Estimate your rights, prepare the division
Community of acquests (communauté réduite aux acquêts), separation of property (séparation de biens) or participation in acquests (participation aux acquêts): based on your assets, your debts and who paid for what, I offer you an indicative settlement overview (aperçu liquidatif), laid out like the ones I prepare at the office. You see what each spouse receives, what one owes the other, and which points are open to discussion.
- Avocat at the Paris Bar
- PhD in law
- Mediator listed with the CNMA
- FR / EN
Overview
Three regimes, three logics
The same question, three answers: what gets divided?
The settlement of the matrimonial property regime (liquidation du régime matrimonial) consists in counting before dividing (partage): establishing what belongs to whom, what each spouse owes the other or the common pool, and then distributing. The matrimonial property regime decides what gets divided. Without a marriage contract, and for a marriage celebrated in France since 1966 between spouses with no foreign ties, it is the community of acquests.
The simulator follows the steps of my settlement templates: it classifies your assets, calculates the community reimbursement claims (récompenses) and the claims between spouses (créances entre époux) using the rules of the code civil and case law, establishes each spouse’s entitlement, then the equalization payment (soulte).
- No marriage contract
Community of acquests
What was acquired during the marriage is divided in half
Each spouse takes back his or her separate property (bien propre): property from before the marriage, gifts, inheritances. The acquests form the community, divided in half after the reimbursement claims: what the community owes a spouse, or what a spouse owes it.
- Separation of property contract
Separation of property
Each spouse keeps his or her property; only property bought together is divided
Jointly owned property (indivision) is divided according to the shares stated in the deed. The accounts cover what each spouse paid for the other or for the joint ownership, subject to the contribution to household expenses.
- Participation in acquests contract
Participation in acquests
Separate during the marriage, the enrichment is shared at the end
For each spouse, the final estate is compared with the original estate (patrimoine originaire / final). The spouse who was enriched less receives half of the difference, in money: this is the participation claim (créance de participation).
Two dates matter: the effective date of the divorce between the spouses, which fixes the composition of the estate (the divorce petition, unless the effects are backdated), and the date of division, which sets the values. So give current values.
A settlement is won on evidence: purchase deeds, statements showing the origin of the funds, declarations of investment or reinvestment of separate funds (emploi ou remploi). A figure without supporting documents remains a hypothesis.
Prepare your wealth review (audit patrimonial) online: your answers are carried over here, with no need to re-enter them.
The rules applied
What the simulator calculates
Your overview applies the following rules. The details of each calculation are in the summary sent to the office.
- Reimbursement claimsUnder the community, the lower of the amount spent and the remaining benefit; at least the remaining benefit for the purchase, improvement or preservation of property still in the estate; at least the amount spent if the expense was necessary (art. 1469 C. civ.). Interest on a loan financing separate property remains a charge on the community.
- Remaining benefitAmount invested ÷ overall financing (price, acquisition costs and cost of credit) × current value of the property in its original condition: the same denominator applies to contributions and to loan repayments. For works, the increase in value they produce, in proportion to their financing. Under the community, reimbursement claims are still calculated on the acquisition cost (price and fees).
- Claims between spousesNo less than the remaining benefit, and no less than the amount paid (art. 1479 and 1543 C. civ.). After the separation, at face value.
- Joint ownership accountsLoan repayments paid alone: the higher of the amount spent and the remaining benefit, calculated on the overall financing, including fees and the cost of credit, with repayments of capital and interest (art. 815-13 C. civ.).
- With and without revaluationEach reimbursement claim, claim between spouses or joint ownership account is also calculated at face value, without revaluation at the remaining benefit: revaluation requires court proceedings, supporting documents and the judge’s assessment; the difference measures the room for negotiation.
- Occupancy compensation (indemnité d’occupation)Rental value less a precariousness discount of 20% by default, adjustable from 10% to 30%: this is not a rule of law but a negotiation setting, to be adjusted especially where there are no children (art. 815-9 and 815-10 C. civ.).
- Contribution to household expensesUnder separation of property and participation, payments for the family home during life together may give rise to no claim (art. 214 C. civ.); a capital contribution does not fall under it, unless a clause provides otherwise.
- Participation in acquestsOriginal estate valued in its original condition at today’s value; final estate; a claim equal to half the difference between the two enrichments, any deficit being borne by the spouse who suffers it (art. 1570 to 1575 C. civ.). The clause excluding business assets is revoked by the divorce, unless the spouse who granted it wishes otherwise (art. 265 C. civ.).
