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Divorce in France 2026: the money side, worked out item by item
Incomes, length of marriage, children, home: one set of inputs gives child support, a compensatory payment range, the soulte and the regulated fees, each computed from official French sources.
Ministry of Justice table · partition duty 1.10 % · notary filing €49.44 · checked 4 October 2026
A French divorce moves money in four ways, each with its own rule. Child support follows the French Ministry of Justice reference table: on €3,600 net a month with two children living with the other parent, it comes to €678 a month. The compensatory payment (prestation compensatoire) has no legal scale; the three methods practitioners use put the same couple, married fifteen years with the other spouse earning €1,700, somewhere between €14,250 and €57,000. The soulte buys out the share of the spouse who leaves the home: €80,000 for a house worth €280,000 with €120,000 still owed. Finally the State levies a 1.10 % partition duty on the net assets, here €1,760, and the notary charges €49.44 to file an amicable agreement. If you are used to divorce in the UK, Ireland or North America, note that France has no single financial order: these items are settled separately, under different rules.
Every month · Child support
€678
paid by A for the children
Once, at the divorce · Indicative compensatory payment
€36,480
range of the three methods : €14,250 – €57,000, owed by A, if claimed
Once, at the divorce · Soulte
€80,000
paid by B to keep the home
| Partition duty (1.10%) | €1,760 |
| Filing the agreement with a notary | €49.44 |
| Tax reduction if the payment is a lump sum within 12 months | €6,064 |
Lawyers’ fees: unregulated, add them from your quotes.
Each calculation in detail : Child support calculator · Compensatory payment · Soulte calculation · Cost of divorce
Assumptions used
Support: French Ministry of Justice reference table, on the income of the parent the children do not live with (with shared residence, the better-off spouse). Compensatory payment: practitioners’ methods with no legal force; the median is used for the tax reduction. Soulte: half the net value (community or 50/50 joint ownership). Notary’s fee not included.
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What the calculator adds up, and what it leaves out
It adds up what can be calculated from a public text or scale: the table’s child support, the partition duty under article 746 of the French Tax Code, the fixed fee for filing the agreement, and the 25 % tax reduction on a compensatory payment made as a lump sum within twelve months. In the example above, if the better-off spouse paid the median of the methods, €36,480, in one go, they would get €6,064 back on their income tax.
It leaves out what is negotiated or freely billed: lawyers’ fees, any property valuer, the notary’s proportional fee on the deed of partition, and above all the real amount of the compensatory payment, which the judge sets case by case. The calculator says so on each line rather than showing a total that would look like a quote.
French divorce procedures side by side
The Civil Code knows four grounds for divorce. The first is settled without a judge in most cases; the other three go before the family court judge (juge aux affaires familiales, JAF), with a lawyer for each spouse.
| Procedure | Judge | Waiting time specific to it | Known regulated fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mutual consent by lawyers’ agreement | no, agreement filed with a notary | 15-day cooling-off before signing | filing €49.44 incl. VAT + partition duty |
| Mutual consent in court | yes, if a minor child asks to be heard | approval hearing | partition duty |
| Acceptance of the breakdown | yes | none | partition duty |
| Definitive breakdown of the marriage | yes | 12 months living apart when the claim is filed | partition duty |
| Fault | yes | none | partition duty, possible damages |
The amicable route is the fastest: at the tightest, 37 days separate sending the draft agreement from filing it with the notary. Details are on the pages on mutual consent divorce, fault-based divorce and how long a divorce takes; the full budget, lawyers included, is on the cost of divorce page.
The money that changes hands
For the children: child support
It is based on the income of the parent the children do not live with, minus a subsistence amount, multiplied by a rate that depends on the number of children and the visiting arrangements. It continues after 18 until the child is financially independent. The child support calculator adds the CAF’s family support allowance and the tax effect on both sides.
Between spouses: the compensatory payment
It makes up for the drop in living standards the divorce causes, taking into account the length of the marriage, age, health, career choices made for the family and pension rights. With no scale, the compensatory payment page compares three practitioners’ methods and the tax on a lump sum, instalments and an annuity.
Property: division, soulte and buy-out
Most couples married in France without a contract are under the community of acquests: each spouse receives half the net community assets, adjusted for reimbursements, which the page on dividing assets calculates. When one keeps the home, they owe a soulte, often funded with a buy-out loan. The 1.10 % partition duty applies in every case, including after ending a PACS or a legal separation.
Tax and CAF: what changes in the year of separation
Two returns instead of one, tax shares reallocated, support deductible for one and taxable for the other: the page on tax in the year of divorce compares the couple’s tax before with the two taxes after. With shared residence, family allowances can be split in half and tax shares always are; the page on shared custody and CAF benefits works out both households. A parent raising a child alone with no support, or support below €200.78, can claim the family support allowance.
