Child support (contribution à l’entretien et à l’éducation), spousal support during the proceedings (devoir de secours), a compensatory allowance (prestation compensatoire) at divorce: here I suggest indicative ballpark figures, calculated from your numbers and the criteria judges usually examine. They can serve as a basis for a principled negotiation, to be adapted to each person’s needs.
Overview
What can be put into figures, and what will need to be discussed
A separation can give rise to three distinct payments. Each follows its own rules, and none is set by an official scale that would bind the judge. The simulations below draw on the criteria of the Civil Code and on those judges usually examine; each time, I explain how I suggest applying them.
I always suggest a low and high range rather than a single figure: your needs, your expenses, your assets and your family’s history could make the difference.
(contribution à l’entretien et à l’éducation des enfants)
Each parent contributes according to their own resources, those of the other parent and the child’s needs, including after the child comes of age if he or she is not self-supporting.
(pension au titre du devoir de secours)
Temporary, it allows the spouse with the lower resources to keep a standard of living close to that of their life together, until the divorce.
(prestation compensatoire)
A lump sum that compensates, as far as possible, for the disparity the breakdown creates in living conditions. It depends in particular on what each spouse will receive in the settlement of the matrimonial property (liquidation). Not every case lends itself to one.
The more precise your figures (net income, tax, expenses, actual spending), the more useful the range. Have your latest tax assessment notices at hand.
If either of you, or the child, lives outside France, French law may not apply. The simulation remains a ballpark figure.
Negotiate, without giving up on going to court. These figures prepare an agreement; if it fails, they prepare the hearing.
1 · For the children
Child support
The Civil Code sets three criteria: "each parent contributes to the support and education of the children in proportion to his or her resources, those of the other parent, and the needs of the child" (article 371-2). The official simulator takes only some of them into account. I present it first, then the method I suggest, as a guide.
The simulator on Service-Public, the French government’s official website, applies the Ministry of Justice’s reference table. It takes the paying parent’s income, subtracts a subsistence minimum, then applies a percentage. That percentage depends on the number of children and the extent of visiting rights (droit de visite): reduced, standard or alternating residence.
It is a quick benchmark, familiar to judges and lawyers, that you can check in a few seconds.
Open the official simulator (in French)The criteria I suggest using
2 · For the other spouse
Spousal support
Between spouses, two payments follow one another. During the proceedings, spousal support is temporary. At divorce, spousal support during the proceedings ends and the compensatory allowance, which is final, may take over. The two are not calculated the same way, and the first does not enter into the calculation of the second.
Temporary, until the divorce
The judge may set the support one spouse will pay the other until the divorce. There is no scale. The judge weighs the needs of the spouse who requests it, in light of the couple’s standard of living during their life together, and the other spouse’s resources. In practice, the support is not limited to the bare minimum.
The criteria I suggest using
Compensatory allowance, final
It compensates, "as far as possible, for the disparity that the breakdown of the marriage creates in the respective living conditions." It takes the form of a lump sum, payable if needed over no more than eight years. No method is official: judges often cross-check several, without citing them, then use an average or set aside the extremes. The simulator draws on this practice: a high end equal to the highest method, after the property adjustment (upward or downward depending on each party’s assets), and a low end equal to the average of the three methods, with the same adjustment.
Not every case lends itself to one. A compensatory allowance is generally granted where the disparity is significant, particularly after a long marriage or career sacrifices made for the children. The judge may also refuse it if fairness so requires (article 270 of the Civil Code). A calculated figure is therefore not a vested right.
The suggested criteria, drawn from article 271 of the Civil Code
Next steps
An indicative range does not make an agreement. It helps put verified figures on the table, understand each person’s needs and look for a solution that will hold over time. If the negotiation fails, the same work prepares the hearing.
The simulator
You enter each figure only once: it is used for all the estimates. Child support is calculated first, then carried over into the support between spouses. Your result is displayed after your contact details, with the reasoning set out in detail; it is sent to my office, not to the other party.
Check one or more kinds of support. About five minutes; you can go back at any time.
Net monthly amounts. These figures are requested only once and are used for all the estimates.
For an adult child, the standard-of-living benchmark is not enough: the child’s actual budget and own resources are needed.
This amount then replaces the estimate in the calculations between spouses.
Only the questions relevant to the kinds of support you chose are shown.
Nothing here is required: these details refine the result.
Not every case lends itself to one: it is generally granted where the disparity is significant, particularly after a long marriage or career sacrifices made for the children.
For whichever of you has the lower income:
What each spouse will receive depends on the settlement of the matrimonial property: if you do not know yet, leave these fields blank, or first run the Settlement Simulator: its result is carried over here. Without these figures, the calculation will be made without the property adjustment, and I recommend the wealth review.
Retirement, return to work, end of a contract within the next eight years.
Your result · parameters as of October 19, 2026
Indicative support · per month
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Indicative suggestion. It can serve as a starting point for a principled negotiation: direct payment of certain expenses, annual indexation and payment through the CAF (Family Allowance Fund) would remain to be discussed.
Here is how this suggestion is built. Each step reflects a criterion judges usually examine.
Indicative support · per month
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An indicative suggestion, not a scale. This support is temporary and could be revised if circumstances change before the divorce.
The suggestion aims to bring the requesting spouse partly closer to the standard of living of the life together, without the other spouse falling below them.
Not every case lends itself to one. A compensatory allowance is generally granted where the disparity is significant, particularly after a long marriage or career sacrifices made for the children. The judge may refuse it if fairness so requires (article 270 of the Civil Code).
Indicative allowance · lump sum
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| Method | Amount |
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Indicative suggestion. It assumes the property figures have been established by the wealth review. Health and career are not quantified, and retirement only if years without contributions are entered: they could point toward one end of the range or the other.
Each method sheds light on one aspect of the disparity; the gap between them shows the room for negotiation.
What now
The wealth review assesses what each spouse will receive in the settlement of the matrimonial property, on which the compensatory allowance depends. The initial consultation checks your figures and your rights; the strategy consultation, prepared on the basis of your documents, sets the negotiation strategy. In French or English, at the office or by video call.
Indicative result. These simulations do not constitute legal advice and do not bind the judge. If either of you, or the child, lives outside France, French law does not necessarily apply: see the Which Court? Which Law? simulator.
Indicative simulations, which do not constitute legal advice and do not bind the judge. The result is displayed once you have provided your contact details and is sent only to the office, with your consent. Parameters as of October 19, 2026.
