Succession: “With several life insurance, can I take advantage of several abatements?”

Does multiply life insurance contracts optimize the transmission of its assets? A reader wonders about the interest of taking out several contracts to benefit from additional abatements on inheritance tax.

• 
  

  To safeguard
  

  
  
  

  Saved
  

Patrice, capital reader, addresses a question about his savings. He plans to use part of the money he has aside to minimize inheritance tax on his death. More precisely, he wonders about the inheritance rules of life insurance: “Hello, insofar as the exemption from inheritance rights is applicable when the beneficiary is direct up to 100,000 euros, can we subscribe as many life insurance as there are beneficiaries? For example, I have 400,000 euros to place, I open four life insurance, one for each of the heirs of 100,000 euros. Is it possible? “

Hello Patrice, and thank you for your question, which will allow us to recall the rules applicable to life insurance in the event of a succession. To answer you from the start, nothing prevents you first from taking out several life insurance contracts at various insurers or the same player. There is no legal limit on this point. It remains to be seen whether to multiply these savings products is more interesting for you in terms of inheritance.

In life insurance, a reduction of 152,500 euros per beneficiary exists

The payments made before and after 70 years must be distinguished here again. On the share of your capital which corresponds to the sums paid before your 70 spring, all the designated beneficiaries benefit from a Defection on inheritance tax of 152,500 euros. In other words, for any capital transmitted between 1 and 152,500 euros, each of the designated beneficiaries is exempt from inheritance tax.

You can therefore bequeath 100,000 euros to each of your four beneficiaries in complete tax franchise, including with a single contract: “In the case of payments before 70 years, having a single contract with 400,000 euros or 4 contracts at 100,000 euros does not change anything for the heirs”confirms Jérôme Jabaud, Managing Director of Segefi (European Financial Management Company).

For payments after 70 years, it is impossible to multiply the reduction of 30,500 euros

The question arises more for payments made after 70 years. In this case, the allowance is only 30,500 euros, and above all, it is no longer worth for each of the beneficiaries, but for all of them. Clearly, in your example, with a single contract at 400,000 euros, your four beneficiaries in equal parts (100,000 euros each) should share the allowance of 30,500 euros, or 7,625 euros each. They should therefore be imposed on the difference between the two, or 92,375 euros.

However, as you indicate, if your beneficiaries are your father, mother or children, they will also benefit from a personal allowance of 100,000 euros, which will therefore cover these 92,375 euros “remaining”. On the other hand, if the beneficiaries are outside your close family (partner, friend, grandchildren whose parents are still alive, etc.), the personal allowance will only be 1,594 euros after that conferred by life insurance. Your four beneficiaries will then have to pay inheritance tax on the sum of 90,781 euros (92,375 – 1,594).

Hence your question: can we benefit from each of its beneficiaries of the reduction of 30,500 euros by multiplying the contracts? The answer is unfortunately no: “The reduction of 30,500 euros on the sums paid after 70 years is understood for all beneficiaries and all contracts”abounds Jérôme Jabaud. As you see Patrice, subscribing several contracts will have little interest here.

Capital answers you

Do you have a question about your life insurance contract, your savings booklets, your real estate investments? Place it to our expert who will answer you: Capital you