Compensatory Payment on a French Divorce: How Prestation Compensatoire Works

France's prestation compensatoire, compensatory payment, is a sum one spouse may be ordered to pay the other when divorce ends the couple's mutual duty of support and creates a real disparity in their living conditions. A family court judge sets the amount, guided by specific legal criteria described below.

Information last verified on 19 July 2026. This article presents general legal information, not legal advice.

Jurisdiction scope: This article describes French national law only, as it applies in mainland France. It does not cover the law of any other country.

What Is the Compensatory Payment

Divorce in France ends the devoir de secours, the mutual duty of support that exists between married spouses. In place of that ongoing duty, Code civil Article 270 allows a family court judge to order one spouse to pay the other a prestation compensatoire, a compensatory payment, meant to compensate, as far as possible, for the disparity that the marriage's breakdown creates in their respective living conditions.

The payment has what Article 270 calls a forfaitaire, or lump-sum, character. It is not a form of ongoing spousal maintenance recalculated over time. Instead, it is generally fixed once, as a capital amount, by the judge. That principle, capital as the default form, and the payment's underlying purpose both come directly from Article 270. A separate article, discussed below, governs only the specific ways that capital can actually be paid out.

Article 270's own wording, one of the spouses may be ordered to pay the other, does not tie the request to which spouse filed for divorce or to which of the recognized grounds the divorce is based on. Either spouse, husband or wife, can be the one ordered to pay, and either can be the one requesting the payment. The judge decides based on the disparity in living conditions and the Article 271 criteria described next, not on who initiated the proceedings.

A compensatory payment is also a distinct concept from other payments that can arise around a divorce. It is not the same as a pension alimentaire, ongoing maintenance tied to needs that continues after the divorce in narrower circumstances, and it is not the same as child support, which is assessed separately based on the children's needs rather than the disparity between the spouses' own living conditions.

The Judge's Criteria Under Article 271

Article 271 sets out the factors a judge must weigh when fixing a compensatory payment. None of these factors is decisive on its own, and the judge weighs them together against the specific facts of the marriage.

The first factor is each spouse's needs and resources: what the requesting spouse needs to maintain a reasonable standard of living, set against what the other spouse can actually afford to pay, given their own income, assets, and obligations. The second is the duration of the marriage itself, since a short marriage and a long one create very different expectations about how intertwined the spouses' finances and life choices became.

Age and health form a third factor, since both can affect a spouse's realistic capacity to support themselves financially after the divorce. A fourth factor looks at professional choices made during the marriage: a spouse who reduced working hours, paused a career, or relocated to support the household or the other spouse's professional advancement has that sacrifice weighed in the calculation.

The fifth factor is the spouses' estimated patrimonial situation once their matrimonial property regime is liquidated, meaning what each spouse will actually own once the marital property has been divided. The sixth and final factor listed in Article 271 is the spouses' respective retirement pension situations, including, so far as possible, any estimated reduction in the recipient spouse's own pension rights that resulted from those career sacrifices. A spouse who built up a smaller pension because they scaled back paid work during the marriage has that consequence factored into the judge's assessment, not just their current income.

These criteria give the judge a wide, individualized inquiry rather than a fixed formula. No calculator or table substitutes for a judge weighing this evidence in a specific marriage, which is why this article does not attempt to predict what any particular case would receive.

Capital or Lifelong Payment: The Principle and the Exception

Article 270 establishes capital as the default form of a compensatory payment. Article 274 then governs the modalites, the specific forms that capital payment can take: a lump sum of money paid at once or over time, or the transfer of ownership of property, or the grant of a temporary or lifelong right of use, habitation, or usufruct over property.

A lifelong periodic payment, a rente viagere, is a different mechanism entirely, and it sits in a different article. Article 276 allows a judge to fix the compensatory payment as a rente viagere only exceptionally, by a specially motivated decision, and only when the recipient spouse's age or health prevents them from being able to meet their own needs. This is the narrow exception to the capital default, not one of the capital's own forms under Article 274.

