Compensatory allowance

A compensatory allowance compensates one spouse for his or her contribution, for example in the form of goods or services, to the enrichment of the other spouse’s patrimony.

For example, if Sabrina left her job to take care of the children and household chores so that Julian could develop his business, she could be awarded a compensatory allowance.

Once an application has been submitted for a compensatory allowance, it is assessed by the judge as part of the judgment.

The judge takes into account, in particular, the partition of the parental union patrimony.

The objective is not to divide all the property into two equal shares, but to compensate the loss suffered by one spouse for the benefit of the other.

The spouse applying for the compensatory allowance must prove that he or she has helped enrich the patrimony of the other spouse, and establish the value of the contribution.

As a general rule, housework is not considered to contribute to the other spouse’s patrimony and does not give rise to a compensatory allowance.

However, if the housework exceeds a “normal” contribution to the household by one spouse, an exception may be made. There is no specific scale for determining what exceeds a normal contribution—each case is assessed on the facts and decided by a judge.