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Divorce proceedings
Dividing assets and properties
Other financial consequences of a divorce
Effects of divorce on children
PacisLexis Family Law
Best French lawyers in France
Most of the time when you’re married, going through a separation process leads to divorce proceedings.
This situation involves lots of questions and also terrible headaches when thinking of a divorce : what are the financial consequences of a divorce? How much it costs? Who the child(ren) will live with? Can I get spousal or child maintenance? How can we share assets and properties?
Our family law lawyers and mediators are located in Paris.
We resolve many tricky situations and divorces with empathy and high legal expertise.
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Divorce proceedings
In France when thinking of a divorce is a lawyer compulsory?
Yes!
You have to get a divorce lawyer in France for a divorce proceedings whether it’s an uncontested or contested divorce.
Each spouse must have their own lawyer too for a mutual consent divorce before a Notary.
A lawyer is the master piece of a divorce proceedings to advice you on your rights and duties but essentially to preserve your interests.
What paperwork do you need to get a divorce?
You will need certified copies of all civil registration certificates such as, marriage certificate, proof of identity, children birth certificates as both spouses’ birth certificates.
This paperwork are compulsory.
You also need to provide proof of your financial situation for the judge or your lawyer to calculate any child or spousal maintenance you will have to pay or to receive. In France it can be your tax revenues, pay slips etc..
According to your circumstances, your lawyer can file you a checklist of required documents.
In France, which court shall I petition?
According to article 1070, your local family court is:
- The court where the family home is located.
- If spouses already live separately, the court is where the children reside.
- In case of a sole application, the court will be located where the spouse who did not petition for divorce lives.
In France, is going to court the only option to get a divorce?
Following a separation, spouses may find themselves in a highly contentious situation where communication is completely broken.
A contentious divorce proceeding can further deteriorate an already complicated family situation. Therefore, this solution is not always the most suitable.
To avoid going to court in France, you can either choose one of these following options:
- Mediation
- Arbitration
- Collaborative law
These options is held by a third party who is impartial. These options are a way to resolve disputes and helps improving communication as finding a solution to come to an agreement.
Héloïse KAWAISHI, founder of PacisLexis Family law is specialised in divorce proceedings and mediator and can help you find a solution throughout mediation without the court to get involved.
How long does a divorce take in France?
In France it’s quite complicated as lawyers cannot manage timelines.
Timelines in France depend on the jurisdiction which are mostly overloaded.
However, we have noticed that uncontested divorce proceedings are generally faster than contested divorce proceedings.
With abuse and some circumstances putting the petitioner in danger and/or their child(ren), it’s possible to request from the family court judge permission for an expedited summons. It’s an emergency procedure depending on the judge’s agreement. This procedure speeds up the process and reduces delays.
Contested divorce proceedings take longer.
In France the minimum period of time it can take for a contested divorce is 2 years and the time can vary with the complexity of the divorce such as negotiations, agreements between the spouses, hearings and appeals.
In France, there are 2 steps for a divorce:
- “l’audience sur les mesures provisoires » as interim measures :
The court may, at the request of a party or with a divorce, spouses, indicate to the parties any interim measure which they consider should be adopted in the interest of the parties such as the family home, the children’s welfare, visitations and overnight stays etc.
Following this hearing, the judge will give a deadline to serve a conditional order.
- The second step is the final order hearing
Between the interim measures hearing and the final one, each spouse will have to file their own requests to make sure financial settlement have been agreed to and are legally binding.
During that time, it also allows spouses to reorganise their day-to-day life.
How much does a divorce cost?
This is also one of the spouses’ biggest concerns when filing for divorce.
The cost will depend on your lawyer and cost may vary.
Also, cost can depend whether it’s an uncontested or contested divorce and if the matter goes to court.
Legal fees typically depend on the complexity of your divorce. Lawyers charge on a hourly basis or fixed-price.
At the beginning of the procedure, you’ll be asked for a down payment to cover a certain number of tasks. This amount does not reflect the total amount of our fees.
To offer you the best, a number of tasks and paperwork must be carried out. Therefore, a tasks spreadsheet is set-up to be as clear as possible with a client regarding the service provided.
A new invoice is then sent once our tasks exceed the down payment.
