The form on which an applicant declares their health, whose inaccuracy exposes them to voidance of the contract or to reduced benefits.
The health questionnaire is the vehicle for disclosure in personal insurance: the applicant answers written questions, and it is on those answers that the insurer decides to accept, load or decline. The sanction for inaccuracy is graduated by intent. An intentional misstatement that changes the insurer's view of the risk voids the contract, with premiums retained by the insurer, the heaviest sanction in insurance law. An unintentional misstatement discovered after a claim reduces the benefit in the ratio of the premium paid to the premium that would have been due. French case law has substantially tightened these sanctions by requiring that the insurer have asked precise questions: an open ended questionnaire, or a pre-filled form signed without anything being asked, no longer allows anything to be held against the applicant. The problem solved is the information asymmetry on a risk only the applicant knows and the insurer cannot observe.
The mixed chamber of France's Court of Cassation held, in a judgment of February 7, 2014, that an insurer may rely on a misstatement only where precise questions were put before the contract was signed. The sanctions remain those of articles L. 113-8 and L. 113-9 of the Insurance Code, voidance for intentional misstatement and proportional reduction for the rest, and the burden of proof rests entirely on the insurer.
déclaration d'état de santé, formalités déclaratives