French Insurance Code

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.

Any natural or legal person may request by letter or any other durable medium from one or more representative professional bodies, authorised for this purpose by order of the Minister for the Economy, to be informed of the existence of a stipulation made for their benefit in a policy taken out by a natural person for whom they provide proof of death by any means. Within fifteen days of receipt…

I. – The insurance companies mentioned in 1° of article L. 310-1 of the present code as well as the provident institutions and unions governed by Title III of Book IX of the Social Security Code inform each other, at least once a year, under the conditions set out in II of the present article, of the possible death of the insured. II – The professional bodies referred to in…

Each year, the insurance undertakings, provident institutions and associations referred to in I of article L. 132-9-3 publish the number and outstanding value of unpaid contracts, each in respect of its own business. They shall specify the steps taken, the number of searches and the number and outstanding value of the corresponding contracts that they have carried out during the year in application of articles L. 132-9-2 and L. 132-9-3,…

Each year, the professional bodies mentioned in article L. 132-9-2 publish a report on the application of articles L. 132-9-2 and L. 132-9-3, which includes the number and outstanding amount of life insurance policies taken out with their members, meeting the criteria set by order of the Minister for the Economy, for which the capital or annuities due have not been paid to the beneficiary.

Each year, insurance companies offering life insurance policies with benefits linked to the cessation of professional activity inform policyholders who have exceeded the settlement date of their pension under a compulsory old-age insurance scheme or, failing that, the date referred to in article L. 161-17-2 of the Social Security Code, of the possibility of settling benefits under the policy. Each year, they draw up a report for the Autorité de…