A lawyer has a number of expenses. if you want to learn more about how we set-up our fees, we invite you to read our article here above.
Appealing against a conditional order
You can appeal against a conditional order up to 15 days from the day the order has been served.
Appealing against a final order
You can appeal against a final order up to 2 months from the day the order has been served.
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Dividing assets and properties
Divorce and family home
In France when getting a divorce, spouses have several options regarding the family home and estates in general:
- Spouses can decide to sell their family home. Spouses decide together of the property’s value. If they can’t come to an agreement, the family court judge will appoint a Notary to estimate the property and to lead assets division.
- Buying the other partner out. One partner can decide to buy the other one’s share of the property.
When spouses can’t come to an agreement regarding their estates and family home, the family court judge will serve an order to sell the house and appoint a Notary.
Can I deny access to my ex-partner to the marital home?
No!
Leaving together is compulsory regarding the French law until the divorce is concluded.
Moreover, a family home is a shared property even if one partner is not paying the mortgage.
Therefore, you can’t change the home locks to deny access to your partner.
Nevertheless, you can agree in writing that the one, who is no longer living in the family home, notifies you before visitation and commits to come over when you’re around.
Can you buy your ex-to-be-partner out?
Yes!
You can buy your ex-to-be-partner out but you need to provide serious guarantees for a bank to agree on this.
Therefore, we strongly advice to renegotiate your monthly payments.
How does a divorce affect my mortgage?
If you’re going through a divorce or separation and you took out a joint mortgage, you are both responsible for paying the mortgage until a financial settlement is reached and it’s the same for all the debts you have in common.
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Other financial consequences of a divorce
Can I get my personal belongings back after a separation?
Yes!
This is typically for this reason that in France, interim measures hearing is set-up to allow spouses to get their personal belongings back.
What are the grounds for a fault-divorce?
Spouses have a mutual duty to maintain each other. Marriage is a legally binding contract, so it creates legal rights and responsibilities on the parties:
- Living together
- Faithfulness
- Financial support
- Respect
- Help and support
Following a separation, spouses can choose :
- An uncontested divorce
- A contested divorce with Courts
A spouse can allege that the other spouses has committed adultery, desertion or behaved unreasonable. In such circumstances the respondent has the right to defend the allegations and the petitioner has to evidence the breaches. If you demonstrate the breaches, then the family court judge can grant a fault-based divorce.
However, again, the respondent has the right to defend the allegations and can also evidence breaches.
If the respondent succeeds in evidencing the breaches, a family court judge can grant a shared fault-based divorce.
If you want to learn more about fault-divorce in France, we invite you to read this article :
What is spousal maintenance?
Spousal maintenance is a payment paid by a spouse to the other spouse if a spouse doesn’t have enough income after you’re separated from the other.
When a spouse has much higher income than the other, there may need to be a period of ongoing financial support in order not to affect the well-being of the other.
The paying spouse is the debtor and the one receiving the allowance is the recipient.
Spousal maintenance is based on several criteria such as:
- the marriage duration
- health and age of both spouses
- professional circumstances
Our family law firm calculates spousal maintenance you may be entitled to, based on AI.
If you want to learn more about spousal maintenance we invite you to read this article:
In France what are the 2 types of spousal maintenance?
In France, ‘Prestation compensatoire’ is spousal maintenance for couples who are legally divorced.
In France, ‘Pension alimentaire au titre du devoir de secours’ is spousal maintenance for separated couples but not legally divorced yet.
What shall I do if my ex-to-be partner refuses to pay for spousal maintenance before being legally divorced?
If the paying spouse doesn’t want to pay for spousal maintenance you can request a warrant of control.
The bailiff will take money straight from the paying spouse’s bank accounts or from their earnings.
What happens to a joint account when separated?
Money in a joint account is considered to be marital property and the money belongs to you and your spouses equally. We advise you to come to an agreement with your ex-partner to close the joint account.
Dating while separated in France?
In France, the answer is No!
Adultery would have to be proven but can be considered as a breach and leads to a fault-based divorce.
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Effects of divorce on children
Is paying for child maintenance compulsory?
