Product Specification#

Status: Draft, 2026-08-26 (all cited sources accessed 2026-08-26).

Scope note. This is a standardized composite specification assembled for reference liability cash-flow modeling of a French assurance temporaire décès — the standalone term life contract that pays a capital décès (death lump sum) if the insured dies inside the cover period and pays nothing otherwise. It does not describe any single insurer’s product. Facts carrying a source tag — [S#] (primary product documents: notices d’information, conditions générales, notes d’information, IPID and insurer product pages) and [R#] (regulatory/actuarial references), both numbered per _research/temporaire-deces.md and resolved in sources.md (same directory; numbering frozen, never renumbered), and [REG-R#] (the cross-product reference library references/regulatory-and-actuarial-references.md, whose own R-numbering is distinct) — were extracted from the cited document. Values marked std are standardizations introduced for the reference implementation; each std table row carries a numbered footnote giving the rationale and, where the research file recorded one, the observed range across insurers. Facts the research file could not verify are flagged unverified. The composite is drawn from eight retrieved carriers: seven contractual documents — two mutual group contracts [S1] [S2], one individual contract with a published attained-age rate card [S3] [S4] [S5], one mutual group contract with published underwriting thresholds [S6], one stock-company group contract [S7], one bancassurance IPID [S8] and one Code de la mutualité contract [S9] — plus an eighth carrier evidenced only by its product page [S10], which is the eighth column of the research file’s variations table. Where this document counts to “eight”, it counts those eight carriers, one of which is a web page rather than a contract. Two further insurer pages [S11] [S12] and three secondary guides [S13] [S15] [S16] are used for context only. Assurance emprunteur (ADE, borrower’s cover attached to a loan) is a separate frlib product (products/assurance_emprunteur/) and is referenced only where French law or French actuarial practice treats the two differently.

Product overview and market role#

A French assurance temporaire décès is life assurance business — branche 20 (vie-décès) of art. R. 321-1 of the Code des assurances — not accident business, even though it pays only on death [S1] [S3] [S7]. It is pure protection: a cotisation (premium) buys a capital décès for the cover period, with no savings element, no account value, no valeur de rachat (surrender value) and no valeur de réduction (paid-up value). If the insured survives, “les cotisations versées restent acquises à l’assureur” — the contract is fonds perdu [S5] [S11] [S15] [S16]. That is not a commercial choice: art. L. 132-23 alinéa 1 provides that “les assurances temporaires en cas de décès … ne peuvent comporter ni réduction ni rachat”, and the prohibition binds the insurer’s ability to offer the feature, not merely the policyholder’s ability to demand it R3.

Three features make the French chassis different from its UK and US siblings, and each of them changes the shape of the projected cash flows:

The cotisation is revised each year with attained age. Seven of the eight retrieved carriers price on an annually revisable attained-age basis [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S9] [S10]; the eighth, a bancassurance IPID, states no premium basis at all [S8], so nothing in the corpus contradicts it. The dominant legal form is a one-year contract renewed by tacite reconduction (automatic renewal) [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S8] [S9] [S13] [S15], and the tariff is recomputed at every renewal from the insured’s attained age. A reader who assumes a level premium by default will build the wrong model.
PTIA is an acceleration, not an extra benefit. Perte totale et irréversible d’autonomie — total and irreversible loss of autonomy — triggers anticipated payment of the same death capital to the insured, and payment extinguishes the death cover [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6]. It is present in every retrieved standalone contract but the mutualité one [S9].
There is no cash value at any duration. No surrender, no reduction, no non-forfeiture mechanism, no tableau de rachat R3 [S5] [S7] [S9].

Contract wrappers vary without changing the economics. The individual form is “un contrat individuel d’assurance décès, d’une durée d’un an, renouvelable par tacite reconduction” [S3]. The group contract with voluntary membership (contrat d’assurance de groupe à adhésion facultative, arts. L. 141-1 ff.) is at least as common — an association subscribes and the member receives a notice d’information which is the contractual reference [S1] [S2] [S6] [S7]. A parallel form under Livre II of the Code de la mutualité behaves identically with shorter procedural timers [S9], and a bancassurance form ties the cover to a bank relationship and terminates it when the account closes [S8].

French assurance prévoyance premiums were 40,3 Md€ in 2025 R21; the split between garanties décès, incapacité-invalidité and dépendance is not published, so there is no sourced figure for the size of the standalone temporaire décès segment R21. For scale, assurance vie premiums ran at €19,3 bn in the single month of June 2026 REG-R49. The comparison French insurers use to size the need is the state benefit: the Sécurité sociale pays a flat capital décès of 3 450 € (amount at 1 April 2018) regardless of the deceased employee’s earnings [S2].

Representative specification#

The representative design is the individual contract of [S3] [S4] — the only retrieved French standalone contract that publishes a complete attained-age rate card, and therefore the only one whose premiums a model can reproduce rather than assume.

