Wage garnishment in France: the 2026 scale and what you keep

A letter announces a wage garnishment, and you fear you will no longer be able to pay the rent. The law sets a strict limit, though: only part of your pay can go each month. A lawyer reviews your situation in 20 minutes on Avocat20min.fr.

This article gives the 2026 scale, the amount you always keep and the steps of the procedure. It also explains how to react within the one-month deadline.

Wage garnishment in a nutshell

Wage garnishment, called "saisie des rémunérations" in French law, lets a creditor get paid through your employer. The employer withholds part of your pay each month and passes it on.

It requires an enforceable title, for example a court judgment or an order for payment. An invoice or a reminder letter is not enough. A debt collection agency therefore cannot touch your salary on its own.

The deduction never takes everything. A scale sets the share that can be seized, based on your pay and on the number of people who depend on you.

What changed on 1 July 2025

The procedure has left the courthouse. Article 47 of Law No. 2023-1059 of 20 November 2023 handed wage garnishment over to commissaires de justice (court enforcement officers). Decree No. 2025-125 of 12 February 2025 brought it into force on 1 July 2025.

Before that date, the court registry of the judicial court ran the procedure. Now the creditor's enforcement officer handles it from start to finish. The enforcement judge (juge de l'exécution, JEX) keeps oversight and rules on disputes.

The old conciliation hearing before the judge no longer appears in the procedure described by service-public. Instead, you can ask the enforcement officer yourself to look for an agreement.

Garnishments already under way on 1 July 2025 were transferred to the enforcement officer chosen by the creditor, who had three months to confirm them.

The steps of a wage garnishment since 2025

Everything starts with a formal deed. The timetable then follows six steps, according to the official service-public page:

1. The order to pay. The enforcement officer serves it on you and records it in the digital register of seizures, on the same day or the next working day.
2. One month to react. During this period you can pay, seek an agreement or challenge it before the enforcement judge.
3. Looking for an agreement. You write to the enforcement officer, by letter or email, with your income and outgoings. Without an agreement, the procedure resumes.
4. The garnishment report. It goes to your employer within three months of the order to pay, a period extended by the time spent seeking an agreement. You are told within eight days.
5. The employer's reply. The employer answers the distributing enforcement officer within fifteen days.
6. Monthly deductions. The employer then pays over the withheld sums every month.

The one-month deadline matters more than anything else. A challenge filed within that month suspends the garnishment. Later on it is still possible, but the deductions continue while the case is examined.

The 2026 wage garnishment scale

Decree No. 2025-1299 of 24 December 2025 sets the thresholds in force since 1 January 2026. The calculation uses your net monthly pay.

Each bracket carries its own fraction. The amounts are then added up bracket by bracket.

Net monthly pay	Seizable fraction	Cumulative maximum
Up to €373.33	1/20	€18.67
From €373.33 to €727.50	1/10	€54.08
From €727.50 to €1,083.33	1/5	€125.25
From €1,083.33 to €1,435.83	1/4	€213.37
From €1,435.83 to €1,789.17	1/3	€331.15
From €1,789.17 to €2,150.83	2/3	€572.26
Above €2,150.83	All of it	€572.26 plus the whole excess

Source: service-public page F115, amounts in force on 20 October 2026. The scale normally changes every 1 January.

Two official examples

Service-public gives two cases. With €1,500 of monthly income and no dependants, the deduction reaches €234.76. With €2,500, it rises to €921.43.

The gap has a simple explanation. Above €2,150.83, the whole excess goes to the creditor, on top of the €572.26 from the lower brackets.

Dependants: €145 more per threshold

Each dependant raises every threshold of the scale by €145 a month. The seizable share therefore falls.

According to service-public, the following count as dependants:

• your spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner, if their income stays below €651.69 a month;
• children who give entitlement to family benefits;
• your parents or grandparents, if their income stays below €651.69 a month.

