The expulsion of a partner from the shared home is never a simple unilateral decision. French law strictly regulates the conditions under which a spouse, a civil partner, or a cohabitant can be compelled to leave the premises, and the rules vary depending on the couple’s legal status and the title of occupancy of the housing.
2025 Ordinance and Provisional Allocation of the Home in Cases of Violence
Ordinance No. 2025-347 of April 2, 2025, amended the Civil Code on a point that most mainstream articles have not yet integrated. Cohabitants can now request provisional and exclusive allocation of the home from the family court judge in cases of proven domestic violence, even without a shared property title.
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The effect is immediate: the judge can rule within 48 hours. Before this ordinance, only spouses and civil partners benefited from a comparable mechanism through the protection order provided for in Articles 515-9 and following of the Civil Code. Cohabitants who were victims of violence had to go through longer and less protective avenues.
We recommend directly contacting the family court judge by application, attaching any evidence (medical certificate, police report, testimonies). The procedure works without a mandatory lawyer for the initial application, but the assistance of a lawyer remains preferable to structure the case. To better understand the mechanisms allowing to evict a spouse legally, it is essential to distinguish this emergency provision from the standard procedures related to the couple’s status.
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Expulsion of the Married Spouse: The Lock of the Marital Home
No spouse can expel the other from the marital home without a judicial decision. Article 215 of the Civil Code protects the family home regardless of the marital regime or property title. Even if only one spouse is the owner or signatory of the lease, the other retains a right to remain in the premises.
This lock can only be lifted in two scenarios:
- The family court judge grants exclusive enjoyment of the home to one of the spouses as part of a non-reconciliation order or a protection order.
- The divorce judgment grants the definitive allocation of the housing, with or without compensatory allowance including the value of the property.
Changing the locks, cutting off access, or physically preventing the return of the spouse without a judicial title exposes the perpetrator of these acts to prosecution for violation of domicile. Jurisprudence regularly qualifies these behaviors as fault in the context of divorce, which can weigh on the distribution of blame.
Free or Costly Enjoyment: A Distinction Often Ignored
When the judge provisionally allocates the home to one of the spouses, they determine whether this enjoyment is free or costly. Free enjoyment constitutes a form of alimony or contribution to the marriage’s expenses. Costly enjoyment generates an occupancy indemnity owed by the spouse who remains, calculated based on the rental value of the property.
We observe that this distinction is rarely anticipated by the parties, even though it has a direct impact on the calculation of the compensatory allowance and the liquidation of the matrimonial regime.
Cohabitation and PACS: Unequal Protections Against Eviction
Cohabitation does not create any automatic rights to housing. If only one of the cohabitants is the owner or leaseholder, the non-titled partner has no legal protection against eviction, except in cases of violence (see the 2025 ordinance above).
The PACS offers intermediate protection. Article 515-4 of the Civil Code imposes mutual material assistance and support between partners. Jurisprudence deduces a right to temporary residence in the shared housing until the separation is organized. This right remains significantly less protective than that of spouses.
Three concrete situations to distinguish:
- Both partners are co-signers of the lease: neither can expel the other. Termination of the lease requires the agreement of both or a judicial decision.
- Only one partner is the leaseholder: the de facto co-occupant has no right to remain unless they prove to have been recognized as an occupant by the landlord (solidarity clause, amendment).
- Both are co-owners: the rules of co-ownership apply. No co-owner can force the other to leave without going to court to request partition or preferential allocation.
Judicial Eviction Procedure: Deadlines and Judge’s Jurisdiction
Outside of situations of violence, the eviction of a partner goes through a standard civil procedure before the family court judge (married or civil partnership couples) or the judicial court (cohabitants, co-ownership).
The family court judge is competent for any provisional measure related to the marital home. For cohabiting co-owners, it is the judge in charge of the case or the president of the judicial court ruling in summary proceedings who intervenes.
Deadlines vary depending on the jurisdiction and the court’s workload. A protection order can be issued in a few days. A judicial partition procedure in co-ownership often takes several months, sometimes more than a year if the property needs to be evaluated by an expert.
Summary Proceedings: Accelerating the Decision
When urgency is established (manifestly unlawful disturbance, imminent damage), summary proceedings allow for a quick decision. The summary judge can order eviction or provisional maintenance in the premises, without deciding the merits of the dispute. This route is particularly useful for cohabitants who do not benefit from the family court judge’s jurisdiction.
The distinction between marital status, PACS, and cohabitation conditions both the competent judge, the applicable procedure, and the level of protection each partner benefits from. Before any steps are taken, checking the title of occupancy of the housing (ownership, lease, accommodation) remains the first reflex to adopt to calibrate the judicial strategy.