Oversight
Tracking progress on a succession dossier
The dossier reads as a calendar in 5 phases. Uploading the expected document ticks the milestone with no click, and the tax deadline is computed the way the tax authority computes it.
- 5 phases
- opening, inventory, valuation, filing, closing
- 60 milestones
- 33 of them ticked by simply uploading a document
- Last day of month 6
- the deadline of article 641 of the tax code, not six months to the day
How it works
- 01The dossier opens onto its 5 phases
- 02Each document received ticks the matching milestone
- 03The deadline and the due follow-ups surface on their own
A dossier that reads as a calendar, not as a task list
5 phases, in the order the work actually happens: opening the dossier, taking stock of the estate, valuation, filing and settlement, closing and distribution. Sixty items are tracked across them, between documents to obtain, deeds to draw up and letters to send.
The phase answers the question people ask in a meeting: where is this dossier. A task list ticked at 60 % does not say, because not every task carries the same weight. A dossier in its valuation phase places itself immediately.
- 60 items
- 33 documents to obtain, 21 deeds and 6 letters
- Fitted to the dossier
- marriage contract, will or civil partnership appear only if they exist
An uploaded document ticks its item, with no click
33 of the 60 items are documents, and they tick themselves when the document arrives. Upload the death certificate and the death certificate is ticked. Nobody keeps the same inventory twice, once in the dossier and once in a spreadsheet.
Tracking kept on the side
- One spreadsheet per practice, sometimes one per person.
- A state of the dossier that was true at the last entry.
- Two sources that contradict each other, with no way to know which to trust.
- A dossier picked up by a colleague who redoes the inventory.
Tracking kept by the dossier
- The uploaded document ticks the matching item.
- What is displayed is the state of the documents actually on file.
- One source, the one everybody looks at.
- Picking up a dossier starts from a readable status.
The tax deadline follows the authority's own rule
Article 641 of the French tax code gives six months to file the return, and that period runs from date to date: the day of death does not count, the last day of the period does. For a death on 15 January you have until 15 July.
Two further rules settle the actual date. When the death falls on the last day of a month, the deadline is the last day of the closing month: a death on 30 November gives 31 May. And a deadline landing on a Sunday or a public holiday moves to the next working day. The period extends to twelve months for a death outside mainland France.
What needs action appears without you looking for it
Three things bring a dossier back without anyone reopening it: a request with no reply past its delay, a deadline approaching, and a dossier where nothing moves any more. They disappear on their own once the cause is gone.
- Who is told?
- The colleague responsible for the dossier, and those working on it. Each person chooses after how many days they want to be told a dossier has stopped moving.
- What if I open a dossier without working on it?
- It stays flagged. Looking is not working, and a dossier should not appear active because somebody glanced at it.
Getting started
- 01You open the dossier from the death certificatethe practice
- 02The 5 phases and the 60 items are generatedRegorus
- 03You adjust the follow-up delays if ours do not suitthe practice, once
- 04Each person picks when a dossier feels abandoned to themeach member
The plan is the same for every practice, deliberately: it reproduces the course of settling an estate, which does not vary from one practice to another. What is configurable are the delays, the file naming and the filing labels.
“Regorus simplifies how we investigate and follow up our succession files. Documents are managed in one place, and we save precious time every day.”
Frequently asked
Does the plan adapt to a dossier with no property?
Yes, with nothing to configure. Eight items appear only if the dossier calls for them: title deeds, leases, valuations and cadastral references wait for a property to be recorded, and the surviving spouse's gifts wait for there to be a spouse. A dossier with no property does not carry those lines, and its progress is not penalised for it.
Does Regorus fill in the succession tax return?
No, and that is not our role: the return is drawn up in your deed-drafting software, which we have no intention of competing with. Our work is what comes before, and takes the most time: gathering the documents, getting them to the right place, consolidating assets and debts, and watching the deadline. You reach the return with figures that hold up and their supporting documents, instead of assembling them at that moment.
How exactly is the six-month deadline computed?
From date to date, as article 648 of the French tax code and the tax authority's own doctrine provide: the day of death does not count, the last day of the period does, and a death on 15 January gives a deadline of 15 July. Two adjustments follow: a death on the last day of a month gives the last day of the closing month, and a deadline falling on a Sunday or public holiday moves to the next working day. It extends to twelve months for a death outside mainland France. Regorus shows the full calculation for each dossier, and the notaire validates the date.
What happens to a dossier nobody works on any more?
It is flagged to you after the delay you chose for yourself. Simply opening it does not remove it from that list: looking at a dossier is not working on it.
Is a closed dossier kept indefinitely?
No. Each practice sets a retention period, ten years by default, adjustable from one to twenty. The countdown starts at the closing date and never at the opening, and reopening a dossier cancels the scheduled deletion.
Answer « where is this dossier » without opening it.
5 phases, 60 milestones, 33 of them ticked by an incoming document, and a deadline computed from date to date, validated by the practice. What is displayed is what the documents actually show.
See also
- Devolution and peopleTen kinds of relationship, four capacities under a will, legal entities: every beneficiary is qualified, and statutory devolution is proposed to you.
- Estate consolidationEvery document received updates the totals, and the entries on a mortgage register are compared with the debts already recorded.