Dividing assets in a French divorce: winding up the community, reimbursements included
Community assets, community debts, reimbursements: each share takes three lines to work out.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy
Dividing assets in a French divorce starts with winding up the matrimonial property regime: valuing the shared estate, debts included, then working out what each spouse is entitled to. Under the community of acquests, which applies to every couple who married in France without a contract, the net community assets are split in half, adjusted for the récompenses the community owes a spouse or a spouse owes the community. With €380,000 of community assets, €120,000 of community debts and a €15,000 récompense owed to spouse A, who put an inheritance into the house, A receives €137,500 and B €122,500. If the lots are unequal, the spouse receiving more pays the other a soulte. The deed of partition bears a duty of 1.10 % of the net assets, €2,860 in this example, and a notary is compulsory as soon as real estate is divided. Couples who married abroad may be under a different regime, depending on where they first lived after the wedding.
Winding up the community: each spouse’s share
Spouse A’s share
€137,500
| Spouse B’s share | €122,500 |
| Net community assets | €260,000 |
| Partition duty (1.10%) | €2,860 |
What is shared, what is personal
| Asset | Nature | On divorce |
|---|---|---|
| Savings from salaries during the marriage | community | split in half |
| Home bought during the marriage | community, even in one name | split, or allocated against a soulte |
| Flat owned before the marriage | personal | stays with its owner |
| Inheritance, gift received | personal | stays with the recipient |
| Inheritance put into a shared asset | community, with récompense | récompense owed to the spouse |
| Community money spent on a personal asset | personal asset, récompense | récompense owed to the community |
The liquidation, step by step
Step one, the inventory: list community assets at current value, home, cars, accounts, investments, company shares, and community debts, mortgage, consumer loans, taxes still owed. Step two, the récompenses: for each movement between a personal estate and the community, work out what is owed, generally up to the remaining benefit when the money went into buying or improving an asset. Step three, the division: each spouse receives half the net assets, plus récompenses owed to them, minus those they owe.
The direction of a récompense changes everything. If A owes the community €20,000, because it repaid the loan on A’s own studio, A’s share falls to €120,000 and B’s rises to €140,000, for the same net assets of €260,000.
Putting the lots together
The division is made in value: each spouse receives assets whose total value matches their rights. When one gets the home and the other the accounts, the difference is settled by a soulte. Any compensatory payment comes on top and is worked out separately on the compensatory payment page; it can, however, be paid by transferring an asset, which the agreement specifies.
What the deed costs
The partition duty is 1.10 % of the net assets divided, with a minimum of €25, for divisions following a divorce, a legal separation or the end of a PACS; the standard rate under article 746 of the French Tax Code is 2.5 %. The notary charges regulated fees proportional to the value divided and passes on land registry costs. When there is no real estate and no dispute, the lawyers can draft the statement of liquidation themselves, inside the divorce agreement. Whoever drafts it, the statement must list every asset and debt: an asset left out can be claimed later, in a supplementary division. The same goes for a debt forgotten in the statement, which remains owed by both spouses towards the creditor.