As a guide, here is the calculation for two net monthly salaries, applying the 2026 scale:

Dependants	Salary of €1,500	Salary of €2,000
None	€234.76	about €471.71
One	about €200.42	about €382.29
Two	about €171.42	about €319.26

On a €2,000 salary, a single dependant therefore lowers the deduction by almost €90 a month.

So report every dependant to the enforcement officer and to your employer, with supporting documents. Forgetting one costs you every month.

The amount you always keep

Whatever the scale says, the employee keeps at least €651.69 a month. This matches the RSA for a single person, uprated on 1 April 2026.

It does not depend on your employer or on the size of the debt. Our article on the RSA explains the amount and its conditions.

The special case of child support

A child support debt follows harsher rules. According to service-public, a maintenance creditor can take the whole seizable fraction, subject to the €651.69 left to the debtor.

That creditor also has another route, direct payment, which goes through the employer without a full garnishment procedure. Our guide to wage garnishment for child support explains both tools.

Your bank account: the protected balance

A creditor holding an enforceable title can also target your account. The bank must then always leave a protected bank balance of €651.69, whatever your family situation.

The account stays frozen for fifteen working days. During that time, the RSA, the AAH disability allowance and the ASS solidarity allowance stay protected, provided you show the bank where the money came from. A challenge before the enforcement judge must be filed within one month and suspends the seizure.

The right reflexes once the order to pay arrives

The order to pay opens the one-month deadline. Use it, even if you do not dispute the debt:

• Write down the date of service. The one-month period runs from that day.
• Read the title referred to and the statement of account. Check the principal, the interest and the fees claimed.
• Gather your documents: payslips, rent, current loans, proof of your dependants.
• Write to the enforcement officer to seek an agreement, with those documents, by letter or email.
• Get help from a point conseil budget, a point-justice or a lawyer before the month ends.

An agreement reached at this stage can stop the wage garnishment report from ever reaching your employer.

How to challenge a wage garnishment

You challenge it by summons before the enforcement judge. Several grounds come up often:

• The debt itself. It has already been paid, the amount looks wrong or it is time-barred. Our guide to the debt limitation period gives the deadlines.
• The enforceable title. It is missing, it was never served or it names the wrong person.
• The calculation. The scale ignores your dependants, or the minimum amount is not respected.
• The procedure. A deadline was missed, for example the three months between the order to pay and the garnishment report.

A lawyer becomes mandatory once the debt reaches €10,000. Below that, you can act alone, but a summons remains a technical document.

Another route: the judge can grant time to pay, up to two years. Our article on the payment plan and grace periods explains how to ask.

When several debts pile up

A wage garnishment often signals a wider problem. If your debts durably exceed your income, an over-indebtedness file can change the picture.

From the moment you file, you can ask for wage assignments and seizures of movable property to be suspended. Once the file is declared admissible, seizures are in principle suspended, except for maintenance or criminal debts. The procedure is free.

Free help worth knowing

You are not alone against the enforcement officer. Several services help at no cost:

• Points conseil budget, approved by the State, offer free, confidential and personal budget advice.
• The CCAS of your town and the département's social services help you take stock.
• Family and consumer associations also support households in debt.
• The point-justice network offers a free first legal consultation. Dial 30 39 to find the nearest one.

Legal aid (aide juridictionnelle) can cover a lawyer's fees. In 2026 it is full legal aid for a single person whose reference taxable income does not exceed €12,957. It becomes partial, at 55%, up to €15,316, then at 25% up to €19,433.

What a lawyer brings

A lawyer first checks the title, the statement of account and the limitation period. They recalculate the deduction with your dependants. Then they bring the case before the enforcement judge within the one-month deadline, or negotiate an agreement with the enforcement officer.

A lawyer will not make a genuine debt vanish. On the other hand, they stop you paying sums you do not owe or suffering a miscalculated wage garnishment. A consumer law lawyer answers within 20 minutes.

The official scale appears on the service-public wage garnishment page.