Accept, refuse or accept up to the net assets: an heir’s three options in France

What does each option protect, and what does it ask in return?

Read the column that matches what you know about the debts: each row says what the option commits, what it requires and what it closes for good.

Do I have to accept my father’s estate if he left debts?

No. French law gives you three options: accept outright, accept up to the net assets, or renounce. None is imposed on you, and an option made subject to a condition is void. An heir may accept the estate outright or renounce it, and may also accept it up to the net assets where they take a universal share; an option subject to a condition or a term is void (Civil Code, article 768). Only the first option makes the heir liable without limit for the debts and charges of the estate (article 785): that is the one, and the only one, that exposes your own property.

Which option should I take when I do not know the size of the debts?

Acceptance up to the net assets. You take your share without ever paying beyond the value of what you receive, and your own accounts stay separate from the deceased’s. This option prevents your own property from being merged with the estate, preserves the rights you already held over the deceased’s property, and obliges you to pay the debts only up to the value of what you received (Civil Code, article 791). It is the route written for uncertain debts: the inventory exists precisely to put a figure on them before you are committed.

How long do I have to choose, and what does a formal demand change?

Four months during which nobody can force you. After that, a creditor or a co-heir can serve a formal demand to take a position, and you then have two months to answer. An heir cannot be compelled to choose before four months have run from the opening of the estate; after that they may be served, by extrajudicial act, at the initiative of a creditor of the estate, a co-heir, an heir of a lower rank or the State (Civil Code, article 771). Within two months of that demand the heir must choose or ask a judge for extra time; failing that, the heir is treated as having accepted outright (article 772). With no demand, the right to choose runs out after ten years, and silence then counts as renunciation (article 780).

How do I accept up to the net assets, step by step?

A declaration at the registry of the tribunal judiciaire where the estate opened, or before a notaire, using form cerfa 15455*03; then an inventory filed within two months. The declaration is made at the registry of the tribunal judiciaire (civil court) in whose area the estate opened, or before a notaire (notary); it must elect a single address for service in France and is published nationally (Civil Code, article 788). The inventory, drawn up by a commissaire-priseur judiciaire, a huissier or a notaire, values the assets and the debts item by item (article 789). It must be filed with the court within two months of the declaration, failing which the heir is treated as having accepted outright (article 790).

How do I renounce, and where does the form go?

By a declaration sent or filed at the court where the estate opened, or received by a notaire, using form cerfa 15828*05. A renunciation is never presumed. Renunciation of an estate is never presumed: to be effective against third parties, a universal heir’s renunciation must be sent or filed at the court in whose area the estate opened, or made before a notaire, who then sends a copy to that court within a month (Civil Code, article 804). The official form is cerfa 15828*05, "Renonciation à succession par une personne majeure" (waiver of succession by an adult), with the documents listed in its notice.

Which everyday acts count as accepting without my realising it?

Any act that necessarily implies the intention to accept: selling, cashing in, sharing out the assets, assigning your rights, renouncing in favour of a named co-heir. Protective acts do not commit you. Any assignment of all or part of your rights in the estate, for value or for free, amounts to outright acceptance, and so does a renunciation made in favour of one or more named co-heirs, or made for value (Civil Code, article 783). Treated as purely protective, by contrast, are the payment of funeral and last-illness costs, of the deceased’s taxes and of urgent rent, the sale of perishable goods provided the money is applied to those debts, and acts meant to stop the debts from growing (article 784).

Acceptance is tacit where the person entitled does an act that necessarily implies an intention to accept and that they would have the right to do only as an accepting heir.Civil Code, article 782 (translation; French text on Légifrance)

Can I go back on my choice once the declaration is filed?

Rarely. A renunciation can be revoked while nobody else has accepted; acceptance up to the net assets can only turn into outright acceptance; outright acceptance is final. While the right to accept has not run out against them, an heir may revoke a renunciation by accepting outright, provided no other heir has already accepted and the State has not been put in possession (Civil Code, article 807). Acceptance up to the net assets can be revoked by accepting outright, but it blocks any renunciation (article 801). An heir who accepted outright cannot step back: they can only ask to be discharged from a debt they had legitimate reasons not to know about, within five months of discovering it (article 786).

If I renounce, who inherits in my place?

Your children step in by representation. With no descendants, your share goes to your co-heirs or passes to the next degree of kinship. Your children then have to choose for themselves. An heir who renounces is treated as never having been an heir: their share goes to those who represent them and, failing that, accrues to the co-heirs or passes to the next degree (Civil Code, article 805). A person whose estate you renounced can still be represented (article 754). Renouncing therefore does not shelter your children from heavy debts: the option passes to them and they must settle it, which requires a judge’s authorisation while they are minors.

Do I still have to pay for the funeral if I renounce?

Partly, yes. Someone who renounces still owes, in proportion to their means, the funeral costs of their parent or their child. No other estate debt falls on them. An heir who renounces is not liable for the debts and charges of the estate; they are, however, liable in proportion to their means for the funeral costs of the parent or child whose estate they renounced (Civil Code, article 806). Costs they legitimately incurred before renouncing stay with the estate (article 808).

My child is a minor heir: who decides for them?

You do, as legal administrator, but under supervision. Accepting outright or renouncing on their behalf needs the guardianship judge’s prior authorisation; acceptance up to the net assets does not. A legal administrator may not, without the prior authorisation of the juge des tutelles (guardianship judge), accept an estate outright on behalf of a minor, nor renounce a right on their behalf (Civil Code, article 387-1, points 4 and 5). Under a full guardianship, the guardian may only accept up to the net assets, unless the assets manifestly exceed the debts after a certificate from the notaire settling the estate or an authorisation, and may not renounce without that authorisation (article 507-1).

How do I find out what the deceased really owed before I choose?

Three levers: the inventory, which values assets and debts item by item; the FICOBA register for bank accounts; and the creditors’ duty to file their claims within fifteen months. The inventory drawn up by a commissaire-priseur judiciaire, a huissier or a notaire values the assets and the debts item by item (Civil Code, article 789), and its cost is borne by the estate as a privileged expense of the division (article 803). Creditors file their claims at the address elected in the declaration; if they do not file within fifteen months of publication, unsecured claims are extinguished against the estate (article 792). FICOBA, the national bank-account register run by the direction générale des finances publiques (the French tax administration), lets an heir obtain the list of accounts held in the deceased’s name.

The court registry, the notaire or Julie: who does what?

The registry receives the declarations, the notaire settles the estate and has the inventory drawn up, Julie prepares: the documents, the timeline of your deadlines and the questions for the meeting. Declarations of acceptance up to the net assets and of renunciation are filed at the registry of the tribunal judiciaire where the estate opened, or made before a notaire (Civil Code, articles 788 and 804). The inventory is the work of a commissaire-priseur judiciaire, a huissier or a notaire (article 789); since 1 July 2022 the profession of commissaire de justice has brought together huissiers de justice and commissaires-priseurs judiciaires. Julie files nothing for you: it reads your documents, places the deadline that is running and prepares the list to take with you.

Which option should I look at first in my own situation?

Four questions about what you know of the debts and what you have already done. The result is a route to check against your documents, never a decision or an amount.

What this page is built on

What should you check before continuing?

The choice commits your own property: here is what this page does and what it leaves to the court registry and the notaire.