Product identity and issue rules#

Parameter	Representative value	Basis
Design type	Annually renewable temporaire décès; branche 20 (vie-décès); non-participating in substance; no cash values	[S3] [S1] [S7] [S9]
Legal wrapper	Individual contract, renewed by tacite reconduction; group adhésion facultative is the equally common alternative	[S3]; [S1] [S2] [S6] [S7]; choice std (1)
Premium form (model-point parameter)	(i) `revisable` — cotisation recomputed each year at attained age; (ii) `constante` — level for the whole cover period	(i) [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S9] [S10]; (ii) std (2)
Benefit shape (model-point parameter)	(i) `constant` — capital constant; (ii) `decreasing` — capital décroissant, out of scope here	(i) [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S8] [S9]; (ii) [S15]; scope std (3)
Lives basis	Single life. No joint-life basis appears in any retrieved French standalone contract	[S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S8] [S9]
Entry ages	18 to 65 (to the day before the 66th birthday)	[S3]; envelope std (4)
Death cover ceases	At the échéance following the 75th birthday	[S3]; envelope std (4)
PTIA cover ceases	At the échéance following the 65th birthday — earlier than the death cover, which is the pattern at five of the eight carriers but not an invariant: one ends both at 85 [S1] and one has no PTIA cover at all [S9]	[S3]; pattern [S2] [S6] [S7] [S8]; exceptions [S1] [S9]
Age basis	Différence de millésime: calendar year of the contract year minus calendar year of birth, irrespective of birth month	[S1] [S2] [S6] [S7]
Sum assured	Minimum 20 000 €; no stated ceiling; 250 000 € under simplified underwriting to age 40	[S3] [S4] [S5]; envelope std (5)
Residence	France or the DROM; not under tutelle nor hospitalised in a psychiatric establishment; one individual death contract per person at the insurer	[S3]
Territorial scope of cover	Worldwide, subject to notification of stays abroad longer than 6 months	[S3]
Anchor model cell	Issue age 58, sum assured 150 000 €, `revisable`, `constant` shape, cover to 75, PTIA to 65, standard rates, annual premium mode	std (6)

Footnotes to std rows:

Wrapper is a legal, not an economic, variable: the individual form [S3] and the group adhésion facultative form [S1] [S2] [S6] [S7] produce identical cash flows. The composite adopts the individual form because the representative rate card [S3] belongs to it, and because the group form adds an association subscription (1,30 € per member per year at one carrier [S1]) and an amendment procedure [S1] [S2] that are wrapper, not liability, mechanics.
No level-premium French standalone contract was found. Every retrieved carrier whose premium basis is stated prices on the attained-age revisable basis — seven of the eight [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S9] [S10], the eighth silent [S8]; the two secondary guides that mention 5-year renewal periods and 10/15/20-year terms [S13] [S16] say nothing about the premium being level, and those multi-year terms are themselves unverified against any insurer document. The level form is confirmed only for assurance emprunteur, where the rate is guaranteed for the loan term R13. The constante form is therefore a std construction, retained because it generates a real provision mathématique R11 R13 and because a UK/US reader will otherwise assume it silently.
Every standalone contract retrieved is capital constant [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S8] [S9]; none offers a decreasing sum insured. Capital décroissant is described as belonging to loan cover [S15], where the industry distinguishes a tariff on capital initial from one on capital restant dû R13. The composite carries benefit_shape as a column driven by an external schedule table, with constant (factor 1.0 at every duration) as the only shipped schedule; the decreasing form belongs to products/assurance_emprunteur/.
Observed entry ages: 18–75 [S1]; 18–67 [S2]; ≤ 65 [S3]; 18–80 [S6]; 18 to under 66 [S8]; 18–84 [S10]; to the day before the 57th birthday [S12]. Observed death-cover cessation: the year of the 85th birthday [S1] [S6] [S7]; 1 April after the 80th [S2]; the échéance after the 75th [S3]; the anniversary after the 70th [S8]; 31 December of the year of the 65th [S9]; 90 [S10]. The composite takes the representative carrier’s own envelope [S3] rather than a mode, because entry age, cessation age and the rate card must be mutually consistent and only [S3] publishes all three.
Observed capital ranges: 10 000 – 2 000 000 € [S1]; 25 000 – 762 000 € [S2]; 20 000 € to no stated ceiling [S3] [S4]; ≤ 200 000 € [S6]; 100 000 – 1 000 000 € [S8]; 6 097,96 – 45 000 € [S9]; ≤ 50 M€ death and ≤ 20 M€ PTIA [S10].
Issue age 58 is chosen so that the entire projection (17 policy years, attained ages 58–74) fits one worked-example table, and so that it straddles both of the product’s distinctive discontinuities: the rate card’s +38 % step from age 59 to age 60 and the cessation of PTIA cover at 65 [S3]. Sum assured 150 000 € is the capital used in the representative carrier’s own published worked example [S3].

Premiums#

Parameter	Representative value	Basis
Premium basis	Cotisation annuelle révisable par âge: recomputed at the effective date and again at every annual renewal from the insured’s attained age	[S1] [S2] [S3] [S4] [S6] [S7] [S9] [S10]
Rate expression	Cotisation = sum assured × the tariff percentage for the attained age: “multiplier le montant du capital que vous choisissez par le tarif en pourcentage … correspondant à votre âge au moment de la souscription, puis au moment de la reconduction annuelle”	[S3]
Published rate card	0,15 % of capital flat for ages 18–34, rising to 4,86 % at age 74 (full grid reproduced in the technical notes)	[S3]; vintage caveat std (7)
Rate at the anchor age	1,05 % at attained age 58 → 1 575,00 € per year on 150 000 €	[S3]
Frequency	Annual in advance is the base case; half-yearly, quarterly and monthly available, normally by SEPA direct debit	[S1] [S2] [S6] [S7] [S8] [S9]
Rating factors	Attained age; sum assured; medical acceptance (surprime); smoker status; occupation tariff group; declared sporting activities. Sex may not be a rating factor for contracts written from 21 December 2012	[S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S10]; unisex R10
Rating multiplier (model-point parameter)	`rating_factor`, applied to the tariff rate; 1.00 at standard rates	mechanics [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6]; value std (8)
Other repricing triggers	Legislative or regulatory change [S1] [S6] [S7]; and, at two carriers only, “l’accroissement de la fréquence et/ou du coût moyen des sinistres” [S1] and “les résultats des garanties Assurance Décès” [S6] — i.e. experience repricing of the whole class	[S1] [S6] [S7], as tagged in the cell
Policyholder remedy on an insurer-decided increase	Terminate within 30 days of learning of it (15 days at one carrier), cover maintained on the old terms until termination takes effect one month later. An increase arising from age, from the index or from a change of law “n’ouvre droit ni à contestation ni à résiliation”	[S1] [S7]
Premium cessation	Premiums stop on death and on recognition of PTIA; they are collected at the latest to the échéance following the death-cover age limit	[S3] [S7]
Age-error rule	Art. L. 132-26: true age outside the contract’s limits → cover void, premiums returned; inside → benefits reduced in proportion to the premium underpaid, or the overpayment refunded	[S7]

