Estate processing fees are often still billed by banks following the death of a minor child. Bruno Le Maire indicates that a proposed law will ban them.
It’s almost done. Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, has just announced this Tuesday that the elimination of inheritance bank fees upon the death of a minor is part of a law which will be examined in the National Assembly on 29 FEBRUARY. “As Minister of the Economy, I find this revolting. As a father, I find this unacceptable,” underlines the boss of Bercy regarding this practice. It is based on the case of Léo, who died of cancer at the age of 9 in 2022.
At the time, La Banque Postale caused controversy after charging 138 euros for closing the Booklet, for the costs of processing the estate, in accordance with its price brochure. Faced with the indignation raised by its decision, the establishment however chose to reimburse the family, announcing at the same time that it would no longer charge these fees in the case of the death of minors.
Only a minority of banks have ended this tariff line
In this context, the Ministry of the Economy told MoneyVox that it was putting pressure on banks to change their practices. He then indicated that he could go through the law if necessary. Although the situation has improved a little since then, only 48 banking establishments out of 128 explicitly state that they have put an end to this practice, according to our price statement carried out this Tuesday. This is particularly the case for the Savings Banks, 7 Banques Populaires, 15 Crédits Agricoles, as well as Crédit Coopératif, Fortuneo, BoursoBank and even LCL.
As far as La Banque Postale is concerned, the end of this practice still does not appear explicitly in its price brochure. The latter, however, told us that “ [elle] is carried out by derogation by the bank’s teams responsible for monitoring inheritance files.
The proposed law aiming to prohibit inheritance fees upon the death of a minor child also provides for the end of these fees “when the amount placed in the account is less than 5,000 euros”, indicates Bruno Le Maire.
The text carried by PS MP Christine Pires Beaune is on the agenda during a socialist “parliamentary niche”, after having been adopted unanimously in committee, with the support of the majority as well as other oppositions.
The support of the ministry “translated into help in rewriting the text so that it is as clean and effective as possible”, MP Pires told AFP, who wants parliamentarians to be associated with the decree of application of the text, once it has been adopted.
A “not very cooperative” banking sector
His bill provides for a control of costs for inheritances greater than 5,000 euros “Knowing that one can very well have much more than 5,000 euros and be in the context of a very simple operation to carry out and in which case this must also be free.
The MP deplores a banking sector that is “not very cooperative” on the subject. “I am surprised by the lack of aggregated data” to quantify these costs, she stressed.
“Some banks already apply free payment”, but “you can have establishments, funds from the same group” which do not apply the same fees on the same amounts, added the MP.
La Banque Postale puts an end to inheritance fees deducted from the accounts of a deceased minor
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Amount of estate assets: €
The bank charges for estate management will amount to…
€*
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* Calculations carried out for the estate of a deceased adult completed quickly (less than one year); the bank account of the beneficiary of the funds is domiciled in an establishment other than that of the deceased. “-” if calculation impossible: lack of data, pricing structure too complex, etc.
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