Looking for your father’s birth record or your grandparents’ marriage record in France, and the online archives stop decades too early? That is normal: recent French civil records are not open to everyone. Here is what the law says, who can still obtain a copy, and how to request one.
The 75-year rule
The French Heritage Code sets a waiting period before civil registers become open to the public (article L213-2, in French):
- Birth and marriage registers: 75 years after the register is closed, that is, after the end of the register’s year.
- Death registers: not subject to this waiting period.
In practice, a 1950 birth register, closed at the end of 1950, opens to the public 75 years later. This is why the registers that archives put online stop at an earlier date: for anything more recent, you need another route.
Who can request a copy of a recent record?
Even before 75 years, some people can obtain a full copy (« copie intégrale », the complete record with all its annotations) or an extract with parentage (« extrait avec filiation », a summary that names the parents). According to the French government website Service-Public, for a birth record this means:
- the person named in the record, if an adult, or their legal representative;
- their spouse or civil partner;
- their ascendants: parents, grandparents…;
- their descendants: children, grandchildren…;
- some professionals authorised by law, such as a lawyer acting for a client.
Brothers, aunts, nephews and cousins are not on this list: they have to wait until the period ends. Anyone, however, can obtain an extract without parentage, which does not name the parents.
If you descend directly from the person, you are usually entitled to ask yourself, even from abroad.
How to make the request
- Find the exact town where the record was registered. In Moselle, watch out for towns that merged or changed names, and for the German names used in 1871–1918 and 1940–1944.
- Contact that town hall (« mairie »): online where the town offers the service, or by post with a simple letter.
- State your relationship to the person (grandson, daughter…), their full name and the date of the record.
The request is free. Be wary of websites that charge for it: Service-Public itself warns against them.
Preparing a citizenship-by-descent application? See Moselle records for citizenship by descent.
Not sure where to start?
This is often where things get stuck: an uncertain town, a misspelt name, a family displaced in 1940. I can help you work out where the record was registered, starting from the older records that are already open, then tell you which town hall to write to and how to word your request. You, as a descendant, will then request the copy yourself.