How to get PACSed / Se pacser

Posted by Melissa on

First of all: What is a PACS? A PACS is a pacte civil de solidarité, which basically means an administrative civil union. It was originally created before same-sex marriage was legal in France so same-sex couples could have some legal rights, but statistically more heterosexual couples get pacsed each year. There is no ceremony, and it can be annulled by one of the two parties fairly easily, but its advantages include the right to the visa/carte de séjour vie privée familiale (if you’ve been living together for at least a year) and tax benefits if your SO or conjoint makes significantly more or less than you do, among other things. Symbolically, for some people this replaces marriage, for others it’s a step in their relationship before something more serious.

Step One: You assemble the file.

The French partner must:

  • Order a new birth certificate from the city where they were born. This is free and takes about five days to receive and is valid for three months.
  • They will also need to make a copy of their passport or ID card and the original must be brought when dropping off the file.

For both the French partner and the non-French partner you must fill out a

For the non-French partner you must:

  • Order a new birth certificate. In my situation, as an American from Washington state, I could order this online but in order to get the apostille from the Washington Secretary of State (which must be done at the same time as the order of the birth certificate as they will either be stamped at the same time or physically connected) I had to call the Washington State Department of Health. Every state and country is different so you will have to look into whether or not you need an apostille and how to get it but as an American you will need one. The cost for the birth certificate plus the apostille was about $45 with regular shipping and about double for UPS Worldwide Expedited, which took a little under a week to receive.
  • Get the new birth certificate plus the apostille translated by an official translator in France, un traducteur assermenté, and be sure that they stamp the original (not a copy) version of your new birth certificate and apostille in your native language. This costs around 70€ and takes about four business days.
  • Make a copy of your passport, and the passport itself must also be presented when dropping off the file.
  • Fill out a certificat de coutume, and get it notarized at your local embassy. This is a document that proves that you are not currently married by your country’s laws. In my situation the next available appointment was three weeks out and cost $50.
  • Email the Service Central d’État Civil du Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires Étrangères for a document that proves that you are not currently pacsed and if you have lived in France for more than a year then you must also ask that this document proves the “la non inscription au répertoire civil, la non inscription au répertoire civil annexe.” In my email to pacs.scec@diplomatie.gouv.fr I included these two forms filled out along with a copy of my passport and an older version of a translation of my birth certificate just to be safe. This took about a week to receive in the mail and was free. 

Step Two: You drop off the file.

Once all these documents are printed, filled out, and collected, one of the two members (with both partners passports/ID’s) can drop off the file at their local city hall, and in Paris this was at our arrondissement‘s mairie. They will verify that all the documents are there and correctly filled out and then you are free to go. Within 30 minutes to 48 hours they will send you an official email notifying you of the deposit of the file and a link in order to make your appointment for the PACS to take place. If we had wanted to there was availability two days after the file was turned in.

Step Three: Get pacsed.

On the day of the registration of the PACS, both partners must go to the mairie with the same forms of identification they presented before. The person at the city hall will read over some of the basic information to make sure it’s correct, tap some things into the computer, then fill out some of the paperwork in your file left for the administration, sign, and stamp it. They will give you back your convention de Pacs, this is now signed, stamped, and embossed, along with a Récépissé de l’enregistrement de la déclaration conjointe des PACS, which can be used as a justicatif for your four days off of work (for example). About a month after the PACS you can then send a new email to the Service Central d’État Civil asking for proof of being pacsed along with the French partner being able to ask for a new birth certificate from the city they were born which will now note that they are pacsed.

I was very nervous the process would take much longer than it did. In total it took a month, but this can depend on a multitude of factors. I would strongly recommend ordering the foreign birth certificate (and apostille) along with making the appointment at the embassy first, as these take the most time. Despite making a few mistakes along the way of putting the dossier together, AKA not understanding what an apostille was at all, along with a rookie mistake of getting stamps on a copy and not an original, the actual D-day (or Jour-J) was really simple and honestly rather uneventful. Afterwards we celebrated with lunch out, a bottle of champagne at the apartment, and then three days in the Haute-Garonne (Toulouse, Albi, Cordes-sur-Ciel, Lac de Saint-Ferréol).

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