The published grid was retrieved from a third-party mirror of a 2019–2021 vintage note d’information; its own internal worked examples are dated 2019 [S3]. The same carrier’s current page quotes 6,29 €/month at age 35 for a capital of 40 000 € [S4] — 0,189 % of capital against the grid’s 0,17 % — so levels have drifted. A second carrier publishes 8,24 €/month in year one for a 40-year-old non-smoker with 50 000 € [S10], 0,198 %, against 0,24 % at age 40 in the grid. Use the grid for shape; treat its levels as a dated data point, not a current rate card. No other insurer in the corpus publishes any rate [S1] [S2] [S6] [S7] [S8] [S9] [S12].
No insurer publishes a surprime scale [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7]. The mechanics are uniformly documented — the offer of reserves is notified by confidential letter naming the condition and/or the amount of the surcotisation, to be returned within 15 days marked “BON POUR ACCORD” [S6] — but no level is public, so rating_factor is a pure model-point input. The only public French price evidence on rated lives is on borrower cover: the average insurance rate for AERAS écrêtement beneficiaries is 1,01 % of initial capital before capping and 0,65 % after REG-R37, which bounds a standard rate from above rather than describing one.

Benefit provisions#

Parameter	Representative value	Basis
Death benefit	The sum assured, from any cause — accident or illness — subject only to the stated exclusions	[S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S9]
PTIA benefit	Anticipated payment of the same capital, to the insured; payment ends the contract	[S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S8]
PTIA definition	Two limbs: (a) unfit to engage in any occupation or activity producing gain or profit, and (b) permanent recourse to the assistance of a third person for the ordinary acts of daily life (“se laver, se vêtir, se nourrir, se déplacer”). Recognition requires consolidation	[S1] [S3] [S6] [S7]
Death/PTIA interlock	The two benefits cannot be cumulated; the PTIA capital is due only if the insured is alive on the day of payment, failing which the death cover operates instead	[S1] [S2]
Suicide	Not covered in the first year of the contract; covered from the second year; the clock restarts on any increase, for the increment only	R1; implemented at [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S8] [S9] [S10]
Immediate suicide cover	The alinéa 4 exception (immediate cover, ceiling not below 120 000 €) reaches only art. L. 141-1 group contracts securing a loan on the insured’s principal residence — it does not reach a standalone temporaire décès	R1 R2
Aide à mourir	From 20 August 2026, death cover applies to death resulting from the aide à mourir under art. L. 1111-12-1 of the Code de la santé publique. No retrieved product document reflects this yet	R1; administration unverified
Settlement timing	Within one month of the complete file at the representative carrier; 15 days at one carrier, one month at another; the statutory clock is 15 days to request documents and one month to pay from the complete file	[S3]; [S1] [S9]; REG-R31
Avance on the capital	4 000 € to the spouse or PACS partner within 48 h; 4 000 €, 5 000 € and 10 % capped at 10 000 € observed elsewhere	[S3]; [S2] [S6] [S8]; not modeled std (9)
Post-death revalorisation	The capital is uprated from death until the file is complete or the sum is deposited at the Caisse des dépôts, at a rate not below the art. R. 132-3-1 floor	[S1] [S2] [S3] [S6]; REG-R39
Payout modes	Capital; conversion of all or part into a rente using the table and technical rate in force at the date of conversion; a versement mixte famille matrix by beneficiary type	[S3]
Annuity conversion charge	3 % of the capital converted, as frais de service de la rente	[S3]
Expiry	Cover ceases at the age limit; nothing is payable; no maturity value, no renewal beyond the age limit, no conversion into a savings contract	[S3] [S5] [S11] [S15] [S16]

Avances and acomptes are advances on a benefit already due, not a separate cover [S2] [S3] [S6] [S8]; they change the timing inside the settlement of a claim already incurred, a window shorter than the model’s month, and are ignored. Post-death revalorisation is likewise ignored in the base projection: it runs between death and settlement, a sub-monthly window on this product.

