Paying for the funeral

Options to pay for the funeral include:

- From the deceased’s bank account: The cost up to a limit of €5,000 can be taken from the bank account of the deceased if there are sufficient funds – you need to present the invoice for the funeral for this.  

- Insurance: The deceased may have had policies that will help, such as life assurance (assurance vie), death, or funeral insurance (assurance décès / obsèques; see more below) or a mutuelle health policy.

If the deceased was working or registered unemployed, some help may be available from the social security system.

If there was specific funeral insurance this will have been designed to pay out in a couple of days to avoid the family having to pay upfront. However, for a basic assurance vie contract the payout may take several weeks.

- If you are not sure if the deceased had a funeral policy or a life assurance (AV) policy you can check with an association called Agira. The quickest way to do this is online. Agira forwards requests on funeral policies immediately to firms in the industry, who should supply information in three days.

In the case of AV, the process can take a month or more but you should be notified if you are among named beneficiaries to a policy.

If you are due a payment contact the insurance company to ask for it.

- If necessary any children and a spouse must finance the funeral. This constitutes a maintenance debt, proportional to their resources, if the assets of the deceased are insufficient. 

- In the case of a funeral of a person with no assets the mairie of the place of death is responsible for the financing.

The mairie, calling upon a court, may, if appropriate, recover the cost from one of the children or from a spouse, if they have sufficient means.

Many people now opt for funeral policies 

If you want to simplify matters in the event of your death, especially if you live alone, taking out assurance obsèques is often worth considering – typically taken out with a high street bank, an insurance firm or directly via some undertakers’ firms.

These policies are specific to the funeral expenses, and are not the same as an ordinary assurance vie or assurance décès, which do not have this specialised use. The former, in the most common type, allows you to save up capital which you can draw up yourself later on or which is paid out to named beneficiaries if you die, while the second is similar but cannot be drawn on by yourself.

Contracts called assurance obsèques may be described as en capital, paying out a lump sum to a named beneficiary, or en prestations, which specifically finances funeral arrangements, generally with a specific firm of funeral directors to whom the money is paid out. Some include both elements. 

There may be different levels of capital payment, depending on what you agree with your provider. It could be paid out to a designated firm of undertakers or to a family member or friend in charge of organising the funeral. If there is a surplus, it may be possible for it to be paid over to designated beneficiaries.

Such schemes can typically be set up with either a one-off payment, or periodic premiums.

The policies also sometimes offer assistance with planning for the type of ceremony you would want and how you would want to be buried or have ashes dealt with. For loved ones, contracts may include assistance with funeral organisation or in some cases even elements such as counselling or home help.

Both individual and couple’s policies exist.