Cross-border · Certificates of foreign law · France
Certificate of English law, for use in France
Produced in-house, in French, ready to file — and the mirror certificate of French law for the England & Wales Probate Registry.
The moment it happens
A French notaire is preparing the acte de notoriété or the attestation immobilière and stops: the succession turns on English law — the will’s validity, who takes under it, or what an election of English law does — and the notaire needs formal proof before the deed is drawn. That is what this certificate is.
What the French side expects. A written certificate of English law, in French, signed by a lawyer qualified in English law — covering formal validity, devolution, and, where a child’s reserved share is in play, the interaction between an English-law election and article 913 of the Code civil — precisely the point on which a notaire will not move without written comfort.
Searching for how to “reseal” an English grant in France? There is no resealing in France — the notaire-led settlement runs instead. The full sequence is in our guide, An English solicitor’s guide to the French estate on your desk.
And in the other direction
When the English file needs proof of French law — the Probate Registry will accept evidence of foreign law under NCPR r.19, and since November 2020 a witness statement suffices in place of a sworn affidavit — we produce that certificate too, in English, from the same desk.
Why one desk matters
The usual route is two lawyers, a sworn translation and legalisation, and weeks lost mid-matter. Here the same lawyer is admitted — and practising — on both sides of the question: registered with the Barreau de Nice, practising solicitor of England & Wales (overseas only). We draft the certificate once, in the language the receiving authority needs, ready to file. Check the registers →
The price
From €1,200 + VAT, fixed and agreed in writing before work begins (€2,200 for complex cases); free where we handle the estate itself.
A certificate needed on a file now? office@carrolllaw.eu — say which authority is asking and what for, and you’ll have a written fixed quote.
For solicitors and executors: how instructing us works · all certificates and forums.