Ex harassment in France: messages, complaint and protection order

Your ex texts you nonstop, calls at night, creates accounts to follow you or turns up outside your workplace. You have asked for it to stop, and nothing changes. This is not "a hard breakup": ex harassment is a criminal offence in France. A lawyer reviews your situation in 20 minutes on Avocat20min.fr.

This article explains what French law says, how to gather evidence and how to obtain protection, through a complaint or through the family judge's order.

First steps

Facing ex harassment, start with your safety and with the evidence.

• In immediate danger: 17 or 112, or a text to 114 if you cannot speak.
• To be heard and guided: 3919, free and anonymous, 24/7, or 116 006 for victim support, every day from 9 am to 8 pm.
• Stop replying, except once, in writing: "I do not want any further contact." That message proves your ex knows you refuse.
• Delete nothing, even what hurts to reread. It is your evidence.

3919 is not an emergency line. If your ex is outside your door, call 17.

Ex harassment: what the law says

The French Criminal Code specifically punishes harassment of a spouse, partner or cohabitant, and it expressly covers former ones (Article 222-33-2-1). It requires repeated words or behaviour that degrade your living conditions, with an effect on your physical or mental health.

Other provisions cover the common forms of ex harassment. Article 132-80 extends their "within the couple" aggravations to former partners:

Acts	Article	Maximum penalty
Ex harassment, up to 8 days' incapacity or none	222-33-2-1	3 years and €45,000
Same harassment, over 8 days' incapacity or a child witnessed it	222-33-2-1	5 years and €75,000
Harassment leading to suicide or attempted suicide	222-33-2-1	10 years and €150,000
Repeated malicious calls or messages	222-16	3 years and €45,000 within a couple
Repeated or written death threat	222-17 and 222-18-3	5 years and €75,000 within a couple
Tracking your location without consent	226-1	2 years and €60,000 within a couple
Identity theft, fake profile in your name	226-4-1	2 years and €30,000 within a couple
Breach of a protection order	227-4-2	3 years and €45,000

The ITT (total incapacity for work) is set by a doctor. It can result from psychological impact, not only from injuries.

Gathering evidence of ex harassment

The judge needs to see the repetition. Each dated item strengthens your file.

1. Screenshots of messages, with date, time and number or username visible. Keep a complete series, not just the worst.
2. Call log: the list of missed calls, with a screenshot of the phone's log.
3. Voicemails and emails, saved off the phone.
4. A diary: each visit outside your home, each "chance" encounter, with date, time and place.
5. Witness statements from relatives, colleagues or neighbours, on the official cerfa witness form with a copy of their ID.
6. A medical certificate, from your doctor or a forensic medical unit (unité médico-judiciaire) on police request, describing the effect on your health.

For online content, a commissaire de justice (court enforcement officer) can draw up an official report that freezes posts before they are deleted. Also check location apps, shared accounts and passwords your ex knows.

Filing a complaint for ex harassment

You file at any police or gendarmerie station, or by letter to the public prosecutor (procureur de la République). Officers cannot refuse a complaint. Since 4 October 2023, some public hospital emergency departments and maternity wards also take complaints from victims of domestic violence.

Bring your screenshots, diary and certificates. Ask for a copy of the report and note the investigator's name.

The prosecutor may then choose an alternative measure, judicial supervision with a no-contact order, or prosecution before the criminal court (tribunal correctionnel). You can join as a civil party to claim compensation.

The time limit is six years for a misdemeanour (Article 8 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). For harassment, it runs from the last act.

A main courante (police log) records facts without starting a prosecution. It dates events but does not protect you.

The protection order, without waiting for a criminal trial

The protection order is the fast answer to ex harassment once it becomes dangerous. It comes from the family judge (Articles 515-9 to 515-13-1 of the Civil Code).

Who can apply? The person in danger, or the prosecutor with their consent. No prior complaint is needed. The law also covers a former spouse or partner you never lived with.

How? By an application lodged with or sent to the family court registry, with a summary of the facts and all evidence attached, or the application is void (Article 1136-3 of the Code of Civil Procedure). An official form exists. The judge sets a hearing date at once, and your ex is summoned.

How fast? The judge rules within six days of setting the hearing. The judge must find the violence and the danger likely, for you or the children. Psychological harassment counts among that violence.

Which measures? The judge can, among other things:

• forbid any contact, by any means, and forbid certain places;
• forbid carrying a weapon and order its surrender;
• rule on the home, the children and maintenance;
• allow you to keep your address secret and use your lawyer's address;
• order an anti-approach bracelet, with both parties' consent;
• grant provisional legal aid.

The measures last up to twelve months from notification. They are extended if a divorce or child-related application is filed in that period.

The immediate provisional protection order

In serious and immediate danger, the prosecutor can request, with your consent, an immediate provisional protection order. The judge issues it within twenty-four hours, on the documents attached alone. It can forbid contact, forbid places, remove weapons and suspend visiting rights while the protection order is pending.

Serious danger phone and anti-approach bracelet

The serious danger phone (téléphone grave danger) lets you alert the police at the touch of a button, with geolocation. The prosecutor grants it, if you no longer live with the offender, for six months, renewable.

The anti-approach bracelet geolocates both the offender and the victim. An alert goes off when the offender enters the forbidden zone around you. The family judge or the criminal court can order it.

What a lawyer adds

You can file a complaint and complete the application yourself. But an incomplete application is void, and the hearing needs preparing. A lawyer sorts the evidence, drafts the request, argues the case and quantifies your loss as a civil party. No lawyer can promise a decision, but they give the judge a clear file.

Legal aid (aide juridictionnelle) can cover everything: in 2026, it is full for a single person whose reference taxable income does not exceed €12,957. A family law lawyer answers in 20 minutes, and a criminal law lawyer can help with the complaint.

The official service-public page on domestic violence details the protection order and support schemes.

If the ex harassment began with pleas to get back together, read My ex wants me back. If your ex still lives with you, see My ex refuses to leave the home. For foreign nationals, the residence permit for victims of domestic violence also protects your right to stay.