A monument of suffering, misery and loneliness, which passes too quickly: that’s how I see life (Woody Allen).
Funeral expense insurance: a monument of criticism, without convincing improvements
France records nearly 640,000 deaths each year. The peak of deaths is on January 3; August 8 is the day with the fewest deaths (INSEE, October 30, 2024). The life expectancy of French people at birth has reached unprecedented levels: 85.7 years for women and 80 years for men (INSEE, 2023; respectively, 69.2 years and 63.4 years, in 1950) . The average cost of a complete funeral service would hover around €5,000 (€4,536, Xerfi, 2022).
The “funeral” insurance contract offers to finance funeral expenses. It is generally taken out by a natural person either individually or in the form of a group insurance contract with individual membership. It is based on a “whole life” death insurance guarantee (C. insur., art. L. 132-1 s.), which provides, in the event of the death of the insured, either the payment of a capital to beneficiaries (“capital contract”), or the financing of precisely defined services (“service contract”). These contracts are listed by the Association for the Management of Insurance Risk Information (AGIRA), allowing relatives who carry out this consultation to know of their existence.
Since 2013, capital funeral insurance contracts have provided for the allocation of the contributed capital to the organization and carrying out of the insured’s funeral. If the funeral cost is less than the amount of capital contributed, the difference is paid to the beneficiaries (CGCT, art. L. 2223-33-1).
According to the CCSF study, 5.3 million of these contracts are marketed, covering almost a third (30%) of deaths in France. They bring together 1.8 billion euros in contributions, among 28 billion euros in provident insurance (France insurers, provident insurance in 2023, August 2024).
These “funeral” insurance contracts are the subject of constant and serious criticism. In particular, commentators note the lack of readability of the information communicated to subscribers with a view to signing the contract. In 2010, the Commission on Unfair Clauses gave a list of sixteen unfair clauses to be banned from “funeral” insurance contracts (CCA, Recomm. No. 10-02, June 25, 2010, Dalloz Actualité, July 1, 2010, obs. .
The DGCCRF controls them in progressive doses. In October 2024, an investigation by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) showed that a third (i.e. 23) of the sample of controlled distributors (69 controls: 33 funeral professionals , 14 insurers or mutual societies, 8 brokers and 14 bank agencies) presented non-compliances (DGCCRF, Oct. 21, 2024). These controls recall the coexistence of two types of compensation: either the sole financing of funerals, or their financing and organization. Some of these contracts therefore do not cover…
