In the case, a married couple divorced after several years of marriage, under a matrimonial regime governed by English law. The wife lived in France, while the husband lived in the United Kingdom.
While the dissolution of the marriage itself was no longer contested, the wife claimed a compensatory financial allowance (prestation compensatoire) under French law, even though the liquidation of the matrimonial property regime was subject to English law.
The prestation compensatoire is a financial award unique to French family law, intended to compensate a spouse where the divorce creates a significant disparity in living standards between the parties.
The Paris Court of Appeal rejected the claim. It held that the couple's assets, worth more than €1 million, were subject to English law and that the division of those assets would already contain mechanisms designed to address any financial imbalance between the spouses.
The wife appealed the judgement to the Supreme Court, the Cour of Cassation, who overturned the decision of the lower court.
France's highest court drew a clear distinction between the division of matrimonial property and post-divorce financial support. It held that the fact that English law governed the liquidation of the matrimonial regime did not prevent French law from applying to a claim for a prestation compensatoire.
The court noted that, under the Hague Protocol 2007 and European private international law rules, a compensatory allowance is classified as a maintenance obligation. As a result, the applicable law is generally that of the creditor's habitual residence. Because the wife was habitually resident in France, French law applied to her claim.
The Supreme Court therefore cancelled part of the lower court’s decision and ordered the case to be reviewed again.
Sarah Bright, a British avocat based in France comments that: “International couples often assume that one legal system will apply to all aspects of their separation, but that is rarely the case in practice. Different laws may apply to the divorce itself, the division of assets and post-divorce financial support. Understanding which law applies to each aspect of a cross-border divorce can have a significant impact on the financial outcome for both parties.”
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