Can you be forced to pay your spouse’s debts in France? What the law says

What happens in France when your spouse has a personal debt they cannot pay? Is their partner held responsible and do they have to pay the creditor? 

France’s Service-Public website recently gave the example of a couple who were married without a prenuptial agreement. 

This meant the marriage fell under the legal regime of community property (communauté réduite aux acquêts), the default regime in a French marriage. 

Under this regime, all assets bought after the marriage, including property, are considered to belong to both spouses, even if only held in one of their names. 

However, each spouse remains the sole owner of anything purchased before the marriage. 

In the above example, the husband had embezzled funds from a business, accruing a debt of nearly €450,000. The creditor argued it was a debt of the community property and asked a court to order the wife to pay the debt. 

The court, which was not named, ruled in favour of the creditor, ordering the wife to personally pay her husband’s debt. 

Article 1413 of the Civil Code stipulates that “the payment of debts for which each spouse is liable, for whatever reason, during the marriage, may always be pursued against the community property”.

However, the wife took the case to a court of appeal, which overturned the judgement. It ruled the money was a personal debt belonging to the husband, so the wife could not be held personally liable. 

The Cour de cassation, the supreme court for criminal and civil cases in France, upheld the court of appeal’s decision. It meant her separate property and income, for example her salary and pension, could not be seized.

When a couple is married under the community property regime, a creditor can demand payment of a debt incurred by only one spouse from all of the couple’s joint property.

But a spouse married under a community property regime is not personally liable for their spouse’s debt. This means that while the creditor can seize the couple’s joint assets, they cannot seize the other spouse’s personal assets or income.

The couple are both liable for certain debts, such as those incurred for the maintenance of the home or the education of any children. They are also jointly liable for the payment of taxes, as spouses are classed as a single tax household in France. 

However, financial authorities are allowing a growing number of divorcees to avoid paying their ex-partner’s debts and tax fraud obligations under a law passed in 2024. 

Legal experts and women’s rights activists have long called for better protections for women going through a divorce.