Surviving child education benefit

OCIRP, a union of French provident institutions set up in 1967, pays education annuities until the child turns 18, extended to 26 if the child stays in school. A surviving child education benefit pays the children of a deceased member a periodic income until the end of their studies. A lump sum death benefit, by contrast, pays a single amount to named beneficiaries. The gap goes beyond form: a lump sum gets spent, badly invested or dissipated. A dedicated annuity follows the child to the end of schooling and withstands whatever happens to the surviving household. Its amount is a percentage of the lost parent's annual salary, in rising age bands, because a child costs more with each year and most during higher education. It is often paired with a spouse's annuity. It is almost always carried by a group scheme rather than an individual policy, so it depends on the employment relationship still existing at the date of death. It answers a loss that runs on for fifteen or twenty years after the bereavement, and that a single payment protects poorly.