Underwriting and rating#

Parameter	Representative value	Basis
Health evidence	Retained in full. The loi Lemoine abolition of the health questionnaire applies to qualifying borrower cover only; nothing in the corpus removes it from a standalone temporaire décès	R17
Two-tier declaration	Short déclaration de santé / questionnaire de santé simplifié, escalating to a full questionnaire médical on a trigger and thence to examinations	[S2] [S3] [S6]
Simplified-underwriting threshold	No medical examination up to age 40 for a capital of up to 250 000 €	[S3] [S4] [S5]
The one published numeric grid	Capital ≤ 40 000 € and age ≤ 50 → no medical formality, but a 12-month délai d’attente for illness-caused death and PTIA, cotisations returned to the heirs on death inside it; capital > 40 000 € → questionnaire médical, no waiting period; age > 50 → Déclaration de Bonne Santé, escalating on any “OUI”	[S6]
Questionnaire validity	3 months from signature; changes of health between application and acceptance must be notified	[S1]; [S2] [S3]
Underwriting outcomes	Accept at standard rate; accept with a surprime/surcotisation/surtarification and/or partial exclusions, subject to the applicant’s acceptance; adjourn; decline	[S1] [S2] [S3] [S6]
Provisional cover	Accident-only cover from receipt of the application until acceptance, refusal, renunciation or 30 days, capital limited to 15 000 €, paid net of the temporary death premium	[S3]; [S2] variant
Convention AERAS	An assurance emprunteur convention. Its own text applies it to prêts immobiliers, prêts professionnels and prêts à la consommation affectés ou dédiés: a standalone temporaire décès unconnected to a loan is outside AERAS	R17 R18
In-force re-rating	A change of occupation or of sporting activity must be declared and can raise the cotisation or add an exclusion; refusal of the new terms causes resiliation. A return to smoking is a declarable change	[S2] [S7]
Misstatement	Arts. L. 113-8 (intentional — contract void, premiums retained) and L. 113-9 (non-intentional — before a claim, premium increase or termination on ten days’ notice; after a claim, benefit reduced in the ratio of premiums paid to premiums that would have been due)	[S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7]

What the convention AERAS does and does not do to this model. AERAS is retrieved in full and its scope is unambiguous: it governs assurance emprunteur on property, professional and dedicated consumer loans, and its Titre IV states “Ce titre s’applique aux prêts professionnels et immobiliers visés au titre III” R17. Nothing in the retrieved text extends it to a standalone temporaire décès. Its parameters — three examination levels, the third conditioned on maturity before the borrower’s 71st birthday and an insured share of outstanding loans ≤ 420 000 €; questionnaires dropped on consumer loans ≤ 17 000 €, term ≤ 4 years, applicant ≤ 50; écrêtement des surprimes for eligible incomes (≤ 1 / 1,25 / 1,5 × PASS by number of tax parts), capping the premium at 1,4 point in the taux effectif global; and a droit à l’oubli after 5 years from the end of the therapeutic protocol without relapse, with maximum surprime rates set per garantie (Décès, PTIA, GIS) R17, as amended by an avenant of 5 July 2024 R18 — are recorded because the grille de référence shapes how French medical officers assess aggravated risks generally. Effect on this model: none directly — rating_factor is unbounded on a standalone contract, and the AERAS caps live in products/assurance_emprunteur/.

Charges#

Parameter	Representative value	Basis
Frais de gestion (management charges)	Built into the tariff; not separately disclosed on any retrieved contract. Their existence is load-bearing for reserving: the provision mathématique must include future management costs “égale au montant des chargements de gestion prévus dans les conditions tarifaires”	R11; disclosure gap [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S8] [S9]
Frais sur cotisation (premium load)	Does not appear as a separate disclosed line on any retrieved temporaire décès; the disclosed near-equivalents are the fractionation loadings below	[S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S8] [S9]
Frais de fractionnement	Annual: none, with a 1 % discount included in the cotisation where paid by direct debit. Half-yearly: 2,50 %. Quarterly: 4 %. Monthly: 4 %	[S1]
Frais d’échéance	Annual: none. Half-yearly: 3 €. Quarterly: 6 €. Monthly: 15 € for 10 instalments, 18 € for 12	[S1]
Worked fractionation example	On a monthly-in-12 basis at an annual tariff of 250 € TTC, the embedded loading is 250 − 250/1,04 = 9,61 €	[S1]
Association subscription	1,30 € per member per year remitted to the subscriber association, in the group wrapper only	[S1]
Annuity conversion charge	3 % of the capital converted	[S3]
Acquisition and maintenance expense levels	Not disclosed anywhere in the corpus	std (10)
Commission	Not disclosed anywhere in the corpus	std (10)
Taxe sur les conventions d’assurance	Cotisations are quoted “TTC” but no retrieved document states a rate for this cover	[S1]; rate unverified

No French insurer publishes any pricing basis — no table, no A/E factor, no expense loading, no commission scale, no lapse assumption appears in any retrieved product document [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S8] [S9] [S12], and the published grid [S3] is a gross premium scale, not a basis. Every expense and commission level in the technical notes is a std placeholder; the only cited charge figures in this library are the fractionation table [S1], the association subscription [S1] and the annuity conversion charge [S3].

Termination and values#

Parameter	Representative value	Basis
Valeur de rachat	None. “Votre adhésion ne comporte ni valeur de rachat, ni valeur de réduction”; “Le contrat ne comprend pas de faculté de rachat”	R3; [S7] [S9]
Valeur de réduction	None — prohibited by the same article	R3 [S7]
Effect of a lapse	Pure termination. Cover ends; the unearned portion of a prepaid cotisation may be refunded, except where the termination follows an intentional misstatement or non-payment; nothing else is paid	[S1]; R3
Non-payment path	Cotisation due within 10 days; registered mise en demeure; resiliation 40 days after the letter (Code des assurances) or suspension 30 days after it (Code de la mutualité). No cover attaches to events in the suspension window	[S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7]; [S9]; [S6]
Termination by the policyholder	At the annual échéance, by registered letter at least one month before. Observed elsewhere: two months before 31 December, at any time, before 1 November for 31 December	[S3]; [S1] [S2] [S8] [S9]
Termination of right	At the age limits; on death; on payment of the PTIA capital; on termination of the underlying group contract	[S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S9]
Renonciation	30 calendar days from being informed that the contract is concluded, with repayment of all sums paid within 30 days	[S3]; [S1] [S2]; REG-R29
Reinstatement	No general contractual reinstatement right appears in the retrieved conditions; a lapse is final in the composite	scope std (11)
Prescription	Two years from the event, ten years where the beneficiary is a person distinct from the member, thirty years from the death as a long-stop	[S1] [S3]
Unclaimed capital	Deposited at the Caisse des dépôts et consignations ten years after the insurer’s knowledge of the death or the contract’s term, within the following month	[S1]; REG-R39

Only one carrier’s suicide clause running “from the date cover started or restarted” hints at a restart mechanism [S8], and no retrieved document sets out a general reinstatement provision. The composite terminates lapsed contracts finally, which is also the conservative choice for a product with no cash value.

