According to reporting from MoneyVox, the decision nullified a seven-month ban on charging fees for minor estates, simple successions, and accounts belonging to deceased minors, prompting major institutions like Crédit Agricole and Crédit Mutuel to selectively revive their billing practices while maintaining certain exemptions.
Constitutional Council Cancels Estate Fee Bans
The regulatory shift began when the Constitutional Council published a decision on Friday, June 19, 2026, following a priority question of constitutionality brought by Caisse d’Epargne Grand Est Europe. According to the ruling, provisions enacted under a law that took effect on November 13, 2025, were declared unconstitutional because prohibiting credit institutions from billing operations in specific cases “regardless of the cost” constituted a disproportionate infringement on the freedom to conduct business and contractual freedom. Prior to the court’s intervention, the law had banned fees on small successions of less than 5,965 euros, simple successions (notably when heirs were known), and cases involving deceased minors. Figures cited by the finance committee of the National Assembly indicate that these fees previously cost consumers an average of 303 euros per estate, representing 125 to 200 million euros billed per year by banks.
Retail Banks Resume Billing While Preserving Limited Exemptions
Retail banking groups are moving quickly to adjust their fee schedules following the judicial reversal. While initial compliance with the November 2025 legislation led to widespread zero-fee structures, major mutualist networks are now reinstating charges. According to announcements from Crédit Agricole and Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, total fee exemptions will remain in place for deceased minors and estates valued below 10,000 euros. Both banking groups, alongside La Banque Postale and Crédit Coopératif, confirmed they will resume billing for simple successions of adults exceeding 10,000 euros, subject to a strict cap of 1% of the assets with a maximum limit of 857 euros. Other major institutions, including BNP Paribas, stated they plan to communicate on this subject in October.
Parliamentary and Associative Counter-Offensive
Lawmakers and advocacy groups who championed the original consumer protections are organizing a public resistance campaign for the September term. Socialist deputy Christine Pirès Beaune, who authored the legislation, condemned the legal challenge as a “shameful” and “scandalous” move by the banking sector in an interview with MoneyVox. The pushback is coordinated alongside the association Eva Pour La Vie—which originally brought national attention to the issue in 2021 after La Banque Postale charged nearly 140 euros to close the Livret A account of a nine-year-old child—alongside the federation Grandir Sans Cancer and consumer group Que Choisir Ensemble. More than 200 parliamentarians signed a joint open letter in mid-July demanding that French banks publicly clarify whether they intend to reimpose fees on minors, simple successions, and modest estates. Stéphane Vedrenne, president of the Fédération Grandir sans cancer, told MoneyVox that advocacy groups will publish these institutional responses in September to execute a “name and shame” strategy against lenders that fail to respect the original intent of the law.
Surviving Legal Protections for Heirs
Despite the invalidation of the mandatory zero-fee rules, statutory caps established under the legal framework remain fully operational to protect beneficiaries. According to regulatory details published by service-public.gouv.fr and analyzed by Cyril Jarnias, any estate processing fees that banks legally bill cannot exceed 1% of the total balance of accounts and savings products. Furthermore, the absolute ceiling for these charges is 857 euros for 2026, an upward adjustment from the 850-euro limit established at the end of 2025.