MDPH refusal in France (AAH, PCH, disability card): appeal in two steps, RAPO then court

Which step is mine today: RAPO, court or a fresh application?

Four answers, with the MDPH notification in front of you. The result names a step to prepare, never a hearing date, an amount or a chance of success.

What are the appeal steps in order, and who decides at each one?

Five rungs, two windows of two months, and one document required at every send: a copy of the contested decision. Conciliation is the only optional rung, and the only one that gives time back.

1. 1

   Read the notification and date its arrival

   The decision must give reasons and state the deadline, the routes of appeal, the obligation to file a prior appeal and the authority to address it to. Keep the envelope: the date it reached you governs everything else.

   When: the same daySend to: nobodyDocument: the notification and its envelopeCost: none
2. 2

   Ask for conciliation, if your evidence is thin

   Optional rung. A personne qualifiée (independent conciliator) listed by the MDPH proposes conciliation measures. Starting that procedure interrupts the appeal deadlines, which buys the time to obtain an up-to-date medical certificate.

   When: before the two months run outSend to: the MDPHDocument: a written request for conciliationBasis: article L146-10, Social Action and Families Code
3. 3

   Send the compulsory prior appeal (RAPO)

   A letter addressed to the commission that decided, with a copy of the contested decision or, where the decision is implied, of the acknowledgement of receipt of your application. The letter may set out the grounds and the elements wrongly assessed.

   When: within two months of notificationSend to: the MDPH, or the président du conseil départemental for the cardDocument: appeal letter, copy of the decision, new evidenceCost: the registered postage
4. 4

   Wait for the answer, or for two months of silence

   The commission looks at the file again. Two months without an answer count as a refusal, and that implied refusal opens the court window exactly as a refusal letter would. You are not required to chase before going to court.

   When: two months of silenceSend to: nobodyDocument: your proof of postingCost: none
5. 5

   Go to court, with no compulsory lawyer

   Social division of the specially designated tribunal judiciaire for AAH, PCH, the invalidité and priorité card mentions and decisions about a child. Administrative court for RQTH, work orientation and the stationnement card mention.

   When: within two months of the refusalSend to: the court where you liveDocument: claim, refusal decision, medical fileExpert report: paid by the health insurance fund

What does the RAPO letter to the MDPH look like?

A useful letter fits on one page: who you are, which decision you contest, what was wrongly assessed, and what you attach. The story of your journey never replaces a dated document.

[Your first name and SURNAME]
[Your address]
[Postcode, town]
Numéro de dossier MDPH : [your MDPH file number]

Maison départementale des personnes handicapées de [department]
À l’attention de la commission des droits et de l’autonomie des personnes handicapées
[MDPH address]

Lettre recommandée avec avis de réception
[Town], le [date]

Objet : recours administratif préalable obligatoire contre la décision du [date of the decision]

Madame, Monsieur,

J’ai reçu le [date it reached you] la décision référencée [reference], par laquelle la commission [refuses / reduces / shortens] [AAH, PCH, RQTH, orientation, carte mobilité inclusion].

Je forme contre cette décision le recours administratif préalable obligatoire prévu à l’article L. 142-4 du Code de la sécurité sociale, dans le délai de deux mois de l’article R. 142-1-A du même code.

Éléments insuffisamment ou incorrectement pris en compte :
- [daily impact: moving, dressing, fatigue, human assistance needed]
- [period or situation wrongly assessed: sick leave, hospital stays, real working hours]

Pièces jointes :
- copie de la décision contestée
- [medical certificate cerfa 15695*01 dated [date]]
- [hospital reports and specialist letters dated after the application]
- [written statements describing daily tasks]

Je vous demande de réexaminer ma demande au vu de ces éléments et de me notifier votre nouvelle décision.

Je vous prie d’agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l’expression de mes salutations distinguées.

[Signature]

The MDPH has refused my AAH: what do I do in the first days?

Write down the date it reached you, read the reasons line by line, then check that the notification states the deadline, the routes of appeal and the authority to address. The two months are already running. Under French law, the notification of the decision states the deadlines and routes of contentious appeal, the obligation to file a prior appeal and the authority before which it must be filed; it also recalls the right to ask for conciliation before starting that appeal (Social Action and Families Code, article R241-32). A notification silent on those points has a direct consequence: the deadline cannot be held against you (Social Security Code, article R142-1-A).

What exactly is a RAPO and where do I send it?

A written appeal sent to the maison départementale des personnes handicapées, addressed to the commission that decided. It is compulsory before any court and must travel by a means giving it a certain date. Contentious appeals in French social security matters must be preceded by a prior appeal (Social Security Code, article L142-4). That appeal is addressed to the maison départementale des personnes handicapées (departmental disability office) by any means giving it a certain date; it contains a letter addressed to the commission des droits et de l’autonomie des personnes handicapées (the commission deciding on disability rights) and a copy of the contested decision, or of the acknowledgement of receipt where the decision is implied (Social Action and Families Code, article R241-36). One exception on the address: the carte mobilité inclusion is issued by the président du conseil départemental (article L241-3), so the prior appeal goes to him, as the official fiche on the card states.

What happens if the MDPH never answers my appeal?

Two months of silence count as a refusal. You do not wait for a letter: the two-month window to bring the case to court runs from that implied refusal. By way of exception to the rule that silence means acceptance, silence kept for two months counts as a refusal where the request is a claim or an administrative appeal (Code des relations entre le public et l’administration, the public-administration relations code, article L231-4). The official fiches on the AAH and on the disability compensation benefit say the same: no answer from the commission for more than two months is an implied refusal, and you then have two months to bring the case before the court where you live.