Contractual mechanics#

Cotisation révisable par âge — the operative rule#

At the effective date and again at every annual renewal, the cotisation for the coming policy year is

cotisation(t) = sum_assured × tariff_rate(attained_age(t)) × rating_factor × frequency_load

where attained_age(t) is the différence de millésime age at that renewal [S1] [S2] [S6] [S7], tariff_rate is read from the insurer’s rate card in force at that date [S3], and rating_factor carries any surprime accepted at underwriting [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6]. Four contracts state the rule in their own words: “l’âge de l’assuré à la date d’effet de l’adhésion puis à la date de la reconduction” [S1]; “La cotisation évolue chaque année en fonction de votre âge” [S2]; “votre cotisation évoluera en cours de contrat en fonction de votre âge : elle sera donc calculée à chaque échéance annuelle” [S3], with the current page repeating “recalcul chaque année” [S4]; “les cotisations évoluent, à l’échéance anniversaire de l’adhésion, en fonction de l’âge de l’assuré” [S7].

Two consequences follow and both are load-bearing. First, there is no prefunding: each year’s cotisation buys that year’s risk, so the provision mathématique is close to nil at each anniversary and what remains is an unearned-premium and outstanding-claims position R11 R13. Second, the cotisation rises steeply — on the published grid it is 32,4× larger at age 74 than at age 34 [S3] — so the premium stream, not the benefit stream, carries the shape of the liability. The grid also carries a tariff discontinuity that is not a mortality discontinuity: from age 59 to age 60 the rate steps from 1,13 % to 1,56 %, +38 % against a surrounding trend of about +8 % per year of age [S3]. A fitted curve smooths it away; a rate table preserves it, which is why the reference implementation reads the grid as data.

The cotisation constante variant#

The constante (also nivelée) form charges one cotisation for the whole cover period. It was not found on any French standalone contract in this research [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S9] [S10] and is a std construction (footnote 2). It is retained because it is the form that generates a real French provision mathématique: where the premium rate is flat while the death rate rises, “un montant de PRC est toujours constitué pendant la durée”, whereas a tariff expressed on an initial rather than a declining capital tends to produce a negative provision early, on which the non-negativity floor then bites R11 R13. The standardized definition, stated in full in the technical notes, is the level cotisation whose actuarial present value equals that of the revisable stream over the cover period, on the tariff mortality basis and the technical rate.

Benefit shape — capital constant, capital décroissant#

The benefit is the sum assured throughout, from any cause [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S9]. Increases re-open selection except for defined life-event or automatic increments — a 5 000 € forfait every 5 years plus the same 5 000 € within 12 months of a birth, adoption, marriage, PACS, divorce, PACS break-up or the death of the spouse, at most four formality-free increases over the life of the contract and only to the échéance following age 65 [S3]; another carrier allows +20 % within 3 months of the same events [S7]. On any increase the suicide clock restarts for the increment only [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] — art. L. 132-7 alinéa 2 operating directly R1. Optional revalorisation indexes capital and cotisation together, on the plafond annuel de la Sécurité sociale (PASS) [S1] [S7] or at an insurer-set rate [S2] [S6]; refusal is possible and, at three carriers, definitive [S2] [S6] [S7].

A decreasing sum insured following an amortisation schedule is a loan-cover design [S15] and appears in none of the retrieved standalone contracts. The composite carries it as a benefit_shape value driven by an external schedule table so the chassis can serve products/assurance_emprunteur/, where the industry distinction between a tariff on capital initial and one on capital restant dû lives R13.

PTIA — the anticipated payment of the death capital#

PTIA pays the death capital, early, to the insured, and payment terminates the contract [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S8]. Naming varies without changing the substance: PTIA [S1] [S2] [S6] [S8] [S10]; invalidité permanente absolue (IPA) [S3]; invalidité permanente totale (IPT) [S7]; invalidité fonctionnelle totale et définitive (IFTD) [S12]. Four interlocks are explicit in the contracts and all four must survive into the model: death and PTIA benefits cannot be cumulated [S1]; payment of the PTIA capital ends the contract and the death cover [S2] [S3] [S6]; the capital is due only if the insured is alive on the day of payment, failing which the death cover operates instead [S2]; and premium payment ceases at death and at recognition of PTIA/IPT [S3] [S7]. PTIA cover usually ceases earlier than the death cover, but not always — 65 vs 75 [S3], 75 vs 80 [S2], 80 vs 85 [S6], 67 vs 85 [S7], 65 vs 70 [S8], against one carrier where both end at 85 [S1] and one contract with no PTIA cover at all [S9]. Five of the eight carriers, so a model must carry the two ages as separate parameters rather than assume the gap.

One retrieved contract carries a genuine second decrement on an already-accelerated life: a further capital where the insured, already in IPT, dies at least a year after consolidation [S7]. That capital décès double garantie rider is the one place where paying twice is correct, and it is out of scope here (see Riders and options).

