How to know the amount of life insurance for your benefit? Before getting to the heart of the matter, discover the subtleties of a life insurance contract in terms of minimum amount and maximum amount. And then follow our advice to complete the formalities and obtain the amounts due.
Summary
Life insurance : is there a minimum amount?
Whatever the nature of your contract (funds in euros or multi-support), you have financial duties towards your organization (insurance, bank, mutualist). Of course, these duties are indicated to you when you take out your life insurance policy. Among other things, these are the amounts required and the frequency with which you fund your life insurance.
Know that there is different contracts : single-premium life insurance policies, contracts with free or programmed regular payments, or for life.
In the case of a free payment contract, you will have a minimum amount to pay depending on the organization. For an entry into life insurance, the insurance company or the bank may ask you to pay the sum of 1500 euros as well as a monthly premium of 50 euros per month minimum. However, note that there is no rule in this matter. Indeed, the Insurance Code does not stipulate any minimum amount of life insurance.
Therefore, banks and insurance companies offer the subscriber a product that corresponds to him in terms of financial capacity and investment.
Read also >> The different management options in life insurance
Life insurance amount: what is the maximum amount?
Again, there is no law that limits the ceiling of a life insurance policy, unlike other investments such as the Livret A.
Nevertheless, some life insurance contracts are limited by an amount. You should contact your bank advisor or insurer to find out the limit amount. This professional will inform you of the terms and conditions in force.
Be aware, however, that it is advisable to opt for a contract with a Minimum Guaranteed Rate (TMG) in order to protect yourself against any risk. The other option is to select your investment very well taking into account past performance. Finally, also think about diversifying your investments in order to limit the financial risk.
Know the amount of life insurance: how to do ?
You can know the outstanding, that is to say the capital and interest of life insurance. To do this, you must contact your bank advisor or your insurer. This professional will draw up a precise inventory of your current financial situation. This process will be very easy for him if you have invested in a fund in euros. On the other hand, in the case of multi-support, the banker or the insurer will tell you your latent capital gain or your latent loss.
Advice: to monitor the amount of your life insurance as well as possible, only take out a life insurance contract with a competent person, whether it is an insurer or a bank adviser. On the other hand, professionals such as insurance experts, brokers or wealth managers can help you understand all the intricacies of your life insurance contract.
How do you know if you have life insurance? Approaches
Perhaps you want to know the amount of life insurance and think you are the beneficiary (an old uncle, for example, who left you a capital). In this case, there are formalities to be completed.
Immediately after death
In fact, the banker or the insurer who has knowledge of the death of a client informs the beneficiaries of the contract. However, you can contact the professional in order to speed up the process, if you ever become aware of a life insurance contract for your benefit.
On the other hand, your notary can absolutely consult the Ficovie to find out if you are the beneficiary of life insurance. This is a file listing all life insurance contracts over 7,500 euros.
If the death took place less than 10 years ago
The other possibility is to get in touch with the Agira (Association for the management of information on risk in insurance). However, to accomplish this process, the subscriber of the contract must have been deceased for less than 10 years.
Agira centralizes the customer databases of all French insurers. Send a letter to the association enclosing a death certificate of the loved one as well as their contact details.
Within 15 days of your letter, Agira will send your request to the various insurers. The latter then have a minus to inform the beneficiary of the existence of a contract for his benefit.
For more than 10 years
Also note that you can do an online search on the Ciclade website if the loved one has been deceased for more than 10 years. In this case, the funds were transferred to the Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC).
You will then be asked for certain information such as the surname and first name of the deceased, their date of birth, their nationality and their date of death. As soon as a match has been found, the service makes it possible to obtain payment of the sums due.
30 years later
Finally, after 30 years, the unclaimed capital is recovered by the State and paid into the Pension Reserve Fund. You can no longer get it back.
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Beneficiary of life insurance: how to recover the capital?
Are you the beneficiary of a life insurance contract? For the capital to be returned to you, you must take steps.
The first solution consists in appointing the notary in charge of the succession. In particular, he can obtain the restitution of the sums transferred to the Caisse des dépôts.
In the absence of a notary, the second solution is to carry out the formalities yourself. To do this, you must provide the insurer with the death certificate of the insured as well as your proof of identity.
If, as beneficiary, you have been designated by your quality and not your identity, you will also have to justify this title (eg: deed of filiation, family record book, certificate of cohabitation, proof of will, etc.).
You will also need to provide the RIB/IBAN of an account in your name to collect the amount of life insurance.
Finally, some insurance companies and banks require the original copy of the life insurance contract. However, the bank or company is required to keep a copy of the document. In this sense, it is not a real condition for payment.
To know : the taxation of sums transmitted on death differs according to the age at which the holder made his payments and the overall amount transmitted.
On the same subject >> Taxation of life insurance
