Inactive accounts and unclaimed life insurance: how to recover the money?

Verified 03 November 2025 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

If you are looking for an old bank account, an old employee savings account or a life insurance contract that has not been claimed for many years, you can check the Ciclade website and ask to recover the funds if the search is positive. This online service lists all the amounts forgotten (say in disinheritance) which were transferred to Caisse des Dépôts from the accounts and contracts declared inactive. We present you the information to know.

Every year, banks, employee savings managers and insurers are required to identify inactive accounts opened in their institutions.

These may include the following accounts and contracts:

Bank accounts:

Employee Savings Accounts:

Life insurance contracts:

  • Life insurance contract
  • Insurance contract with surrender value
  • Capitalization voucher or bearer voucher
  • Supplementary retirement contract.

Banks, employee savings managers and insurers must declare your accounts or life insurance contracts inactive when certain conditions are met.

An account may be declared inactive following the death of its holder but also if the institution no longer has contact with the account holder (or with its legal representative) for a period of time. Time limits vary depending on whether the account holder is alive or dead.

Bank accounts

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The holder is alive

The period of inactivity selected depends on the nature of the account:

Current account

A current account is declared inactive when the 2 the following conditions are met:

  • The account holder did not no operation on his account (deposit, withdrawal, transfer, connection to the customer area) over a period of 12 months
  • And the account holder did not come forward to the bank (either by email, by post, login to the customer area, or at the counter) and did not make any transaction on another account opened in the same bank over a period of 12 months.

FYI  

When the account has not recorded a transaction as a result of a court decision or a law (for example, a court decision that places the account under sequester), the account is not considered inactive.

Securities account, term account, savings account

A financial securities account, a term account, a savings account or booklet (Livret A, Livret jeune, LDDS, PEA, LEP...) is declared inactive when the 2 the following conditions are met:

  • The account holder did not no operation on his account (deposit, withdrawal, transfer, connection to the customer area) over a period of 5 years
  • And the account holder did not come forward to the bank (either by email, by post, login to the customer area, or at the counter) and did not make any transaction on another account opened in the same bank over a period of 5 years.

FYI  

When the account has become unavailable as a result of a court decision or a law (for example, a court decision that places the account under sequester), the account is not considered inactive.

The holder has died

Every year, the institutions keeping the accounts are required to consult a national register of identification of deceased persons.

A bank account shall be declared inactive if, for a period of 12 months after death, none of rights holders did not claim the bank's account holdings.

Employee Savings Accounts

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The holder is alive

An account receiving employee savings products is declared inactive when the 2 the following conditions are met:

  • The account holder did not no operation on his account (deposit, withdrawal, transfer, connection to the customer area) over a period of 5 years
  • And the account holder did not come forward to the institution (either by email, by post, login to the customer area) and did not make any operation on another account opened in the same establishment over a period of 5 years.

The holder has died

Every year, the institutions keeping the accounts are required to consult a national register of identification of deceased persons.

An employee savings account shall be declared inactive if, for a period of 12 months after death, none of rights holders did not claim the bank's account holdings.

Life insurance contract

A life insurance contract is considered inactive if the funds are not claimed at the end of the contract or from the date of death of the insured.

Safe

A safe is considered inactive when the following 2 conditions are met:

  • During a period of 10 years, its holder (its legal representative or one of its rights holders) did not come forward and did not make any transactions on another account in its name in the same institution
  • And after that 10-year period, there was at least 1 unpaid for rental costs.

The institution must inform you, by any means at its disposal, that your account or contract is declared inactive and that it will be closed without any reaction on your part within a certain period. The information is renewed every year until the year preceding the deposit of the sums at the Caisse des Dépôts.

If the account or contract holder is deceased, the institution must conduct research and inform the account holder's relatives (his or her legal representative or the person authorized by him or her) rights holders who could benefit from the account or contract.

The managing institution shall keep the funds of bank accounts, employee savings accounts and life insurance contracts inactive for a period of time. The duration varies depending on whether the account or contract holder is alive or dead.

Bank accounts

The length of time the bank keeps accounts varies:

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The holder is alive

General case

The bank keeps the funds for 10 years from one of the following events:

  • Date of the last operation carried out by the holder
  • Date of last contact with the account holder, his legal representative or the person he has appointed
  • End of the unavailability period, for products that have an unavailability period.
Housing Savings Plan (PEL)

The PEL is kept in the bank for 10 years from the date of the last payment. This duration is extended to 20 years if the holder has no other account in the same bank.

