If you don’t sign everything is paralysed, nothing will happen at all in terms of sorting out the succession, so you will probably end up being prosecuted for not engaging in the process.
The Notaire can Rachael. Do you have a friend who speaks French who can either phone or write to the Notaire asking that question? If not perhaps someone here could knock up a quick email for you that you could send to the Notaire.
Catharine has already given you excellent advice. Contact @Guillaume_Barlet-Bat without delay.
cheers
This might explain some of the processes… but @Guillaume_Barlet-Bat will be able to give you best advice.
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Clearly you are in a difficult position Rachael. Have you considered asking the notaire to send you the documents by e-mail so that they can then be run through an online translator such as www.deepl.com to at least give you an idea as to what they are about. The answer to the question of what will happen if you don’t sign, may well be contained within the documents or their covering letter.
Obviously an online translation can’t be totally relied upon, but at least it may give you a clue as to which of the papers it may be a good idea to have professionally translated.
From what they have said they have already received a 40 pages long document in French !
People on here have advised to have the pages translated professionally, however its a costly process and they don’t have the money to do that.
It could be that there is a heritage coming to them, it could also mean that there are debts to be paid on their father’s estate, if they sign then they could be liable.
Stella and Catharine , two ladies with a great deal of experience, have already suggested that they contact Guillaume, a member of SF who is a professional in this field and very experienced.
At the end of the day, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink !
They have to make a choice, but sooner rather than later !
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Theres 40 odd pages to translate that’s the thing 
Rachel, I’ve been living in France for two years and my French isn’t up to translating official documents. However, Google Translate has been greatly improved lately and I have found it to be invaluable for this sort of thing. It will take a while to work through a 40-page dossier because you can only cut & paste from something online, and for a paper document you will obviously need to type it into the translator - but that’s what I would do in the first instance. You will then be able to home-in on anything that needs further translation done professionally but you will certainly get the gist of what is written and possibly more than that. Give it a try, it costs nothing and at least you will find out what it says about the consequences of not signing. Good luck.
It won’t say anything about the consequences of not signing, it will outline the family situation of the deceased person, who is what in relation to him, it will say what the estate is, what its assets and liabilities may be, what may or may not already have been taken out of the estate as a donation entre vifs, now who gets what under what circumstances, etc etc
The consequences of not signing are that nothing will happen and that the other people affected by the treatment of the succession will get cross and start legal proceedings to get things moving. That’s what usually happens.
“Now is there anyone that can my question?”
Have you contacted @Guillaume_Barlet-Bat yet?
Because he WILL be able to answer your question… he is excellent. 
One idea might be to look up the language department at your nearest university and post a notice asking for help from someone there to give you a rough idea of the contents of the document for a modest reward. That could point to pages that would be worth getting professionally translated.
Only they are all on holiday at the moment
True, but often university readers and junior lecturers pop in and out during the summer…it’s not France after all!
Oh yes, we had a long vac term - there might be people around and not just in party mode. That said I don’t know if all universities have a long vac term.
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Dear Rachael,
Please accept my apologies for the belated reply as I was away on holiday.
I confirm that we could schedule a free preliminary telephone call or meeting (depending on where you are geographically) to discuss your matter and determine if/how we may be able to assist.
In the first instance, please contact my assistant Caroline (caroline.giese@cubismlaw.com) to organise a meeting/call at a convenient time for you.
I look forward to meeting/speaking to you.
Kind regards,
Guillaume
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