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My father was born to a French woman but adopted shortly after birth by Americans. My father died young, before the expiration of the 50 year restriction mentioned in 30-3 of the civil code. I am only 30 years old. My question is, will this 50 year limit still pertain to my father, even though he died well before 50 years expired?

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Some courts decisions I read when preparing my answer to Will it be possible to get French citizenship? suggests that the 50-year delay is counted from the date you try to get your citizenship recognised. Even if the wording of article 30-3 is slightly different, that's also what article 23-6 suggests.

Under this interpretation, the question becomes “Has your father held ‘possession d'état’ or resided in France in the last fifty years?” and the answer is clearly no, even if he was already dead during some part of that period.

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  • Thank for this very informed response. Would it make any difference if my natural grandmother still lives in France?
    – Emmanuel
    Commented Apr 13, 2017 at 13:48
  • The reason I ask is because 23(6) states that my father would have lost citizenship only if the parent from whom he acquired french nationality had no residence in France for half a century.
    – Emmanuel
    Commented Apr 13, 2017 at 13:58
  • Also, does this answer my original question: assemblee-afe.fr/deces-de-l-ascendant-avant-ses-50.html? Here it says that for a parent who died before the 50 years, the time is counted, for the children, from the date of the ascendant's death. Can anyone confirm this?
    – Emmanuel
    Commented Apr 13, 2017 at 16:22
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    @Emmanuel The question is almost identical but unfortunately the answer is not very helpful. The language is very guarded “il semble que” and the last paragraph basically says that only the courts can decide.
    – Gala
    Commented Apr 14, 2017 at 22:31
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    @Emmanuel To be honest, I just recall reading about this, perhaps from second-hand sources. Unfortunately, I didn't keep any reference, sorry... As far as I remember, they did not deal with a situation where the French citizen died before reaching the age of 50.
    – Gala
    Commented Apr 15, 2017 at 8:12

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