Suicide — art. L. 132-7#

Alinéa 1: “L’assurance en cas de décès est de nul effet si l’assuré se donne volontairement la mort au cours de la première année du contrat.” Alinéa 2 requires cover from the second year and restarts the clock, for the supplementary guarantees only, on any increase of cover R1. Every retrieved contract carries exactly that and no more [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S8] [S9] [S10]; one frames it as suicide “conscient ou inconscient” [S7]. The immediate suicide cover of alinéa 4, whose ceiling art. R. 132-5 fixes at not less than 120 000 €, is confined to art. L. 141-1 group contracts securing a loan taken to acquire the insured’s principal residence R1 R2: it does not reach a standalone temporaire décès and this model must not carry it. The model implements alinéa 1 as a first-year benefit exclusion factor on death claims only — PTIA is not death and is unaffected; the factor and its rationale are in the technical notes.

No rachat, no réduction#

Art. L. 132-23 alinéa 1 is the legal foundation of the whole cash-flow shape: “Les assurances temporaires en cas de décès ainsi que les rentes viagères immédiates ou en cours de service ne peuvent comporter ni réduction ni rachat” R3. The insurers restate it in their own words [S5] [S7] [S9], and the guides restate the consequence: “aucun capital n’est versé et les cotisations déjà payées ne sont pas remboursées” [S16]. The rachat machinery of arts. L. 132-20 ff. REG-R31 is written for contracts that have a surrender value and is inoperative here because L. 132-23 removes the value it would act upon R3. The one place surrender value still appears in a reserving text is art. A. 343-1-1, which floors the provision mathématique at the surrender value and at the reduced-capital provision — both zero here, so the operative floor is simply that the provision may not be negative R13.

Waiting periods and provisional cover#

Two mechanisms exist and must not be confused. A délai d’attente delays the start of cover: 12 months for illness-caused death and PTIA where the adhesion carried no medical formality, with the cotisations collected returned to the heirs on death inside the window [S6]; 3 months at another carrier, waived for accidental death or where equivalent cover was already held [S9]. None appears at five of the eight carriers [S1] [S2] [S3] [S7] [S8]. A garantie provisoire covers accidental causes during medical underwriting: 30 days and 15 000 € at the representative carrier, paid net of the temporary death premium [S3]; 60 days and 76 000 € at another [S2]. The composite runs with no waiting period [S3] and carries waiting_period_y as a model-point column so the [S6] and [S9] variants can be switched on.

Expiry, the age basis and lapse#

Cover ends at a policy-year boundary defined by attained age, and nothing is payable at that boundary [S3] [S5] [S11] [S15] [S16]. The age driving both the tariff and the limits is the différence de millésime: “pour une personne née en 1967, l’âge retenu en 2019 est : 2019 − 1967 = 52 ans” [S2] — an integer age that increments on 1 January rather than on the policyholder’s birthday [S1] [S2] [S6] [S7], and the single most important convention to get right in a French life model. The reference model steps monthly, and the age nevertheless steps at the policy anniversary and not monthly: a finer projection grid does not make the age basis finer. The non-payment path is the whole of the lapse machinery, because there is no value to forfeit: the cotisation is due within 10 days; a registered mise en demeure follows; resiliation takes effect 40 days after the letter under the Code des assurances [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7], or cover is suspended 30 days after it under the Code de la mutualité [S9], with no cover attaching to events in the suspension window [S6]. The voluntary notice regime differs materially — one month before the échéance [S3], two months before 31 December [S1], at any time [S2] [S8], before 1 November for a 31 December exit [S9] — and it drives the lapse timing a model assumes.

Riders and options#

In scope (modeled or parameterized): the PTIA acceleration, embedded rather than optional at the representative carrier and modeled as a second decrement paying the same capital and terminating the contract [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S8]; the accidental multiplier accident_multiplier, base value 1.0 — observed as an additional capital equal to the death capital where death or PTIA follows an accident within 12 months [S1] [S2] [S6] [S7], as 50 % rather than 100 % at one carrier [S9], as ×2 for an accident and ×3 for a road-traffic accident, terrorism, an attentat or an agression at another [S12], with 24 months allowed for IPT by accident at a third [S7], and usually capital-capped [S1] [S6], but run off in the base case because no retrieved source gives an accidental share of deaths; the surprime rating_factor (footnote 8); the waiting period waiting_period_y, with return of cotisations on death inside the window [S6], base run 0; and indexation on the PASS or an insurer rate, described but not projected because the index is exogenous [S1] [S2] [S6] [S7].

Out of scope: double effet, a further capital to the children fiscally dependent on the spouse or PACS partner where that person dies simultaneously with or after the insured, capped at 500 000 € at one carrier [S7] [S8] — a second life is required and no model point carries one; capital décès double garantie, a further capital where the insured, already in IPT, dies at least one year after consolidation [S7], excluded precisely because it is the exception that makes the “never paid twice” rule testable; rente éducation, 75 € – 3 810 € per quarter per child to 31 December preceding the child’s 26th birthday [S1], with 100 % / 125 % / 150 % steps [S7] or ≤ 2 000 €/month [S10] elsewhere; rente de conjoint / rente décès, halved from the beneficiary’s 65th birthday [S7], ≤ 5 000 €/month elsewhere [S10]; the maladie grave 5 000 € flat capital on the representative carrier’s current page [S4] but absent from its own note d’information [S3]; the assistance packages every retrieved contract bundles [S2] [S3] [S6] [S9], which carry no material cash flow; and annuity conversion of the death capital, a post-death payout mode on the same capital using the tables and technical rate in force at conversion [S1] [S3] with a 3 % conversion charge [S3] — the annuity itself belongs to products/rente_viagere/.

