If your partner has just hit you, threatened you or told you that calling the police will get you deported, read this first: in France, a British victim of domestic violence is protected whether or not she — or he — has filed a criminal complaint, whether or not the couple still live together, and whether or not the residence papers depend on the violent partner. The family judge (juge aux affaires familiales, the specialist family court judge) can issue an emergency protection order within days, the police must record your complaint, and a victim who holds a protection order is entitled to her own one-year residence card, even if she entered France on her spouse’s coat-tails. None of this requires you to speak French: you have the right to be heard and understood. This guide walks you through the two tracks that matter — the criminal track (getting safe tonight, seeing a doctor, filing a complaint that counts) and the family track (the ordonnance de protection, the children, your papers and your divorce) — with the exact statutes and the latest Court of Cassation rulings, quoted word for word, so that you can act today and challenge any refusal tomorrow.

I. Tonight and This Week: Getting Safe, Seeing a Doctor and Filing a Complaint That Counts

A. What to Do in the First 24 Hours: Where to Go, Who to Call and How Language Stops Being a Barrier

Safety comes before procedure, and French law organises help around that order. If you are in immediate danger, call 17 (the police emergency number) or 112 (the European emergency number, answered in English). Both connect you to officers who can come to your home, remove the violent person on the spot and take you somewhere safe. For advice before or after the emergency, the national helpline 3919 (Violences Femmes Info) offers a first-level response and directs callers toward local support services, as the official service-public.fr information page confirms. Keep these two numbers in your telephone under neutral names if your partner checks your calls.

The second reflex is medical proof. Go to your doctor, to A&E (urgences), or to a hospital forensic unit (unité médico-judiciaire, the hospital department that examines victims of violence) and ask for a medical certificate (certificat médical) describing every injury, however small, and stating the number of days of total incapacity for work (incapacité totale de travail, universally shortened to ITT). The ITT figure is not about your job: it is the yardstick French criminal law uses to grade violence, as you will see below, and it can be set at zero days without weakening your case. Photograph injuries, torn clothing and broken furniture, save threatening messages, and write down what happened while it is fresh, with dates, places and any witnesses — neighbours who heard shouting, children who were present, the friend you telephoned afterwards. This file of proof (dossier de preuves) will serve twice: before the criminal courts and before the family judge.

The third step is the police station or the gendarmerie. You can report violence to any commissariat de police or brigade de gendarmerie, including one far from your home if you fear being followed, and you can be accompanied by a friend, a relative, a victims’ association worker or a lawyer. Officers must take your statement: the filing of a complaint (dépôt de plainte) is a right, not a favour, and you can also write directly to the public prosecutor (procureur de la République) at the local tribunal judiciaire. If your French is shaky, say so immediately and ask for an interpreter: in a country where you do not speak the language, the authorities must make sure you understand what you are signing and what happens next, and victims’ associations across Paris and the Île-de-France routinely attend appointments to translate the practical side. Bring your passport, any residence permit, the medical certificate, your photographs and your written account. Ask for a copy of your complaint receipt (récépissé de dépôt de plainte) before you leave: it proves the date of your report and opens the door to compensation procedures later, including becoming a civil party (partie civile) to claim damages inside the criminal trial, a route our assault-victims guide explains step by step for British readers.

Two threats that violent partners use constantly deserve an immediate answer. First, no, withdrawing your complaint does not end the case: once the prosecutor knows about the violence, he can prosecute anyway, and your statement stays in the file. Second, no, reporting violence does not put your own residence at risk — quite the opposite, as Part II.B shows: French law gives the victim her own papers precisely so that immigration blackmail stops working. If the police ever refuse to record your complaint or minimise what happened, you can have a lawyer write to the prosecutor, contact a victims’ association (association d’aide aux victimes, present in every tribunal judiciaire), and challenge any decision to drop the case (classement sans suite) by becoming a civil party before the investigating judge — the same challenge route described in our guide for British assault victims in France.

B. Why French Criminal Law Punishes Partner Violence More Harshly: Prison Terms, Harassment and the Ex-Partner Rule

French criminal law does not treat a slap from a partner like a slap from a stranger. Violence committed by a spouse, cohabiting partner (concubin) or civil-partnership partner (partenaire de PACS) carries an aggravating circumstance (circonstance aggravante) that raises the penalty at every level of seriousness. Article 132-80 of the Criminal Code states: “Dans les cas respectivement prévus par la loi ou le règlement, les peines encourues pour un crime, un délit ou une contravention sont aggravées lorsque l’infraction est commise par le conjoint, le concubin ou le partenaire lié à la victime par un pacte civil de solidarité, y compris lorsqu’ils ne cohabitent pas.” — penalties are aggravated when the offence is committed by the spouse, cohabitant or civil partner, even where they do not live together. In plain terms: having moved out, or never having lived together, never saves the violent partner.