Later on: pensions and survivor’s benefits
Divorce does not cut every tie with the former spouse’s pension. Under the general scheme, a divorced spouse keeps a right to the survivor’s pension, 54 % of the deceased’s basic pension, shared in proportion to the length of each marriage if the deceased remarried. Under Agirc-Arrco, the right disappears if the former spouse remarries. The page on the survivor’s pension after divorce works out both shares, income ceiling included.
What this site does, and what it does not do
Calcul Divorce informs and calculates. It is not a law firm, gives no legal advice, sells no quotes or referrals and takes no commission. Its figures come from Légifrance, service-public.fr, justice.fr, the tax administration, the CAF and the pension funds; each one is dated in a parameters file and tested at every release. The amounts shown are estimates: only the family court judge or your divorce agreement sets them.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these official sources, read on2026-10-04.
- French Ministry of Justice, child support reference table
- Service-public.fr, Child support: amount, payment and review (F991)
- Service-public.fr, Family support allowance (ASF), amount from 1 April 2026 (F815)
- Service-public.fr, Child support payment intermediation by ARIPA (F36407)
- Service-public.fr, Tax deduction for child support paid (F2)
- Service-public.fr, RSA flat amount for a single person (F19778)
- Service-public.fr, Dividing property on divorce, 1.10% partition duty (F903)
- Service-public.fr, Divorce by mutual consent, notary filing fee (F10567)
- Service-public.fr, Compensatory payment: criteria, forms and review (F1760)
Frequently asked questions
How much does a divorce cost in France?
Most of the price is lawyers’ fees, which are not regulated and are set in a written fee agreement. On top come a few regulated charges: €49.44 including VAT to file a mutual consent agreement with a notary, and a 1.10 % partition duty on the net assets divided when there is property. A shared home also requires a notarial deed, with a proportional regulated fee.
Do I need a French lawyer to divorce?
Yes. A mutual consent divorce without a judge requires one lawyer per spouse, and a lawyer is compulsory in every court-based divorce. The two spouses cannot share a lawyer. Only the end of a PACS can be handled without one, by a joint declaration or by having a commissaire de justice serve notice. Legal aid can cover some or all of the fees, depending on your income.
Who keeps the family home after a French divorce?
There are three outcomes: the home is sold and the proceeds are divided; one spouse keeps it and pays the other a soulte; or both remain joint owners under a written agreement. The soulte is usually half the net value, meaning the market value minus the loan still owed. The spouse who keeps the home also takes over the loan, if the bank agrees, and pays the 1.10 % partition duty.
Is a compensatory payment automatic in France?
No. It has to be claimed, and the agreement or the judge grants it only if the divorce creates a disparity in the spouses’ living conditions. The judge may refuse it on grounds of fairness, in particular when the divorce is granted on the exclusive fault of the spouse asking for it. It is normally a lump sum, and exceptionally a life annuity when age or health requires it.
What money changes hands on the day of the divorce?
One-off sums: the soulte if one spouse keeps the home, the compensatory payment if paid as a lump sum, the partition duty, the filing fee and the lawyers. Then recurring sums: child support every month, and possibly a compensatory payment paid in instalments, over eight years at most unless the judge gives reasons for a longer period.
Will separating change my French income tax this year?
Yes. In the year of the separation each spouse files a separate return for the whole year, with only their own income. You must report the change within 60 days in your impots.gouv.fr account so that the withholding rate is recalculated. A parent raising the children alone ticks box T and gets an extra half share as a single parent.
Can a former spouse receive a survivor’s pension in France?
Yes, under the general scheme, from age 55 and subject to an income ceiling, even if they now live with someone; it is shared with a surviving spouse in proportion to the length of each marriage. Under Agirc-Arrco, the former spouse is entitled to 60 % of the deceased’s points, with no income test, unless they have remarried.
Can this site put me in touch with a lawyer?
No, and that is deliberate. Calcul Divorce sells no referrals, consultations or quotes: it publishes calculations based on official texts and scales, and says where they stop. For advice on your own case, the points-justice offer free legal consultations, and legal aid can pay for a lawyer depending on your income.
Related calculators and guides
Compensatory payment
Three rule-of-thumb methods and the tax.
Soulte calculation
What the spouse keeping the home owes.
Cost of divorce
Regulated fees and lawyers, by procedure.
Mutual consent divorce
The no-court divorce, step by step.
Child support calculator
Support by income, children and visiting time.
Tax in the divorce year
Two returns, tax shares, support deducted.
Written by Radif Partners
Publisher of calculators and practical guides · the money side of divorce and separation in France, child support, tax and CAF benefits
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Rates 2026, last updated