Variations across insurers#

Wrapper. Individual contract [S3] vs group adhésion facultative under arts. L. 141-1 ff. [S1] [S2] [S6] [S7] vs Code de la mutualité collective [S9] vs bancassurance tied to an account [S8]. Composite: individual, because the rate card belongs to it. The economics are identical; the timers and the exit rules are not.
Age envelope. Entry from 18 to somewhere between 57 [S12] and 84 [S10]; death cover ceasing between 65 [S9] and 90 [S10]. Composite: entry ≤ 65, death cover to 75 [S3].
PTIA cessation relative to death cessation. Earlier in five of the eight carriers — 65/75 [S3], 75/80 [S2], 80/85 [S6], 67/85 [S7], 65/70 [S8] — equal in one [S1], absent in one [S9], unstated in one [S10]. Composite: earlier, with both ages as model-point columns.
Waiting period. None at five carriers [S1] [S2] [S3] [S7] [S8]; 12 months where underwriting is waived, with return of cotisations [S6]; 3 months unconditionally [S9]. Composite: none, with the mechanism parameterized.
Accidental option. Doubling [S1] [S2] [S7] [S12]; an additional capital equal to the death capital [S6]; +50 % [S9]; tripling for road accidents, terrorism, attentat or agression [S12]; none in the representative note [S3]. Composite: a multiplier column, base 1.0 — the variation is too wide, and the incidence data too absent, to standardize a level.
Smoker and occupation rating. Smoker rating at three carriers [S1] [S7] [S10], absent from four [S2] [S6] [S8] [S9]; occupation as an explicit tariff group at one [S7], a hazardous-occupation annex at three [S2] [S6] [S9], an entry exclusion at one [S1]. Composite: both carried as columns feeding rating_factor; neither has a published level.
Indexation. PASS-linked [S1] [S7]; insurer-set rate [S2] [S6]; not in the representative note [S3]; refusal definitive at three carriers [S2] [S6] [S7]. Composite: described, not projected.
Participation aux bénéfices. One carrier states flatly “Le contrat ne prévoit pas de participation aux bénéfices” [S9]; two run a PB computed globally across the insurer’s life book and distributed as higher benefits and/or lower cotisations called, not as a policy-level account [S1] [S2]. There is no policyholder account value in any retrieved contract. Composite: non-participating.
Charge disclosure. One full fractionation table [S1]; charges stated in the certificat individuel de garantie rather than the notice at two [S2] [S6]; nothing at the rest. Composite: the one published table, as the observed range.
What does not vary — with two exceptions worth naming. The first-year suicide exclusion is implemented by every retrieved carrier, and by exactly as much as the statute requires R1 [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S8] [S9] [S10]; the absence of any surrender or reduction value and expiry without value are statutory R3 and are said in those words by the carriers that address them at all [S5] [S7] [S9] [S11] [S15] [S16]. All three are legal facts rather than commercial ones. The other two limbs of the composite’s core each have one carrier that does not support them. Attained-age revisable pricing: seven carriers [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S9] [S10], with the bancassurance IPID stating no premium basis [S8] — a silence, not a contradiction. PTIA acceleration of the same capital, ending the contract: seven carriers [S1] [S2] [S3] [S6] [S7] [S8] [S10], with the Code de la mutualité contract carrying no PTIA cover at all [S9] — a real exception, and the reason ptia_ratio and ptia_end_age are model-point columns rather than constants.

Regulatory context#

Contract law — Code des assurances. The product sits in branche 20 (vie-décès) of art. R. 321-1 [S1] [S3] [S7]. Three articles do most of the work: L. 132-7 (suicide — void in year one, covered from year two, the clock restarting on an increase; immediate cover with a floor of 120 000 € confined to principal-residence loan cover; and, from 20 August 2026, cover of death by aide à mourir) R1 R2; L. 132-23 (no réduction, no rachat on a temporaire décès) R3; and L. 132-26 (errors of age) [S7]. Renunciation is 30 calendar days with repayment of all sums within 30 days REG-R29 [S1] [S2] [S3]; the notice d’information and the one-page encadré are prescribed by arts. A. 132-4 and A. 132-8 REG-R30; and the death-settlement clock — 15 days to request documents, one month to pay from the complete file — is art. L. 132-23-1 REG-R31. Unclaimed capital transfers to the Caisse des dépôts after ten years, with revaluation continuing until the deposit REG-R39 [S1]. The mutualité form runs the same economics under Livre II of the Code de la mutualité, with a 30-day rather than 40-day suspension timer and renunciation under art. L. 223-8 [S9].

Tariff bases. Art. A. 132-18 governs what a French tariff may be built on: a technical interest rate fixed under art. A. 132-1, plus one of exactly two families of mortality table — (a) tables homologated by ministerial arrêté, by sex, built on INSEE data for non-annuity contracts, or (b) the undertaking’s own tables, by sex or not, certified by an independent actuary approved by a recognised actuarial association R4 REG-R23. Where a single family-(a) table is used for all insureds it must be the one giving the most prudent tariff — for a death cover, the male table R4. The homologated non-annuity tables are TH 00-02 (male) and TF 00-02 (female), homologated by the arrêté du 20 décembre 2005 with effect from 1 January 2006 and built by INSEE on French mortality observed over 2000–2002 R6 R9 REG-R22; the generational TGH05/TGF05 apply to rentes viagères and reach this product only through an annuity conversion R7. The historic home of the rule, art. A. 335-1, was abrogated with effect from 1 January 2016, so any citation of it in a current French product document is a legacy reference R8. The annexed décalages d’âge (age shifts) are required by a clause with a scope this product falls outside: “pour les contrats en cas de vie autres que les contrats de rente viagère, les tables mentionnées au a sont utilisées en corrigeant l’âge de l’assuré conformément aux décalages d’âge ci-annexés” R4 R6 REG-R23. A temporaire décès is a contract en cas de décès, so on the retrieved texts no age shift is required here — a user substituting TH 00-02 for the std proxy should apply the table unshifted. Where the shifts do bite, the profession’s own note records that the arrêté specifies them but not how to apply them, and recommends applying them to the q(x), not to the l(x), because shifting l(x) produces erratic q(x) growth and hence erratic provisions R9. The numeric annexe to the current A. 132-18 was not retrieved R4; the abrogated A. 335-1 annexe carried shifts from −11 years at ages 16–32 to 0 at age 94+ for TF 00-02 and from −13 years at ages 16–38 to −3 at age 75+ for TH 00-02 REG-R23. A newer derogation, art. A. 132-18-1 (arrêté du 18 novembre 2024), allowing a single table for art. L. 911-1 CSS contracts, was read only from a section listing and is unverified R4.

