DEATH CERTIFICATES
Declaration of death
Article 78
The death certificate will be drawn up by the registrar of the municipality where the death took place.
place, on the declaration of a relative of the deceased or on that of a person possessing
his marital status with the most accurate and complete information possible.
Mentions of the death certificate
Article 79
The death certificate will state:
1 ° The day, time and place of death;
2 ° The first names, surname, date and place of birth, profession and domicile of the person
deceased;
3 ° The first names, surnames, professions and domiciles of his father and mother;
4 ° The first and last names of the other spouse, if the deceased was married, widowed or
divorced;
5 ° The first names, surname, age, profession and domicile of the declarant and, if applicable, his degree
of kinship with the deceased.
All, as far as we can know.
The death will be mentioned in the margin of the birth certificate of the deceased person.
Child who died before the birth declaration
Article 79-1
When a child has died before its birth has been declared to the civil registry, the officer
of civil status establishes a birth certificate and a death certificate on production of a certificate
medical report indicating that the child was born alive and viable and specifying the days and times of
birth and death.
In the absence of the medical certificate provided for in the previous paragraph, the registrar establishes a
act of a lifeless child. This act is entered on its date in the death registers and states
the day, time and place of delivery, the first and last names, dates and places of
birth, professions and domiciles of the father and mother and, if applicable, those of the declarant.
The act drawn up does not prejudge whether the child has lived or not; anyone interested can
seize the tribunal de grande instance to rule on the matter.
Death outside the municipality
Article 80
When a death has occurred elsewhere than in the municipality where the deceased was domiciled,
the registrar who drew up the death certificate will send, as soon as possible, to
the registrar of the last domicile of the deceased, a copy of this document, which
will be immediately transcribed on the registers. This provision does not apply to
cities divided into arrondissements, when the death occurred in a arrondissement
other than where the deceased was domiciled.
Deaths in hospitals
In the event of death in hospitals or health facilities, maritime hospitals,
civilians, or other public establishments, the directors, administrators or masters of these
hospitals or establishments must give notice, within twenty-four hours, to
the registrar or the person who performs the duties.
The latter will go there to ascertain the death and draw up the act, in accordance with
the previous article, on the declarations made to him, and on the information
that he will have taken.
In said hospitals, health facilities and establishments, a register will be kept on
which will be recorded these declarations and information.
Violent death
Article 81
When there are signs or indications of violent death, or other circumstances which
give rise to suspect it, we can only do the burial after an officer of
police, assisted by a doctor of medicine or surgery, will have drawn up a report
the state of the corpse and the circumstances relating thereto, as well as the information he will have
were able to collect the first names, surname, age, profession, place of birth and domicile of the
deceased person.
Article 82
The police officer will be required to forward immediately to the civil status officer of the place where the
person will be deceased, all the information set out in his report,
according to which the death certificate will be drawn up.
The registrar will send a copy to the registrar of the person’s domicile.
deceased, if known: this shipment will be entered in the registers.
Article 83
Criminal clerks will be required to send, within twenty-four hours of the execution
judgments bearing the death penalty, to the registrar of the place where the convicted person will have
been executed, all the information set out in article 79, according to which the act of
death will be drafted.
Deaths in prisons, houses of reclusion or detention
Article 84
In the event of death in prisons or houses of reclusion or detention, it will be
immediately given notice, by the concierges or guards, to the registrar, who is there
will transport as it is said in article 80, and will draw up the death certificate.
Article 85
In all cases of violent death, or in prisons and houses of seclusion, or
execution to death, no mention of these circumstances will be made on the registers, and
death certificates will simply be drawn up in the forms prescribed by article 79.
Death during a sea voyage
Article 86
In the event of death during a sea voyage and in the circumstances provided for in article
59, it will be, within twenty-four hours, drawn up by the instrument officers
designated in this article and in the forms prescribed therein.
Death of an unidentified person
Article 87
When the body of a deceased person is found and can be identified, an act of
death must be drawn up by the registrar of the presumed place of death, regardless of the
time between death and discovery of the body.
If the deceased cannot be identified, the death certificate must include his most important description.
complete; in the event of subsequent identification, the act is rectified under the conditions provided for in
article 99 of this code.
Article 88
Can be legally declared, at the request of the public prosecutor or
interested parties, the death of any Frenchman who has disappeared in France or outside France, in
life-threatening circumstances when his body could not be
found.
Can, under the same conditions, be legally declared the death of any foreigner or
stateless person who has disappeared either in a territory under the authority of France, or on board a
French building or aircraft, or even abroad if it had its domicile or residence
usual in France.
The judicial declaration of death procedure is also applicable when the death
is certain but that the body could not be found.
Article 89
The request is presented to the tribunal de grande instance of the place of death or
disappearance, if it occurred in a territory under the authority of France,
otherwise to the court of the domicile or last residence of the deceased or disappeared or,
failing this, to the court of the place of the home port of the aircraft or of the vessel transporting it.
In the absence of any other, the Paris tribunal de grande instance is competent.
If several people disappeared during the same event, a collective request
can be presented to the court of the place of the disappearance, to that of the home port of the
building or aircraft or, failing that, to the Paris tribunal de grande instance.
Article 90
When it does not come from the public prosecutor, the request is transmitted by his
intermediary in court. The case is investigated and judged in council chamber. The
lawyer’s ministry is not obligatory and all the acts of the procedure, as well as the
dispatches and extracts of the aforesaid acts, are exempt from the stamp and registered free of charge.
If the court considers that the death is not sufficiently established, it may order any
additional information measure and in particular request an administrative inquiry
on the circumstances of the disappearance.
If the death is declared, its date must be fixed taking into account the presumptions made
the circumstances of the cause and, failing that, the day of the disappearance. This date must not
never be indeterminate.
Article 91
The system of the declaratory judgment of death is transcribed in the civil status registers of the
real or presumed place of death and, where applicable, at the place of the last domicile of the
deceased.
Mention of the transcription is made in the margin of the registers on the date of death. In case of
collective judgment, individual extracts from the system are sent to state officers
civilian of the last domicile of each of the missing, for the purpose of transcription.
Declarations of death take the place of death certificates and are enforceable against
third parties, who can only obtain rectification, in accordance with Article 99 of the
this code.
Article 92
If the person whose death has been legally declared reappears after the judgment
declarative, the public prosecutor or any interested party may prosecute, within
forms provided for in Articles 89 et seq., annulment of the judgment.
The provisions of Articles 130, 131 and 132 are applicable, as necessary.
Mention of the annulment of the declaratory judgment will be made in the margin of its transcription.
