French law, explained in English — with the real references attached
Julie is a French legal AI that answers questions asked in English: describe your situation in plain English and get an English answer grounded in the actual French legal sources — the exact articles in force on Légifrance (680,000+ provisions), 1.18 million court decisions and 35,280 administrative circulars, each claim carrying its citation. French legal terms (titre de séjour, préavis, mise en demeure) are kept in French with a plain-English explanation, so you can act on the official documents you actually receive. 3 questions are free at signup, no credit card; deeper analysis is pay-per-use from €11.99, with no subscription.
Verified on August 26, 2026 · official sources cited and dated · general legal information, not legal advice
What a sourced English answer looks like
A real worked example — the format every answer follows: plain English, French terms kept and explained, official references you can verify.
julie://answer — security deposit (dépôt de garantie)
My landlord in Lyon has kept my security deposit for over 2 months since I moved out. The exit inventory (état des lieux) was clean. What can I do?
With a clean exit inventory (état des lieux de sortie conforme), your landlord had 1 month to return the deposit — 2 months only if damages were noted (art. 22, loi n° 89-462 du 6 juillet 1989). Past the deadline, the amount due is increased by 10% of your monthly rent for each month started late.
Your steps: 1) send a formal demand letter (mise en demeure) by registered mail with proof of receipt (lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception), claiming the deposit plus the late penalty; 2) no answer within ~15 days → refer the dispute to the departmental conciliation commission or a free court conciliator (conciliateur de justice); 3) still nothing → the protection litigation judge (juge des contentieux de la protection) handles tenancy deposit claims — no lawyer required at this level.
Art. 22, loi n° 89-462 (Légifrance)service-public.fr · F31269
The situations expats actually face — and what Julie does with each
Immigration, work, housing, consumer problems: the recurring cases, with the French institutions and documents involved.
Common expat situations, the French-law reality, and what you get.
Your situation
What French law says (the short version)
What Julie produces
Residence permit (titre de séjour) refusal or préfecture silence
Refusals and OQTF orders carry strict appeal deadlines that vary by situation; préfecture silence can itself be an implicit decision
Your exact deadlines and appeal route (CESEDA references), plus what each mention on your letter means
Employment: dismissal, contract, unpaid overtime
French labour law (code du travail) is protective but deadline-driven — e.g. 12 months to challenge a dismissal (art. L1471-1)
Your rights, the applicable articles and case law, and how prud'hommes proceedings work
The code de la consommation gives strong remedies — with prerequisites (written complaint first)
The remedy ladder, the free mediator to use, and the letters to send
Family and civil status in France
Divorce, PACS, child arrangements follow French procedure even for foreign nationals residing in France
What applies to your case, which judge (JAF), and what a lawyer must handle
What's under the English answers
The same official corpus French professionals rely on — documented, dated, verifiable.
680,000+legal provisions in force — the full Légifrance corpus, retrieved live at every questionalphadeep.fr — corpus documented publicly
1.18MFrench court decisions (Cour de cassation, courts of appeal, Conseil d'État)alphadeep.fr
35,280administrative circulars — the instructions préfectures and agencies actually applyalphadeep.fr
~20sper answer, each claim carrying its official reference, in your languageProduct behaviour, verified 26 August 2026
Is Julie the right tool for your case?
Honest verdicts — including when you need a human lawyer instead.
Yes — this is exactly what Julie is built for
Understanding a French letter, contract or administrative decision, knowing your rights and deadlines, preparing the right response: ask in English, verify every cited reference on Légifrance yourself. Start with the 3 free questions; upload documents with the pay-per-use analysis (€11.99) if your case lives in paperwork.
Some French deadlines are brutally short (an OQTF can leave 48 hours to 30 days depending on your situation; court procedures have mandatory representation thresholds). Julie will tell you which deadline applies and what the documents mean — do that today — but a contentious or urgent case needs an avocat. If your income is limited, French legal aid (aide juridictionnelle) can cover the fees; free legal clinics (points-justice) exist in every département.
Yes — Julie drafts the French letter and explains it in English
The letter that unlocks most French disputes is the mise en demeure — formal, referenced, sent by registered mail. Julie drafts it in proper French legal register, cites the applicable provisions inside the letter, and explains every line to you in English so you know exactly what you are sending.
