Family abandonment: when unpaid child support becomes a criminal offence in France
Not paying support is not just a civil debt: after two months it is a criminal offence.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy
In France, family abandonment (“abandon de famille”) is the offence committed by a parent who fails to pay the child support set for more than 2 months in full. It carries up to 2 years in prison and a €15,000 fine. Three conditions matter: support set by an enforceable title (a judgment, a court-approved agreement, a divorce by mutual consent agreement), a total or partial failure to pay, and a period of more than two months. Partial payment does not escape the offence. A complaint is a criminal route: it punishes, but it does not pay the support. To be paid, you must also start recovery, through ARIPA, direct payment or a seizure, over the last 5 years. English-speaking parents should know the offence applies whatever the paying parent’s nationality. The calculator below checks whether the two-month threshold is crossed and adds up the sum owed.
Has the offence been committed?
Complaint possible
yes
| Unpaid amount | €750 |
| Legal threshold | more than 2 months |
| Maximum penalty | 2 years and €15,000 |
The two offences linked to support
| Offence | What is punished | Maximum penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Family abandonment | support not paid in full for more than 2 months | 2 years, €15,000 |
| Fraudulent insolvency | making oneself insolvent, or worse off, to avoid paying | 3 years, €45,000 |
Filing a complaint: preparing the file
A complaint is filed with the police or gendarmerie, or in writing with the public prosecutor. A strong file includes the decision or agreement setting support, a month-by-month statement of sums owed and received, bank statements showing the missing payments, and unanswered reminder letters. The statement should include the indexation due: support that has not been indexed is partly unpaid support. The arrears tool helps prepare it.
Complaint and recovery: two parallel tracks
The complaint aims to punish the parent who does not pay; it brings in no money on its own. Recovery aims at payment. Both run together. For a parent raising the child alone, the most useful short-term step is often to go to ARIPA: it recovers up to 5 years of arrears and can pay the family support allowance in the meantime. The unpaid support guide sets out every route, from a reminder letter to the Public Treasury.
Three common situations
The parent pays, but less than ordered. Cutting support unilaterally, for example because the paying parent feels the child spends more time with them, is still incomplete payment. After two months the offence can be made out; the only way to reduce support is a new decision. The parent pays late. Repeated delays are not abandonment as long as each month is eventually paid in full, but they justify moving to ARIPA, which collects and pays on a fixed date. The parent stopped paying when the child turned 18. Support does not end at 18: while the child is not self-supporting and no decision has ended it, instalments remain due and non-payment counts.
Act early
Civil recovery is limited to the last 5 years: every month of waiting beyond that loses an instalment. From the third month without full payment, the criminal threshold is crossed and the receiving parent has every lever available: reminder, ARIPA, commissaire de justice, complaint. There is no need to use them in order; choose according to what you know of the paying parent’s situation, and keep a dated record of each step.
What a complaint can and cannot do
A complaint shows the paying parent that non-payment has consequences, and a conviction can include compensation for the receiving parent. It cannot, however, make an employer pay support or seize an account: only civil enforcement does that. Many receiving parents therefore start with ARIPA or direct payment, which bring money in, and keep the complaint for cases where the paying parent organises their insolvency or disappears.
The paying parent facing a complaint
A parent who genuinely cannot pay has only one way to protect themselves: apply to the family judge for a review before the debt builds up. Service-public.fr insists that it is up to the paying parent to act. A drop in income, however sudden, does not change support by itself, and the old decision remains the reference for assessing abandonment. See changing the amount and an unemployed parent.