Death of a French national in the US: the transcription
When a French citizen dies in the United States, the death is recorded in France by transcribing the American death certificate. The request can be made by mail, and no deadline is set; it updates the French civil status of the deceased and the family record book.
Transcribing the death
The form and the list of documents are on the network's death page. Once the death is transcribed, a notice goes to the town hall of the place of birth so that the death is noted in the margin of the birth record. Copies of the transcribed death record are then ordered on Service-Public.fr.
Where to send it
As with births and marriages, civil status is handled in two places: Los Angeles for the Houston, New Orleans, Los Angeles and San Francisco districts, and Washington for the Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York and Washington districts.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Transcription | By mail, no deadline |
| Where to send it | Los Angeles or Washington, by district |
| Copies of the death certificate | Service-Public.fr |
| Repatriation costs | The family or the insurer |
- The US death certificate
- The transcription form
- The deceased’s French civil status details
- The family record book, if there is one
By exception, the death of a foreign spouse of a French citizen can also be transcribed, to keep the family record book up to date.
What the consulate does
The consulate makes sure the family is informed and advises it on the legal formalities of repatriating the body or the ashes, or of burial. The costs are borne by the family or by the deceased's insurer. A death is one of the situations for which the network lists each consulate's emergency number.
The emergency lines, by consulate
A death is on the network's list of consular emergencies, with an accident, an arrest or a child in danger. For those situations, and for French nationals, each consulate keeps a line that works outside office hours:
- Atlanta: +1 (404) 217-9446
- Boston: +1 (617) 435-0418
- Chicago: +1 (312) 927-2443
- Houston: +1 (713) 542-2928
- New Orleans: +1 (504) 905-5562
- Los Angeles: +1 (310) 625-9713
- Miami: +1 (786) 682-0834
- New York: +1 (646) 957-5043
- San Francisco: +1 (415) 515-3600
- Washington: +1 (202) 213-4369
When you call, give the place and nature of what happened, where you are, the number you are calling from and the identity of the people concerned. The transcription itself is not urgent: it can be requested later, by mail.
For the steps that follow a death, an accident or a crime abroad, the ministry publishes a guide for French victims abroad, Être victime à l’étranger, which the network's emergency page links to. In the US, 911 reaches the police, an ambulance or the fire department in most urban areas.
No deadline for the transcription, but the family record book waits for it.Official sources: Décès; Démarches administratives : à qui m’adresser ?; En cas d'urgence.
Details checked against the official pages on October 6, 2026.
frenchconsulates.us is an independent guide to France’s consular offices in the United States. We are not the Embassy, a consulate or the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
We do not book or sell appointments: booking on consulat.gouv.fr is free. Details are checked against the official pages and can change without notice.