Technical interest rate. Art. A. 132-1 caps a tariff rate at 75 % of the TME (taux moyen des emprunts de l’État français) and, beyond eight years, at the lower of 3,5 % and 60 % of the TME; and — decisively for an annually renewable product — “pour les contrats à primes périodiques ou à capital variable, quelle que soit leur durée, ce taux ne peut excéder le plus bas des deux taux suivants : 3,5 % ou 60 % du taux moyen” R5 REG-R17. The rate-step barème reported by secondary summaries was not visible in the retrieved article text and is unverified R5.

Unisex pricing. Art. L. 111-7 forbids direct or indirect sex-based differences in premiums and benefits; the surviving derogation covers only contracts and group-contract adhesions “conclus ou effectuées au plus tard le 20 décembre 2012” R10. New business has therefore been unisex since 21 December 2012, while the homologated valuation tables remain sex-specific R6 REG-R22 — the same reconciliation problem the annuity product faces, resolved the same two ways: take the single most prudent family-(a) table R4, or blend. The Institut des actuaires’ working group uses 60 % TH 00-02 / 40 % TF 00-02 as its unisex death basis R13; neither weighting is prescribed by any retrieved text, so a model that adopts one must tag it std. See products/rente_viagere/product-spec.md for the annuity side of the same tension. On group business the pressure is relieved by a further clause: “pour les contrats collectifs en cas de décès résiliables annuellement, le tarif peut être établi d’après les tables mentionnées au a avec une méthode forfaitaire si celle-ci est justifiable” R4 REG-R23 — which covers most of the group products in this file [S1] [S2] [S6] [S7] and explains why their published rate structures are coarse.

Statutory provisions and prudential. Art. R. 343-3 enumerates the eleven French life technical provisions; the operative one here is the provision mathématique, which must include an estimate of future management costs equal to the chargements de gestion built into the tariff, and the list also carries a provision d’égalisation specifically for assurance de groupe contre le risque décès R11 REG-R6. The provision pour risques croissants of art. R. 343-7 is defined for maladie and invalidité, not death; its death-cover analogue is the R. 343-3 PM — “la même provision de prime s’appelle PM en vie et PRC en non-vie” R12 R13 — and art. A. 343-1-1 floors it at zero, at the surrender value and at the reduced-capital provision, the last two being zero here R3 R13. Above that sits Solvabilité II: best estimate plus risk margin under Directive 2009/138/CE REG-R1 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35 REG-R2 as described by EIOPA REG-R4, with the curves published monthly REG-R5; Directive (EU) 2025/2 takes effect 30 January 2027 REG-R3 and nothing here implements a 2027 basis. The ACPR supervises under art. L. 612-1 of the Code monétaire et financier REG-R10 and is named in four of the retrieved notices [S1] [S2] [S6] [S9]; its own site could not be retrieved, so no ACPR analysis of the prévoyance market is cited anywhere in this product’s documents R20. The statutory participation aux bénéfices obligation of art. L. 331-3 REG-R14 applies but is discharged globally at insurer level, not credited to a policy [S1] [S2]; one contract has none at all [S9].

Taxation. The death capital is outside the estate [S1] [S3]. What applies instead is the art. 990 I levy on premiums paid before the insured’s 70th birthday: an abattement of 152 500 € per beneficiary across all life contracts of the same insured, then 20 % up to 700 000 € of the taxable share and 31,25 % above R14 R15 R16 REG-R41 [S1]. An insurer applies it in capital terms — 20 % between 152 500 € and 852 500 €, 31,25 % above 852 500 € — and withholds and remits it, which is why the beneficiary files an attestation sur l’honneur recording how much of the abattement is already used R16. BOFiP confirms the scope point that matters here: the levy expressly reaches assurance décès temporaire and assurance décès pure where the beneficiary is designated à titre gratuit, and excludes contracts designated à titre onéreux — the paradigm being loan cover assigned to a lender R15. Premiums paid from the 70th birthday on contracts subscribed after 20 November 1991 fall instead under art. 757 B, with a single global abattement of 30 500 € shared across taxable beneficiaries and all the insured’s life contracts, the charge falling on the premiums only R15 REG-R41 [S1] [S3]; the article itself was not retrieved in the product research R19, so the product-level citation rests on R15, R16 and REG-R41. Spouse and PACS partner are wholly exempt, as are siblings meeting the cumulative conditions R14 R15 R16 [S1] [S7]. Premiums are not deductible; the representative carrier instead imposes a declaration duty on annual premiums above 305 € paid before age 70 [S3]. And, distinctively, “L’assurance temporaire décès à la différence de l’assurance vie n’est pas soumise aux prélèvements sociaux” [S1].

Professional standards. Actuarial modeling of this product sits under the Institut des actuaires’ Norme de Pratique Actuarielle 2 — Modèles actuariels, a recommended practice adopted 15 June 2015 with effect from 1 January 2016, whose scope expressly covers pricing and the technical studies attached to new products REG-R44. IFRS 17 applies to IFRS reporters from 1 January 2023 with no French carve-out REG-R45.