A study on “Bail à nourriture” in French civil law: Expansion of reverse mortgage to prepare for an aging society

According to recent articles, Korea is aging very rapidly. In order to prepare for an aging society, various laws and policies are being studied, such as providing certain financial support or providing housing to stabilize housing. In Korea, a Housing Reverse Mortgage is implemented to provide financial assistance to the elderly, and the number of subscribers is increasing every year. Our Housing Reverse Mortgage is a simple system in which a certain amount of money is received using the house as collateral. While it can address economic problems among the many challenges of an aging society, we need to consider various ways to support the elderly, especially given the high value of housing these days. However, since the value of housing is very high these days, it is necessary to think of various ways to use it to secure the elderly. In this respect, France’s “Bail à nourriture” is very interesting topic as a new reverse mortgage method. “Bail à nourriture” has not yet been introduced in Korea because it has existed only as precedent for a long time without any provisions in the Civil Code and is not explained in detail in legal literature. “Bail à nourriture” is similar to a reverse mortgage in that one party to the contract transfers his/her house to the other party, but the difference is that the other party has an obligation to support the party rather than simply paying a certain amount of money. According to the precedent of the Court of Cassation in France, the contract may include not only matters related to food, clothing, and shelter, but also matters related to medical care and physical activities. Through this contract, France seeks not only to solve the financial problems of the elderly, but also to solve various problems such as social isolation and difficulties in living among the elderly. Today, in France, the value of houses has increased, “Bail à nourriture” is attracting attention again. In order to prepare for an aging society, Korea also needs to consider expanding reverse mortgages, which can address a variety of problems rather than simply paying money in exchange for high value housing.