Title III: Rules relating to life insurance and capitalisation operations

When guardianship has been opened in respect of the stipulator, the subscription or surrender of a life insurance contract and the designation or substitution of the beneficiary may only be carried out with the authorisation of the guardianship judge or the family council if it has been constituted. After the opening of a guardianship, these same acts may only be carried out with the assistance of the guardian. By way…

To ensure the security of the parties and the clarity of the contract, life insurance contracts and capitalisation contracts must include clauses defining the purpose of the contract and the respective obligations of the parties, in accordance with the terms set out in a decree issued by the Conseil d’Etat. The contract specifies the conditions for the allocation of technical and financial profits. Insurance contracts with surrender values and life…

Any natural person who has signed an application or a life insurance or capitalisation contract may cancel it by registered letter or by electronic registered mail, with acknowledgement of receipt, within a period of thirty calendar days from the date on which they are informed that the contract has been concluded. This period expires at midnight on the last day. If it expires on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday,…

Before a life insurance or capitalisation contract is taken out by an individual, the insurer must provide the individual with an information note, in return for a receipt, setting out the conditions for exercising the waiver option and the essential provisions of the contract. A decree sets out the information that must be included in this note, particularly with regard to unit-linked policies. However, in the case of insurance or…

For group life insurance contracts mentioned in article L. 141-1 with surrender or transfer values, where the relationship between the subscriber and the policyholder does not make membership of the contract compulsory, the information sheet provided by the policyholder includes, in addition to the information mentioned in the second paragraph of article L. 141-4, that contained in the memorandum mentioned in article L. 132-5-2. The box mentioned in the first…

A life insurance policy cannot be either to order or bearer.

Insurance in the event of death is void if the insured voluntarily commits suicide during the first year of the contract. Insurance in the event of death must cover the risk of suicide from the second year of the contract. In the event of an increase in cover during the term of the contract, the risk of suicide, for additional cover, is covered from the second year following this increase….

The guaranteed capital or annuity may be payable on the death of the insured to one or more specified beneficiaries. A stipulation is considered to have been made for the benefit of specific beneficiaries if it allocates the benefit of the insurance to one or more persons who, without being named, are sufficiently defined in the stipulation to be able to be identified when the guaranteed capital or annuity becomes…

I.-Subject to the provisions of the last paragraph of article L. 132-4-1, the stipulation by virtue of which the benefit of the insurance is allocated to a specific beneficiary becomes irrevocable by the beneficiary’s acceptance, made under the conditions set out in II of this article. During the term of the contract, once the beneficiary has been accepted, the stipulator may not exercise his right to surrender and the insurance…

The contract includes information on the consequences of designating the beneficiary or beneficiaries and on the terms and conditions of this designation. It specifies that the beneficiary clause may be set out in a private document or in an authenticated deed.