Financial Support Within Families: 4 in 10 French People Are Affected, but Few Know How to Make the Most of It

Nearly 38% of French people have received financial assistance from a parent or grandparent over the past five years, according to the third edition of the ASAC-FAPES/Ifop Observatory on Intergenerational Solidarity. The median amount is 2,000 euros, but this widespread solidarity remains largely informal due to a lack of legal and tax guidelines.
 

Widespread solidarity that acts as a social safety net
The results of the Ifop survey, conducted from March 26 to 31, 2026, among 1,000 people representative of the French population, paint a striking picture. Thirty-eight percent of French people report having received financial assistance from an older relative over the past five years, including 18% on multiple occasions. Conversely, 37% of parents or grandparents report having provided financial assistance to a descendant. Family support is therefore not a niche phenomenon: it affects nearly one in two households when upward and downward financial flows are combined.
 

Behind these overall figures lies a mixed picture. The median amount of financial assistance exchanged stands at 2,000 euros, but the average is significantly higher: 6,514 euros for amounts received and 9,748 euros for amounts paid. This gap between the average and the median reveals the existence of very large transfers among the wealthiest households. A quarter of retirees in the highest socioeconomic class report having given 20,000 euros or more, while 54% of those in lower socioeconomic classes indicate they gave less than 500 euros. Solidarity is very much a reality at every level of the social ladder, but its extent varies considerably.
 

Perhaps the most striking phenomenon is that of upward solidarity—that is, children providing support to their own parents. Twenty-one percent of French people report having provided financial support to an older relative in need, with 10 percent having done so on multiple occasions. People under 35 and employees/blue-collar workers are overrepresented in this category, at 31% and 29%, respectively—10 and 8 percentage points higher than the national average. Family support thus acts as a social safety net, but it places a disproportionate burden on households with the least financial flexibility.
 

From Spontaneous Acts to Estate Planning: A Gap to Bridge
The Observatory highlights a paradox: family generosity is widespread, but it largely occurs outside of any structured framework. Most financial assistance is transferred via simple bank transfer, without legal formalities, without consideration of tax implications, and without planning for the effects on future estates. However, as of January 1, 2026, all monetary gifts must be reported online via the personal account on the tax agency’s website, even when they are tax-exempt. This requirement, which is still not widely known, may expose families to tax adjustments if the transfers were not reported in a timely manner.
 

However, there are ways to optimize this situation. Each parent can give up to 100,000 euros per child every 15 years tax-free; this limit is in addition to the family gift allowance of 31,865 euros if the donor is under 80 years old and the recipient is over 18. Sixty-two percent of French people now plan to transfer assets during their lifetime—a figure that has risen sharply, according to the Observatory—and 77 percent believe they will be able to leave an inheritance (up 6 percentage points). Gifting has emerged as the primary method of asset transfer, ahead of life insurance and wills.
 

The section of the survey devoted to solidarity-based savings reveals a concerning lack of financial literacy. Nearly 4 in 10 French people are unable to define what a solidarity-based savings product is: 28% say they are unfamiliar with the term, and 9% do not associate it with anything specific. Only 12% correctly identify solidarity savings as a financial investment. For wealth management professionals, these results underscore the need for education: to support families not only in managing their financial assets but also in structuring intergenerational support, by addressing the legal, tax, and emotional aspects of an act that remains, above all, an act of solidarity.