The holder has died

The bank keeps the funds for 3 years from the date of death of the account holder.

Employee Savings Accounts

The duration of account retention by the employee savings manager varies:

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The holder is alive

The managing institution shall keep the funds for 10 years from one of the following events:

  • Date of the last operation carried out by the holder
  • Date of last contact with the account holder, his legal representative or the person he has appointed
  • End of the unavailability period, for products that have an unavailability period.

The holder has died

The managing institution shall keep the funds for 3 years from the date of death of the account holder.

Life insurance contracts

The retention period of the funds is the same, whether the insured is alive or deceased:

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The insured is alive

The funds are held by the insurer for 10 years, from the date of expiry of the contract.

The insured died

The funds are held by the insurer for 10 years, from the date on which the establishment became aware of the death of the insured person.

Safe

Beyond the inactivity observed on the 1era period of 10 years, the safe is kept (without being opened by the bank) at least 20 years after the date of 1er unpaid rental fees.

If no one has come forward during the retention periods of the funds, the institution must fence the inactive account (bank account, employee savings account or life insurance contract) for transfer funds to Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.

The closure of a securities account or a life insurance contract entails its liquidation. The securities recorded in the account are sold and the proceeds of the sale are transferred to the Caisse des Dépôts.

For the safe, after a period of 20 years after date 1er unpaid The bank is authorized to open it, in the presence of a bailiff who makes the inventory of its content to sell it at public auction. The result of the sale, net of unpaid rental expenses, is definitively paid to the State.

Funds that have been transferred by the bank, the employee savings manager or the insurer are kept by Caisse des Dépôts for a limited time. They will then be definitively transmitted to the State.

FYI  

As long as the funds are held at the Caisse des Dépôts, they remain available to the original account holder or his successors in title.

But if no one comes forward to the Caisse des dépôts during the time limits, the Caisse des dépôts must transfer the assets to the State or overseas communities. In this case, you will no longer be able to recover the funds.

Closed bank accounts

The duration of custody of the funds by Caisse des Dépôts varies depending on whether the holder was alive or deceased at the time of the transfer of the funds:

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The holder was alive at the time the funds were transferred to the Caisse des dépôts

Caisse des Dépôts must keep the funds for a period of 20 years from the date of filing.

Warning  

In the particular case of the ELP, if the holder did not have any other account in the same bank, the Caisse des Dépôts must keep the funds for 10 years from the date of filing.

The holder had died at the time of the transfer of the funds to the Caisse des dépôts

The Caisse des dépôts must retain the funds for a period of 27 years from the date of filing.

Employee Savings Accounts

The duration of custody of the funds by Caisse des Dépôts varies depending on whether the holder was alive or deceased at the time of the transfer of the funds:

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The holder was alive at the time the funds were transferred to the Caisse des dépôts

Caisse des Dépôts must keep the funds for a period of 20 years from the date of filing.

The holder had died at the time of the transfer of the funds to the Caisse des dépôts

The Caisse des dépôts must retain the funds for a period of 27 years from the date of filing.

Life insurance contracts

Caisse des Dépôts must keep the funds for a period of 20 years from the date of transfer of funds.

If you want to know where money is in an inactive account (bank account or savings account of a company where you were employed) or if you are a beneficiary of an unclaimed life insurance policy, you should search through the Ciclade online service:

Ciclade (search for forgotten amounts from inactive accounts)

This service makes it possible to search all the funds transferred and pending at the Caisse des Dépôts.

The research carries only on the following accounts and contracts:

  • Accounts and life insurance contracts opened in metropolitan France and the overseas departments
  • Accounts opened in overseas communities (New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna).

On the online site Ciclade, for a better search (step 1) it is advisable to fill in as much information as possible:

  • name, first names of the account holder, date and place of birth, last known address, possibly date and place of death of the account holder
  • and if you know them, the account references (IBAN) or the contract sought

If your search is positive on the Ciclade online site (step 2), you must make a restitution request to recover the money (step 3). To continue this process, you must create your personal space on the online site Ciclade:

Ciclade (search for forgotten amounts from inactive accounts)

Your file is processed directly by Ciclade (step 4) and if your request for restitution is validated, you will receive the money by bank transfer.

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