Cette fois, ça y est ! Vous avez pris date avec l'entreprise de déménagement et vous commencez à faire vos cartons. Vous devez également vous acquitter d'un certain nombre de formalités administratives.

1 month before you move...
Administrative paperwork
You have to inform various state agencies about your change of address. Remember to send letters to:
- Your family allowance office (Caisse d'Allocations Familiales)
- Your national health insurance office (Caisse Primaire d'Assurance Maladie)
- Your supplementary health insurance company
- Your pension fund

Don’t forget the children!
The city hall (mairie) where your new home is located will give you the addresses of childcare facilities, schools and universities, which you will need to contact directly to register your children.

20 days before you move...
Contact your insurance company
Contact your insurance broker to check the following points:
- Home insurance: You need to cancel the policy for your former home and insure your new home. Remember that you might need to reassess the value of the property you want covered.
- Auto insurance: You need to report any changes in the use of your car (private or business) related to your move (leaving the car in a garage or parking lot, for example).
- Special moving insurance: If you’re asking friends to help you move, check with your insurer about specific risks you should be aware of. Will your insurer handle any claims against the mover or storage company if your furniture or home is damaged? Will the insurance company resolve any problems you have with the moving or storage company, or vehicle rental company?

10 days before you move...
You need to contact the following utilities to tell them that you are moving and the dates you want service to be cut off at one address and started at the new one:
- Gas and Electricity : schedule an appointment with EDF-GDF Services
- Water (if you live in a house) : schedule an appointment with your water company so they can come and cut off the water
- Telephone : You can contact France Telecom by dialing 14

Don’t forget to contact your landlord to schedule a walk-through of your current home. Ideally, this should be done once the apartment or house is empty.

Change of address notification:
Notify all businesses, people or organizations that regularly send you mail of your change of address. For a fee, the French post office will automatically forward your mail for one year.

One last detail... Make plans to hand over the keys to your old home and get the keys to the new one. Moving will be easier if you make several sets of keys to your new home.

Finally, it’s moving day!
Don’t leave anything to chance, starting with the keys to your new home. If you’re using a moving company, you’ll want to supervise the movers. Don’t sign the delivery receipt until carefully checking everything with the crew supervisor.