After the RAPO is refused, which French court do I go to?

The social division of the tribunal judiciaire for AAH, PCH, the invalidité and priorité card mentions and decisions about a child. The tribunal administratif for RQTH and work orientation. Decisions on a child’s orientation, on the designation of facilities and services, and on the assessment of the disability rate or of compensation needs belong to specially designated tribunaux judiciaires (judicial courts); those taken about an adult in the field of vocational rehabilitation, adapted or sheltered work, and the recognition of disabled worker status, belong to the administrative courts (Social Action and Families Code, article L241-9; Judicial Organisation Code, article L211-16). The competent court is the one where the claimant lives; where the claimant lives abroad, it is the court where the MDPH that took the decision sits (Social Security Code, article R142-10).

Do I need a lawyer to challenge an MDPH decision in France?

No. Before the social division you may defend yourself, or be assisted by your spouse, a parent or child, a delegate from a user association, or a lawyer. Parties may defend themselves; besides lawyers, a party may be assisted or represented by their spouse, an ascendant or descendant in the direct line, their partner or civil-solidarity-pact partner, or a delegate of associations lawfully formed at least five years earlier to work in the field of users’ economic and social rights (Social Security Code, article L142-9). A representative who is not a lawyer must produce a special power of attorney. On appeal, representation is likewise not compulsory.

Is conciliation by a personne qualifiée worth asking for?

Yes, and above all it gives time back: starting a conciliation interrupts the appeal deadlines. It does not replace the RAPO, which stays compulsory before any court. Where a disabled person, their parents or their legal representative consider that a decision of the commission disregards their rights, they may ask for a personne qualifiée (an independent conciliator) to propose conciliation measures; the MDPH draws up the list of those persons (Social Action and Families Code, article L146-10). The notification of the decision must recall that right before the prior appeal is started (article R241-32).

L’engagement d’une procédure de conciliation interrompt les délais de recours.Social Action and Families Code, article L146-10 (French original)

How do I strengthen the medical file before I appeal?

With documents dated after the decision: a recent cerfa 15695*01 medical certificate, hospital reports, assessments, and a concrete description of the impact on everyday tasks. The medical certificate to attach to an application to the maison départementale des personnes handicapées is form cerfa 15695*01; the application itself is filed on cerfa 15692*01 and must come with a medical certificate less than one year old (service-public fiches R19996 and R19993). The letter starting the prior appeal may set out the grounds of the challenge and the elements insufficiently or incorrectly taken into account (Social Action and Families Code, article R241-36), which is exactly where new documents belong.

I am not a French national: does my residence permit affect the AAH?

Yes. Non-EU nationals need a lawful residence status, or a receipt confirming a renewal application. EU and EEA nationals must have lived in France for more than three months, with exceptions. Foreign nationals other than those of European Union member states or of states party to the European Economic Area agreement may receive the AAH only if their residence status is lawful or if they hold an attestation de demande de renouvellement de titre de séjour (a certificate confirming a permit renewal request); a decree lists the accepted documents. EU and EEA nationals must have lived in France for more than three months, a condition not applied to those working, to those who worked in France and are permanently unable to work for medical reasons, in vocational training or registered as jobseekers, or to their spouses, ascendants and descendants (Social Security Code, article L821-1).

Does appealing put the rights I already have at risk?

No. The appeal does not suspend the contested decision, and your other rights run to their own end date: each decision of the commission carries its own validity period. An appeal against a decision of the commission has no suspensive effect, except where the disabled person or their legal representative brings it against a decision designating a facility or a service (Social Action and Families Code, article L241-9). Decisions of the commission carry a validity period that cannot be shorter than one year nor longer than ten years, absent specific rules (article R241-31); the AAH based on a disability rate of at least 80 % is even granted without a time limit where the activity limitations are not likely to improve (Social Security Code, article R821-5).

I missed the two-month window: is anything left?

Check the notification before giving up: if it stated neither the deadline nor the routes of appeal, that deadline cannot be held against you. Otherwise the open route is a fresh application to the MDPH. The prior appeal window and the court window are two months from the notification of the contested decision, but those windows can be held against you only if they were stated, together with the routes of appeal, in the notification or, for an implied decision, in the acknowledgement of receipt of the application (Social Security Code, article R142-1-A). Failing that, the practical route stays a fresh application, which is examined on today’s medical evidence rather than on the original file.

Ces délais ne sont opposables qu’à la condition d’avoir été mentionnés, ainsi que les voies de recours, dans la notification de la décision contestée ou, en cas de décision implicite, dans l’accusé de réception de la demande.Social Security Code, article R142-1-A (French original)

When should Julie, an association or a lawyer take over?

Julie drafts the appeal, lists the documents and reviews your grounds. A user association can attend the hearing with you. A lawyer earns their place when everything turns on the rate or on an expert report. Before the court, the medical expert report is not billed to you: the costs of consultations and expert reports ordered by the courts in these disputes are borne by the Caisse nationale de l’assurance maladie (the national health insurance fund) (Social Security Code, article L142-11). If you do choose a lawyer, aide juridictionnelle (legal aid) can cover part or all of the fees; the request is filed online or on form cerfa 16146, per the official fiche on legal aid in French proceedings.

What this page is built on

What should you check before continuing?

What this page does, and what it does not decide for you.