents • Inform any private life insurance WITHIN 36 HOURS OF DEATH • The PACS ends by the death of one of the partners. The surviving partner, or any interested party, must send a copy of the death certificate to the Greffe du Tribunal d’Instance which recorded the initial act. TO INFORM WITHIN 48 HOURS OF DEATH • The deceased’s employer • ASSEDIC if the deceased was unemployed and receiving benefits TO INFORM WITHIN 7 DAYS OF DEATH • All bank accounts in France and elsewhere • Savings bank accounts, post office accounts • Mortgage provider • CPAM and any other healthcare scheme • Pension fund provider – in all countries • Notaire – for single bank accounts, cancellation of a lease (property), tenants or landlord if your property is rented, or you are renting out a property, succession • UK solicitor • Accountant • Credit companies • UK passport agency, to return or cancel a passport • DVLA to return a licence if a United Kingdom type TO INFORM WITHIN 15 DAYS OF DEATH • Car registration – carte grise (only if the survivor is the heir and not the spouse) TO INFORM WITHIN 30 DAYS OF DEATH • Service providers (utility companies) in order to terminate any contracts (EDF/GDF, Saur, France Telecom) • Register any change of status with Social Security • Inform the tax office of altered income tax levels, taxe d’habitation and taxe foncière • CAF – if entitled to the allowance for single parents (API) • British Consulate – if you wish to register the death of a British National in the consular register You can help those who have to cope in the event of your own death, by leaving a clear written record of your wishes with regard to your funeral, whether you wish to be buried or cremated, in France or elsewhere, and giving guidelines on funeral details. This can be done by: • Making a will or a written statement, which you leave with relatives, the mairie and your notaire. • Planning in advance via a qualified funeral director in France If you live on your own and your closest relatives are not in France, it can help greatly if you prepare a list of the following: • Names, addresses and telephone numbers of next of kin • A list of where documents can be found (wills, birth and marriage certificate, passport and any other important documents) • A list of financial assets such as bank and savings accounts, investments, insurance policies (especially life insurance and funeral insurance), pensions and endowments • Details of accountants, solicitors, investment advisors, notaire. It is advisable that you send these details to the person who will be dealing with your affairs, together with the contact details of neighbours, friends and the mairie. Woodland burial (from French News; January 2008) I wonder if you have any information about ‘natural’ or ‘woodland’ burial. Is there in France (where we live permanently) an equivalent of this secular, natural burial with a fast bio-degradable coffin and a tree as memorial, instead of a tomb or gravestone? If so, does such a service exist near us (Dordogne)? If not, and we wish for burial, not cremation, do we have to book a plot through our local mairie? Burial on private land is possible and authorisation is issued by the préfet of the département, in your case at Périgueux. You need to establish that neighbouring dwellings are far enough away, that the ground is suitable, and that sanitary conditions are satisfactory. A coffin is compulsory. The person to approach for both private and cemetery burials is the maire of the commune where the burial is to be. The document you need is the permis d’inhumer. After a death you also need the maire to issue the acte de décès. A body can be buried no sooner than 24 hours and no later than six days after death, not counting Sundays and holidays. This can be extended if the person has died overseas. For cemetery burials, you need a concession for the grave plot (except for family tombs). Grave digging is done by an undertakers (pompes funèbres) or by the commune. We have found no restrictions on grave-digging on private land but it is not for the inexperienced. The final obligation is that the grave or tomb be sealed within three months of the burial and before installing any memorial. Economy cremation (from French News, March 2008) Is there any way of having a cheap cremation? I am 87 and myself and my wife live only on a private UK state pension and have no savings. We have lived in France 14 years and are on the French tax system but pay no tax as our income is too low. We pay only the social charges. In the event of my death, my wife would have a maximum of E100/120 a week to live on. We have no money to cremate me so is there another ‘way out’? Could I sell my body to the hospital and at what cost? I have been quoted E2,000 for a cremation. Could I find a cheaper alternative, ie, a cardboard coffin? I know this sounds rather macabre but if you could print any reply in Feb or March News I would appreciate it. Many thanks. Jo Stirling replies You don’t say whether you have any children. In France, when someone dies, their family is obliged to pay for the funeral. In your case this would be your wife, but since she hasn’t the means to do so, your children would have to help. If you don’t have any children, you may be eligible for help from your commune. Go along and see your mairie where they will determine from your resources what, if any, help they’ll give you. In extreme poverty cases, the commune will pay for the burial. Regarding leaving your body to a hospital, please read my answer on this page on body donation. Note that you are not paid for your body, but the expense is very modest compared to the cost of a cremation. Check out your nearest faculty who will give you their prices. I hope this helps. The Ultimate Gift (from French News, March 2008) We wish to leave our bodies to medical science and although we can find out where to leave our various organs, we don’t know how to leave the whole body (after death!) We signed papers to this effect in England and would now like to do the same here in France. Can you help? Jo Stirling replies In France, 2,500 men and women leave their bodies each year to science, that is, to teaching hospitals and research. Every adult has this right, other than those under guardianship or in prison, and family has no right of consent or opposition. You can choose to which establishment you wish to give your body from a list of faculties of medicine all over France who handle this service (See the link below.) For residents of Paris or Île de France, two establishments are competent – L’Institut d’anatomie de l’université René-Descartes and l’École de chirurgie de l’AP-HP or l’Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris. For the Gers, where you live, your nearest faculté de médecine is in Toulouse, at the following address: Faculté de médecine Toulouse 133 Rue de Narbonne 31062 Toulouse Tel 05 62 88 90 00 You must write them a letter entirely in your own handwriting, dated and signed, stating your wish to donate your body. You will then be sent a form to fill in and return, including a fee of 458 euros towards transport and cremation afterwards. You’ll be given all the information you need. Your medical records will be checked before they accept your gift to make sure you have no contagious diseases or are a murderer or suicide. You will then receive a carte de donateur to sign and keep with you at all times. You can go back on your decision at any time, by destroying your card and informing your hospital. Your body is taken to the establishment where it is embalmed by specialist professionals and saved until needed for anatomical teaching or research work which will be carried out with complete respect for the body. After the research work, your body will be cremated and your ashes scattered in the Jardin du Souvenirs in Cornebarrieu. Recently it has become possible for family to obtain the ashes on condition that the donor has not forbidden this in writing. If this is the case, it will be shown on the back of their donor’s card. If your donation is made to the École de chirgurgie AP-HP in Paris, the family will not have to pay the administration fees or transport from the place of death to the school. If death takes place elsewhere in France, the body will be taken care of against payment of a contribution to transport and cremation costs. This fee varies among establishments, so any other readers who would like to make this ultimate gift, please check out the website below for your nearest competent faculty, who will tell you what they charge. Visit this web site www.aphp.fr/site/actualite/mag_donducorps.htm Then click on 'télécharger le brochure de l’AP/HP'. This is a very useful booklet which will give you all the information you need, including a model of the handwritten letter and a list of hospitals and establishments in France who accept body donations. |
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