What if the support is unpaid and the debtor is abroad?
Verified 26 June 2020 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Additional cases ?
If the person who has to pay you support does not do so and lives abroad, you must make a procedure for the recovery of maintenance claims abroad through the ministry of foreign affairs.
This process is carried out in 2 steps:
- You send your full application package by letter to the Office for the Recovery of Maintenance Claims (RCA) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This service can help you build your application file.
- After receiving your file, the Office for the Recovery of Maintenance Claims (RCA) sends it to the central authority of the State in which the debtor..
You can contact the office of recovery of maintenance claims (RCA) by mail or by mail.
Who shall I contact
Office for the Recovery of Maintenance Claims (RCA)
Office for the Recovery of Maintenance Claims (RCA)
By phone
+33 (0)1 43 17 90 01
By mail
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
French abroad and consular administration
Convention, Civil Affairs and Mutual Legal Assistance Service
Mission for the Protection of the Rights of Persons
Office for the Recovery of Maintenance Claims (RCA)
27 Convention Street
CS 91533
75732 Paris Cedex 15
By email
obligation.alimentaire@diplomatie.gouv.fr
Warning
if you do not know where your debtor resides and the address of his employers, you must file for abandonment. The public prosecutor will then order an investigation to obtain that information.
- Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 of 18/12/2008 on the recovery of maintenance obligations in the European Union in the event of cross-border disputes (PDF - 554.6 KB)Debtor residing in a country of the European Union
- Maintenance payments abroadMinistry for Europe and Foreign Affairs
- Contents of the application file to collect a claim abroadMinistry for Europe and Foreign Affairs
- Maintenance claims - International lawEuropean Commission