Compensatory allowance in a French divorce: how the judge sets the amount and how to situate yours

Which range does your case fall into?

Four answers, with your French tax notices in front of you. The result is a discussion range and the criteria that carry it, never an amount: no scale exists and the judge decides case by case.

Which criterion moves my case, and which document proves it?

Article 271 is not argued with adjectives. Each line is won with a dated document, and the sworn statement of article 272 pulls them together.

Who can claim a compensatory allowance in a French divorce?

The spouse whose standard of living drops because of the divorce, whatever the type of divorce and whichever of the two asked for it. Article 270 of the Civil Code ends the duty of support between spouses and allows the court to compensate, as far as possible, the disparity that the breakdown of the marriage creates in their respective living conditions. The judge may refuse it where fairness requires, in particular when the divorce is granted at the exclusive fault of the spouse claiming it.

Which criteria does a French judge weigh?

The seven criteria of article 271: length of the marriage, age and health, professional qualifications and situation, career choices made during the marriage, assets after the property split, existing and foreseeable rights, pension rights. The criteria are not ranked and the list stays open, since the text introduces them with the word notamment (in particular). Nothing in article 271 limits pension rights or assets to French schemes, so a foreign pension statement or a property held abroad belongs in the file. The last criterion even asks the judge to estimate the pension entitlements lost through choices made for the family.

La prestation compensatoire est fixée selon les besoins de l’époux à qui elle est versée et les ressources de l’autre en tenant compte de la situation au moment du divorce et de l’évolution de celle-ci dans un avenir prévisible.Civil Code, article 271, first paragraph

Is there an official scale or calculator in France?

No. No statute sets a formula and the public administration hosts no simulator: the amount is built criterion by criterion, document by document. A 2024 study of the 71 rulings on compensatory allowances handed down in 2023 by the Grenoble Court of Appeal counts twelve valuation methods in circulation. Lawyers cite one explicitly in only 4% of the files, and no method appears in the reasoning of the 50 rulings that grant an allowance. Practitioner grids frame a negotiation; they do not bind the judge.

What do French courts actually award?

Official studies give medians, not promises: a median lump sum of 25,000 € for allowances granted in 2013, and 25,000 € again on appeal in Grenoble in 2023. The Ministry of Justice survey of 2013 decisions puts half of cash lump sums below 25,000 €, with 10% above 99,800 €. The Grenoble study of 2023 finds an average of 43,343 € and a median of 25,000 € across 49 lump-sum awards, against a median of 30,000 € at first instance. These figures describe decided cases, not yours.

Lump sum, instalments or a life annuity?

A lump sum is the rule. The judge can spread it over up to eight years when the paying spouse cannot settle in one go. A life annuity stays exceptional. Article 274 of the Civil Code offers two forms of capital: a payment of money, or the transfer of property or of a temporary or lifelong right of use, occupation or usufruct. Article 275 allows indexed periodic payments within a limit of eight years, extended only by a special reasoned decision. Article 276 keeps the life annuity for the case where the recipient’s age or health prevents them from meeting their own needs.

Do the years we lived together before the wedding count?

No. Only the length of the marriage counts, even if you had been living together for years before you married. The Cour de cassation (supreme court for civil matters) quashed a ruling that relied on about six years of life together when the marriage itself had lasted only two years up to the separation. The rule cuts both ways: it shields the paying spouse from a long period of cohabitation, and it strips the claimant of years they thought counted.

Les juges du fond n’ont pas à tenir compte de la vie commune antérieure au mariage pour déterminer les ressources et les besoins des époux en vue de la fixation de la prestation compensatoire.Cass. 1re civ., 5 December 2018, no. 17-28.345

Our marriage was short: is anything owed?

Rarely, but it is not automatic. The Ministry of Justice told the Senate that a brief union most often leads to no compensatory allowance. The answer published on 28 May 2020 recalls that article 271 requires the judge to take the length of the marriage into account and that settled case law draws that consequence. A very wide gap in living standards, work given up to follow a spouse, or a young child can still justify an allowance, usually a modest one.

Can we set the amount ourselves in the agreement?

Yes. In a divorce by mutual consent the spouses set the amount and the terms in the agreement countersigned by their two lawyers and deposited with a notary. Article 278 of the Civil Code provides for this and allows an annuity for a limited period, or payments that stop when a defined event occurs. Article 229-1 requires a lawyer for each spouse and the deposit of the agreement with a notaire (public officer), which is what gives it enforceable status. Where the agreement goes to a judge, the judge refuses to approve it if it settles the spouses’ rights and duties unfairly.

How late can I ask for it?

Only while the divorce proceedings are running. Once the divorce is final the claim is no longer admissible; on appeal, a first claim remains possible in some cases. The official service-public.fr sheet F1760 states it plainly: the claim must be made during the divorce proceedings. In a divorce by mutual consent it has to appear in the agreement before it is deposited with the notary. This is the door that closes most quietly on people who sign quickly to be done with it.

Who pays tax on it in France?

It depends on the timing. A lump sum paid within twelve months gives the paying spouse a 25% income-tax reduction, capped at 30,500 € of payments. Beyond that, the maintenance regime applies. Article 199 octodecies of the Code général des impôts (general tax code) sets that 25% reduction and the 30,500 € ceiling, the twelve months running from the date the agreement became enforceable or the divorce judgment became final. Article 80 quater places payments spread beyond twelve months, and annuities under articles 276, 278 and 279-1, under the maintenance regime: taxable for the person who receives them, deductible for the one who pays.

Can it be changed after the divorce?

The amount of a lump sum is fixed once and for all; only the payment terms can be revisited. An annuity can be revised, suspended or cancelled. Article 270 gives the allowance its lump-sum character. Article 275 lets the paying spouse ask for the payment terms to be revised on a significant change in their situation, and lets the judge exceptionally allow instalments beyond eight years. Article 276-3 opens revision of an annuity on a significant change in either party’s resources or needs, but it can never be raised above the amount originally set.

Which documents should I gather before seeing a French lawyer?

The sworn statement of article 272, your last two tax notices, payslips, career statement, the draft liquidation of the estate and proof of the years out of work. Article 272 requires both parties to file a statement certifying on their honour the accuracy of their resources, income, assets and living conditions, both when the allowance is set and when a revision is sought. A file where every article 271 criterion is backed by a dated document is what a lawyer can use from the first hour of the consultation.

Julie or a lawyer: what comes first this week?

What this page is built on

What should you check before continuing?

On an amount, care pays better than speed.