- Partition tax (droit de partage)1.10% of the net assets divided, for divisions following a divorce (art. 746 CGI). The costs of the partition deed are deducted from this base (BOI-ENR-PTG-10-10, § 190), so the amount shown is a maximum. The notary’s fees and formality costs are added to it. After the end of a PACS, 1.10%; between unmarried partners, 2.50%, the equalization payment then being taxed as a sale.
- PACS and cohabitationNo rule specific to marriage. Personal or jointly owned property according to title (French Civil Code, arts. 515-5 et seq.); claims against the joint ownership (art. 815-13); between partners, claims valued under article 1469 and material support (arts. 515-4 and 515-7); between unmarried partners, loan or unjust enrichment (arts. 1303 et seq.); time-bar alerts.
It does not handle universal community (communauté universelle), clauses of unequal division (partage inégal), preciput (préciput) or full allocation (attribution intégrale), the society of acquests (société d’acquêts), marriages prior to February 1, 1966, or foreign registered partnerships. It does not set any value and does not replace the notary’s statement of settlement.
The overview feeds the negotiation: each point under discussion is quantified. Under participation in acquests, the action for settlement is time-barred three years from the decision that dissolves the regime.
The result can be used in the support simulator: the judge takes into account each spouse’s assets after the settlement when setting the compensatory allowance (prestation compensatoire).
The simulator
Your assets, your rights
Allow fifteen to twenty minutes. Give current values and rounded amounts; leave blank what you do not know. Your result is displayed after you enter your contact details, with the detailed reasoning; it is sent to my office, not to the other party.
Your situation
These answers determine the applicable rules. “You” means the person filling in the simulator; “the other spouse” means his or her spouse.
The coupleAre you married?
This simulator is for married couples. For a PACS or cohabitation, property bought together falls under joint ownership: I suggest we discuss it in a consultation. Book an appointment
The datesYour PACS
During the PACS, material support between partners is proportional to their respective means (French Civil Code, art. 515-4): enter each partner’s share of the couple’s income.
InternationalIs another country involved?
Check everything that applies, even if it seems minor to you.
This calculation assumes that French law governs your matrimonial property regime. In an international situation, this is not always the case: depending on the date of your marriage, the 1978 Hague Convention or EU Regulation 2016/1103 determines the applicable law, and assets located abroad may be subject to local rules. Check this first with the “Which Court? Which Law?” simulator or in an international consultation. You can run the simulation now: the result will restate this assumption.
The regimeYour matrimonial property regime
Does your contract provide…
Your income during life together (optional)
Each spouse contributes to household expenses in proportion to his or her respective means. If you give each spouse’s share of the couple’s income, the “contribution to household expenses” hypothesis only counts what each spouse paid beyond his or her share.
The datesWhere do the proceedings stand?
Your assets and your debts
One asset per entry: home, other real estate, accounts and investments, vehicles, company shares… For an asset bought on credit, enter the loan on the same entry. Accounts in each spouse’s name are allocated to that spouse by default.
DebtsDebts with no corresponding asset
Consumer loans, tax debts, family loans… (mortgage loans are already on the asset’s entry).
Who paid for what
This is where reimbursement claims and claims between spouses arise: funds from one estate that served another. Enter the contributions, the loan repayments and the work, distinguishing life together from the period after the effective date of the divorce.
Nothing to report? Continue: the overview will be prepared with no reimbursement claim and no claim between spouses.
Since the separation
Community or jointly owned property occupied by one of you alone, or rent collected by one of you for community property, goes into the joint ownership accounts.
OccupancyIs the home, or another property, occupied by one of you alone?
Count only the months for which occupancy is payable: not the period for which the judge granted it free of charge (often until the divorce, under the duty of support). The compensation used is the rental value less the precariousness discount set below (20% by default).
IncomeHas rent from community or jointly owned property been collected by one of you?
Occupancy compensationThe precariousness discount
Loan repaymentsAfter the effective date of the divorce
Your settlement overview
What each spouse receives
What next
An overview is discussed, a wealth review is proven
The wealth review goes through your figures document by document: classification of the assets, origin of the funds, values, accounts between you. It provides a solid basis for the negotiation and, if the negotiation fails, for a court-ordered division: negotiate, without giving up the option to litigate.
Indicative result. This overview is not legal advice, nor a statement of settlement; it binds neither the notary nor the judge. The notary’s fees and formality costs are added to the partition tax.