Pacsé, we contribute according to our abilities

The case submitted to the Court was between two civil partners who were separating. One having earned more than the other, had always paid the repayments of the two real estate loans intended to finance the purchase of the house. He had also paid the taxes and bills related to this building. When separating, this partner refused to split the value of the house in two.

There has never been an agreement to impose on one a burden greater than that incumbent on him, he said, and he demanded reimbursement of half from the other since joint ownership in the civil partnership is a joint ownership by half.

But the judges refused. If property acquired together by civil partnership partners is deemed to be shared equally, this does not mean that each party must necessarily finance it equally. As in marriage, each person contributes according to their financial capacity and not according to the proportion of their share.

Since one of the partners earned much less than the other and did not have the means to repay his credit, the other paid in his place, according to his contributory abilities, and has no claim to assert, concluded the Court of Cassation.

(Cass. Civ 1, 27.1.2021/19/26.140, F XNUMX-XNUMX).