You can run the whole conversation in English, and the site interface exists in English (/en). The documents you receive and send in France remain in French — Julie bridges that by quoting the French originals and explaining them, and by drafting French letters you can send as-is. For hearings and negotiations, plan for a French speaker or a lawyer.
Pick your case to highlight the matching verdict (all verdicts stay in the page).
Why generic chatbots are risky for French law specificallyChatGPT will happily answer French-law questions in English — from training memory. French law changes constantly (the OQTF appeal regime was rebuilt in July 2024; the legal interest rate changes twice a year; housing rules differ by zone), and a generic model can cite repealed provisions or invent plausible-looking references. Julie retrieves from the official sources at every question and attaches the exact reference — which you can verify on legifrance.gouv.fr, free, before acting.
The free safety net
Know the official free services too
France has a real free legal-help infrastructure that works for foreigners as well: justice.fr and the 3039 hotline for orientation, points-justice for free consultations (some with English-speaking volunteers), the conciliateur de justice for everyday civil disputes, and aide juridictionnelle — state-funded lawyer fees if your resources are limited, with an official online simulator. An AI assistant is your first layer: understand fast, prepare well, and escalate to humans when the stakes require it.
Frequently asked questions
Yes — Julie answers in the language you write in. Ask in English and the answer comes in English, with the French legal terms kept (titre de séjour, préavis, mise en demeure) and explained, and the exact Légifrance references attached to each claim so you can verify and act on official documents. The website interface is also available in English under /en.
Yes: 3 free questions at signup (no credit card), then 1 free question per week. Each free answer is a full sourced answer, not a teaser. Deeper analysis — document upload with page-level citations, expert multi-angle reasoning — is pay-per-use: €11.99 or €29.99, with no subscription to cancel.
Yes. Upload the PDF or DOCX — scanned documents work too (OCR built in). Julie analyses it clause by clause against the law in force, answers your questions about it in English, cites the document and page it relies on, and can propose a sourced rewrite of a clause you need to change. Multiple documents from one case can be grouped into a case file.
Yes — immigration (CESEDA), residence permits, OQTF appeals, family reunification and naturalisation questions are among the most asked. Warning that matters: immigration deadlines are short and situation-dependent (48 hours to 30 days for OQTF appeals depending on your case since the July 2024 reform). Julie tells you which regime applies; for a contentious appeal, also consult an avocat or an association like La Cimade — quickly.
Julie provides general legal information grounded in official sources — it is not personalised legal advice and does not represent you. French law makes a lawyer mandatory in several procedures (most claims over €10,000 before the tribunal judiciaire, appeals, judicial divorce). Use Julie to understand, prepare documents and arrive at any lawyer meeting informed; use a lawyer for contentious, urgent or high-stakes matters. Legal aid can cover fees if your income is limited.
Data is hosted in the European Union, and your questions and documents are never used to train AI models. Teams (Julie Business) additionally get a DPA and security documentation, with private conversations per member. The service is published by AlphaDeep, a French-market legal-AI company with published legal notices.
How this page was produced
Corpus consulted
Légifrance (provisions in force as of 26 August 2026), service-public.gouv.fr, justice.fr, alphadeep.fr product documentation
Method
AI-assisted writing verified against primary official sources. The worked example applies art. 22 of loi n° 89-462 as in force; deadlines are stated categorically (never computed personal dates). English answers are a verified product behaviour: the assistant answers in the user's language.
Editorial responsibility
Publisher: AlphaDeep (the company behind Julie)
Last verified
August 26, 2026
Spotted an error or an outdated figure? Report it — corrections are dated on the page.
Your situation, in English, with the French law attached.
Describe what's happening in plain English: Julie answers with the exact provisions in force, the deadlines running, and your next steps — 3 free questions, no credit card. General legal information, not legal advice.
General legal information based on official French sources, current as of the verification date shown — not personalised legal advice, and no substitute for an avocat, whose involvement is mandatory in several French procedures. French law changes: always check the last-verified date.
Cookies
Julie uses cookies required to run the site (session, interface preferences) and, if you accept them, audience-measurement and advertising cookies (Google). No data is ever sold. Privacy · Cookies