Death of the insured: recovering the capital from a assurance-vie policy

If you believe you are the beneficiary of a assurance-vie policy but don't know the insurer, the official procedure is to ask AGIRA to search for the deceased's policies. This service is free, and anyone can submit a request along with the policyholder's death certificate. AGIRA will notify the insurers within 15 days. If you are named as the beneficiary, the insurer has one month to inform you and then one month to make the payment after receiving the necessary documents.

This page deals with the search for and recovery of capital. It does not list the documents that each insurer requires, does not address the situation of non-resident beneficiaries, and refers to another page for details on taxation.

Where to start

If you don't know which insurer the deceased had a policy with, the next step is to contact AGIRA, as described below. This search is only possible after the death of the policyholder: this is the person who took out the policy with the insurer.

Research at AGIRA

AGIRA searches for the assurance-vie policies of a deceased person. Service-public specifies that it is competent to do so for a death that has been known for less than 10 years.

What the process requires:

• the subscriber's death certificate; ;
• an identity document and the current postal address of the person likely to be a beneficiary; ;
• an email address, for the online application.

How to submit it: Online, via the "Agira VIE" service accessible from service-public.fr, in three steps (fill out the form, attach the death certificate, send). If you do not have internet access, you can submit your request by mail. We are not reproducing the postal address: two official pages do not give the same one; please use the correct address from the online service.

What is free: The request. Three official pages state this, including economie.gouv.fr: the costs of searching for beneficiaries cannot be charged to you.

The schedule following your request

Two practical rules, according to service-public:

• the insurer only contacts the beneficiary, not the person who did the search (form F15269); ;
• AGIRA does not communicate the progress of the request (form R50819).

The interest on late payment of the death benefit is not the same as that on redemption: the rules for a redemption request are separate and can be found on the public service fact sheet "Assurance-vie contract: how it works".

What insurers must do for themselves

The law of June 13, 2014 (law no. 2014-617, known as the Eckert law) imposes three obligations on insurers:

• inform the contract holders each year; ;
• to query the national register of identification of natural persons each year, in order to locate deceased insured persons; ;
• to search by all means for the beneficiaries of unsettled contracts, in the event of death.

Another channel exists for inheritance matters. The notary can consult Ficovie, a database of the tax authorities. This is done only upon written request from the heirs.

After 10 years with the insurer: Caisse des dépôts and Ciclade

The insurer retains unclaimed funds for 10 years from the date it became aware of the death. Six months before the expiry date, it must inform the beneficiaries of the upcoming transfer. It then pays the funds to the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (French Deposits and Consignments Fund).

To search for them, the Ciclade website is the official tool. Its limitation is clear: "Ciclade only lists sums already transferred to the Caisse des Dépôts." For a contract whose death is more recent, you should first search with AGIRA.

The process on Ciclade involves four steps:

1. a search with the maximum amount of information on the deceased (name, first names, date and place of birth, last known address); ;
2. if the result is positive, the creation of a personal space; ;
3. a request for restitution; ;
4. The application will be processed, and then a bank transfer will be made if the application is accepted.

Economie.gouv.fr indicates that consulting Ciclade is free.

For assurance-vie contracts, the French government's public service website states that the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) holds the funds for 20 years from the date of transfer. After this period, they revert to the State and cannot be recovered. We do not add these periods together in a single total. Check the applicable period on the government service website before waiting.

When the capital is not paid out

Service-public lists several situations where death does not lead to the expected payment:

• Suicide during the first year of the contract. The death benefit is not paid out. If the contract has a surrender value, the accumulated savings are paid out.
• Convicted beneficiary for having intentionally caused the death of the insured or the policyholder. He can no longer benefit from the contract.
• No identifiable beneficiary. The capital is not transferred through the assurance-vie scheme and reverts to the ordinary estate.

The clause can also provide for representation in the event of predecease or renunciation. In the latter case, the beneficiary can renounce the beneficiary so that their heirs receive the capital. Drafting the clause is done while the insured is still alive: see our page on beneficiary clauses.

The deadlines for action

Don't confuse two concepts. The 10-year retention period by the insurer is one thing. The statute of limitations, which limits the time allowed to take legal action, is another.

Taxation in brief

The page "Article 990 I or 757 B" details the rules. The key points, in the administration's version updated on 22/07/2026:

• for premiums paid before the insured person turns 70, on contracts taken out since 13/10/1998: allowance of €152,500 per beneficiary; the portion beyond is taxed at 20% from €152,500 to €700,000 and at 31.25% above (formulation from impots.gouv.fr); ;
• for premiums paid after the insured person turns 70 (contracts taken out from 20/11/1991): inheritance tax, with an overall allowance of €30,500; ;
• The spouse or civil partner is exempt.

For premiums paid after age 70, the beneficiary files a partial inheritance tax return, form 2705-A. They must file one form per insurance company with the tax office in the deceased's place of residence. The deadline is generally six months after the death in metropolitan France, and late filing may result in penalties. The form is returned to the beneficiary, who then presents it to the insurer.

Numerical example (fictitious profile)

Situation. A fictional daughter learns of her mother's death. She knows her mother had savings, but doesn't know if a assurance-vie policy existed. She files a claim with AGIRA on March 1st, along with the death certificate. A assurance-vie policy worth €450,000, taken out after October 13, 1998, is found: she is the sole beneficiary. All premiums were paid before her mother turned 70. She is a resident of France.

Issue. She doesn't know the insurer or the schedule, and wonders if the money will be available before the summer.

Strategy. Follow the deadlines outlined in the official information sheet. AGIRA transmits the information no later than March 16th. The insurer informs the beneficiary no later than April 16th. The beneficiary submits their documents by April 30th. The insurer then makes the payment no later than May 30th.

Result. In this scenario, a maximum of 90 days separate the application from the payment. The taxable portion is €450,000 − €152,500 = €297,500. The 20% tax rate applied to this portion results in €59,500. After this taxation, €390,500 of capital remains.

Hypothetical scenario: capital of €450,000, contract taken out after October 13, 1998, single beneficiary, premiums paid before age 70, residence in France, application filed on March 1, receipt by the insurer of the AGIRA application on the day of its transmission, documents submitted on April 30. These dates are chosen for the sake of example: a later receipt or a longer document submission period will postpone the deadlines accordingly.

What changes depending on your situation

• The beneficiary clause. It designates who receives the capital; without an identifiable beneficiary, the capital reverts to the ordinary estate.
• The insured's age at each payment and the subscription date. They distribute the contract between the tax regimes.
• The age of death. For less than 10 years, AGIRA and the insurer; beyond that, the Caisse des dépôts.
• The residence of the beneficiaries and the insured. It can change the tax regime; this point is not addressed here.
• The reason for a possible non-payment. Suicide in the first year, convicted beneficiary, absence of beneficiary: each case is treated separately.

These points should be examined on a case-by-case basis. No general rule replaces reading your contract and the relevant clause.