Keeping these two articles separate matters in practice. A reader researching the compensatory payment will sometimes see the rente viagere described as though it were simply another modality alongside a cash lump sum or a property transfer. It is not. Article 274 lists the ways the capital itself can be structured. Article 276 sits outside that list entirely, as an exceptional substitute for capital, available only on the specific age-or-health showing the article requires, and only when the judge specially motivates that decision in writing.

When a Judge Can Refuse the Payment

A compensatory payment is not automatic, even where a real disparity exists between the spouses' post-divorce living conditions. Under Article 270, a judge may refuse to award a compensatory payment at all if equity requires it, either based on the Article 271 criteria themselves, or when the divorce is pronounced at the sole fault of the spouse who is requesting the payment, given the particular circumstances of the marriage's breakdown.

This means a spouse whose own conduct is found to be the sole cause of the divorce is not guaranteed a compensatory payment simply because a financial disparity exists between the spouses. The judge weighs equity in both directions.

Taxation: Capital Paid Within 12 Months Versus a Rente

How a compensatory payment is taxed depends heavily on how and when it is paid. A capital payment made in cash within 12 months of the divorce judgment becoming final earns the paying spouse an income tax reduction equal to 25 percent of the amount the judge fixed, capped at a base of 30,500 EUR.

Capital paid out in cash over a period longer than 12 months, or a compensatory payment ordered as a rente, follows a different tax regime entirely, the same one that applies to pension alimentaire, spousal or child maintenance payments. Under that regime, the payments are deductible from the paying spouse's taxable income and taxable as income to the recipient spouse. The 25 percent reduction does not apply in either of those situations. It is reserved specifically for capital paid in cash within the 12-month window.

For couples working out a full mutual consent divorce agreement, the compensatory payment is typically negotiated and fixed as part of that broader agreement, alongside arrangements for child support and parental authority where the couple has children. For a broader look at how compensatory payment fits alongside other France family law topics, see the France hub.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about French compensatory payment law for educational purposes. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Compensatory payment amounts, tax treatment, and the criteria courts apply can change, and outcomes depend heavily on the specific facts of each marriage and divorce. Consult a French avocat, or the official service-public.fr, legifrance.gouv.fr, and impots.gouv.fr resources, for guidance specific to your situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the compensatory payment always paid as a lump sum of capital?

In principle, yes. Article 270 establishes capital as the default form. A judge can order a lifelong periodic payment, a rente viagere, only exceptionally, under Article 276, by a specially motivated decision, when the recipient's age or health prevents them from meeting their own needs.

What article covers the rente viagere exception?

Article 276, not Article 274. Article 274 covers only the forms a capital payment can take, such as a lump sum or a transfer of property. The rente viagere is a separate, narrower exception under Article 276.

Can a judge refuse to award a compensatory payment?

Yes. Under Article 270, a judge can refuse if equity requires it, including when the divorce is pronounced at the sole fault of the spouse requesting the payment.

What does a judge consider when setting the amount?

Article 271 lists factors including each spouse's needs and resources, the marriage's duration, age and health, career sacrifices made for the household or the other spouse's career, the estimated patrimonial situation after the matrimonial regime is liquidated, and each spouse's retirement pension situation.

How is a capital payment taxed if paid within 12 months?

The paying spouse receives an income tax reduction equal to 25 percent of the amount fixed by the judge, capped at a base of 30,500 EUR, provided the capital is paid in cash within 12 months of the divorce judgment becoming final.

How is a capital payment taxed if paid over more than 12 months?

It no longer qualifies for the 25 percent reduction. Instead, it follows the pension alimentaire tax regime: the payments become deductible for the paying spouse and taxable as income for the recipient spouse.

Is a rente viagere taxed the same way as a capital payment made within 12 months?

No. A rente viagere always follows the pension alimentaire tax regime, deductible for the payer and taxable for the recipient, regardless of how long the payments continue.

Does the length of the marriage affect the compensatory payment?

It is one of the factors a judge must consider under Article 271, alongside the spouses' needs and resources, age and health, career sacrifices, patrimonial situation, and retirement pension situations.