The modification of the insurance contract

 The modification of the insurance contract

During a contract, amendments may be proposed by the insured or the insurer who wishes to change the terms of the initial agreement, or result from new circumstances that affect the original risk. In all cases, the modalities for modifying the insurance contract are regulated by law.

    Changes not related to a change of risk

The insurer is at the origin of a proposed amendment
When the insurer proposes to review the provisions of the initial contract, he owes in all cases to collect the agreement of the insured. This agreement is materialized by an endorsement. The insured may, however, refuse the proposed amendments. The insurer must then maintain the initial warranty conditions. On the other hand, he keeps the ability to terminate the contract at the next annual maturity.

    The insured is causing a change request

The change request must be made by registered letter.
The Insurance Code provides special rules for the acceptance of the insurer. To the extent that his request does not concern an insurance contract on life, the insured may consider it as accepted if the insurer does not refuse it within ten days. In other words, the silence of the insurer means its acceptance.

    Changes related to risk changing

Risk aggravation
When the risk described at the time of contract subscription evolves over time, this change can result in worsening risk. However, the Insurance Code requires the insured person to declare the new circumstances that result in aggravate the risks, or to create new ones and make in this case inaccurate or deciduous. The answers made to the insurer in the risk reporting form at the conclusion of the contract.

The insured must declare these new circumstances to the insurer within a period of fifteen days from the moment he had awareness. Following this statement, the insurer must say, within ten days, if he plans to terminate or maintain the guarantee with an increase in the subscription.

In case of termination, it then intervenes ten days after notification.

In case of proposal with increase of the contribution, two cases arise:

    The insured does not follow the insurer's proposal, or expressly refuses the new amount within thirty days from the proposal, the insurer may terminate the contract at the end of this period;
    The insured accepts the new conditions, an endorsement or a new contract is established. These provisions do not deprive the insurer to propose other solutions. Thus, when the risk modification appears minor in the light of the pricing criteria selected from the subscription, the insurer may record the new situation without increasing the subscription.

In the case of insurance guaranteeing the reimbursement of a loan (borrower insurance), the insurer may not terminate the contract due to the worsening of the risk, except in special conditions, resulting from a change. voluntary behavior of the insured (example, practice of a particularly risky sport activity).

    Risk reduction

Even when the new situation does not constitute risk aggravation, the insured retains the opportunity to declare it to his insurer. In the event that, for the calculation of the contribution, the insurer took into account certain circumstances mentioned in the contract and that they are disappeared, the amount of the contribution must be reduced.

A refusal of the insurer to reduce the amount of the contribution authorizes the insured to terminate the contract. The termination takes effect thirty days after the denunciation made by the insured. It should be noted that these provisions are not applicable to life insurance, and health insurance when the insured's state of health is changed.

Changes imposed by law

New guarantees are sometimes imposed by law. In this hypothesis, the insureds can not refuse them (example, the guarantee natural disasters, the guarantee of the material damage resulting from acts of terrorism and attacks).
The termination of the insurance contract

    The termination of the contract subscribed by the insured

Termination at maturity
With the exception of contracts subscribed for a fixed term, insurance contracts are automatically renewed. In accordance with the provisions of the Insurance Code, the insured may request the termination of its contract no later than two months before its due date, except for the health insurance contracts, for which this period may be different.

To facilitate the termination of tacitly renewable contracts, the ASSUR code