In case of a divorce or separation, the payment of a child maintenance is compulsory. “La pension alimentaire » est obligatoire en cas de séparation ou de divorce. Regarding the French or UK law, paying a child maintenance is compulsory.
A parent will not have to pay a child maintenance only if he can’t afford to pay it and proves it in Courts.
Children maintenance rules for a set of payment made from one parent to another to help pay for your child’s living costs. It’s paid by the parent who doesn’t usually live with the child to the person who has most day-to-day care of the child and called ’child support’.
This payment is not only based on day-to-day care of the child but also on both parents’ incomes.
In France, if the arrangement broke down, you must do as follow: Please note that the paying parent can also be charged of desertion in case of no-payment
- Send a recorded letter to try to get the arrears;
- Remind the failing parent his duties within this letter and ask for the arrears as well as the recovering process;
- You could also contact the Child maintenance recovery agency;
- A third-party debt order. This process allows you to get overdue payments taken from your ex-partner’s bank account.
- Getting a Court judgment.
I’m not living with my children anymore, can I still have parental responsibility?
Yes!
In France separation or divorce doesn’t mean you lose parental responsibility.
Even after a the final order and the divorce legally binging you must jointly decide about your child(ren) health issues, scholarship, education etc.
Only under very serious circumstances, the court can remove parental responsibility.
It’s a breach not to seek for the other parent’s agreement related to the child(ren) or to avoid seeing them.
Who will the children live with after divorce?
It’s up to both parents to decide between them what is in their children’s best interests.
Flexible arrangements can be made to meet the needs of the children and the family. If an agreement cannot be reached the dispute can be settled by applying to court for a child arrangements order.
The other parent who is not living with the children will get an overnight stays and visitation’s arrangement.
What options does the court have if a child is subject to violence or abuse?
The family court will issue an order which stops a parent from having any contact with the child. A restraining order will be used in cases of abuse and can also be applied to abusive parents.
The courts will consider the allegations and the safety of a child.
For example, in France, a court can also remove parental responsibility and order supervised contact with the child(ren).
If you want to learn more about restraining orders, please read the following article:
What is supervised contact with children?
Supervised contact is the supervision of a child by a safe adult or third-party whilst the child has contact with a non-resident parent.
The family court judge will set-up the frequency and the duration of these supervised visitations.
Child arrangement orders
A child arrangement order is legally binding. Therefore, the terms of the order must be met by one parent or the other.
Courts arrangement orders must be served through a bailiff. The timeline to appeal starts when the order is served.
A child arrangement order includes who the child(ren) will primarily live with, under what conditions the child will spend time with the other parent, parental responsibility, child maintenance and must be met immediately.
Reasons for a child to be taken into care
Divorce or separation doesn’t automatically involve a child to be taken into care.
Mainly the reasons for a child to be taken into care are neglect, abuse, abandonment or incarceration.
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PacisLexis Family Law
You want to learn more about international divorce?
PacisLexis Family law can guide you through the process of getting a divorce in a friendly and amicable manner, helping you and your partner too with understanding and respect.
When necessary, our experienced family law lawyers will represent you in a contested divorce, ensuring your rights are protected throughout the legal proceedings.
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Our divorce articles
Civil partnership
In France, “PACS” stands for “Pacte civil de solidarité,” which is “Civil partnership” in English. It is a form of a legal contract that provides legal recognition and some of the benefits associated with marriage or a civil union for couples who choose not to get married. PACS was introduced in France in 1999 as a way to offer legal protections and benefits to unmarried couples, including same-sex couples. However, PACS and civil partnership are totally different.
Third party and grandparents rights
When families break down, a minor can find himself in a middle of conflicts and distanced from their relatives and siblings such as the grandparents.
Parents have parental responsibility for their child(ren) opposed to grandparents who don’t automatically have parental responsibility and they are referred as third parties.
Spousal maintenance payments tax
For a complete guide about spousal maintenance payments are deductible or considered as income in France, we invite you to read this article.
Spoual maintenance definition: Spousal maintenance is a payment paid by a spouse to the other spouse if a spouse doesn’t have enough income after you’re separated from the other.
In France, there are 2 types of spousal maintenance: spousal maintenance before being legally divorced and spousal maintenance after being legally divorced, so after the final order has been served.