The scale climbs with the medical consequences. Where the violence causes no incapacity for work or an ITT of eight days or less, Article 222-13 of the Criminal Code punishes it with three years’ imprisonment and a 45,000 euro fine when committed “6° Par le conjoint ou le concubin de la victime ou le partenaire lié à la victime par un pacte civil de solidarité” — by the victim’s spouse, cohabitant or civil partner. The same article raises the penalty to five years’ imprisonment and a 75,000 euro fine where a child watches the scene: “Alors qu’un mineur assiste aux faits et que ceux-ci sont commis par le conjoint ou le concubin de la victime ou le partenaire lié à la victime par un pacte civil de solidarité”. If your children were in the next room, or clinging to you while it happened, say so explicitly to the police and the doctor — their presence is a statutory aggravator, not background detail. Where the ITT exceeds eight days, Article 222-12 of the Criminal Code takes over with five years’ imprisonment and a 75,000 euro fine for the same partner circumstance. This is why the medical certificate matters so much: the ITT number written on it directly selects the charge.

Violence is not only blows. Repeated degrading words and behaviour from a partner that wreck your living conditions and damage your physical or mental health constitute harassment within the couple (harcèlement au sein du couple). Article 222-33-2-1 of the Criminal Code provides: “Le fait de harceler son conjoint, son partenaire lié par un pacte civil de solidarité ou son concubin par des propos ou comportements répétés ayant pour objet ou pour effet une dégradation de ses conditions de vie se traduisant par une altération de sa santé physique ou mentale est puni de trois ans d’emprisonnement et de 45 000 € d’amende lorsque ces faits ont causé une incapacité totale de travail inférieure ou égale à huit jours ou n’ont entraîné aucune incapacité de travail et de cinq ans d’emprisonnement et de 75 000 € d’amende lorsqu’ils ont causé une incapacité totale de travail supérieure à huit jours ou ont été commis alors qu’un mineur était présent et y a assisté.” Constant insults, control of your money and friendships, threats to take the children or have you deported, checking your telephone: reported together with their effect on your health, these form a criminal offence in their own right, punishable even where there was never a blow and never a day off work.

Leaving him does not end the protection — it extends it. The second paragraph of Article 132-80 continues: “La circonstance aggravante prévue au premier alinéa est également constituée lorsque les faits sont commis par l’ancien conjoint, l’ancien concubin ou l’ancien partenaire lié à la victime par un pacte civil de solidarité. Les dispositions du présent alinéa sont applicables dès lors que l’infraction est commise en raison des relations ayant existé entre l’auteur des faits et la victime.” The aggravation therefore follows the ex-partner, provided the offence is committed because of the former relationship. The Court of Cassation enforces this broadly. In a ruling of 2 May 2024 (no. 23-85.986), the Criminal Chamber held: “Il résulte de ce texte que la commission d’une infraction par l’ancien conjoint, concubin ou partenaire lié par un pacte civil de solidarité constitue une circonstance aggravante, dès lors que cette infraction est commise en raison des relations ayant existé entre l’auteur des faits et la victime” — and it quashed a Lyon appeal decision that had refused the aggravation for violence around the handover of the couple’s child, ruling that facts “commis en raison de l’ancienne relation de couple des intéressés” necessarily trigger it (Crim., 2 May 2024, no. 23-85.986). Arguments over contact with the children after separation are the classic setting for post-separation violence, and this decision says the ex-partner aggravation applies there too.

II. The Family Judge Route: the Protection Order That Removes Him, Shelters the Children and Secures Your Papers

A. The Ordonnance de Protection: a Six-Day Decision With No Prior Complaint Needed, Weapons Seized, Home Kept and Twelve Months of Cover

Alongside the criminal case — or entirely without one — you can ask the family judge for an emergency protection order (ordonnance de protection), the single most powerful civil tool French law offers victims. Article 515-9 of the Civil Code provides: “Lorsque les violences exercées au sein du couple, y compris lorsqu’il n’y a pas de cohabitation, ou par un ancien conjoint, un ancien partenaire lié par un pacte civil de solidarité ou un ancien concubin, y compris lorsqu’il n’y a jamais eu de cohabitation, mettent en danger la personne qui en est victime ou un ou plusieurs enfants, le juge aux affaires familiales peut délivrer en urgence à cette dernière une ordonnance de protection.” Three points in that sentence change everything for British victims. First, couples who no longer live together — and even ex-partners who never lived together — are covered. Second, danger to your children alone can justify the order. Third, the judge acts “en urgence”, urgently, and Article 515-10 of the Civil Code adds the sentence victims need most: “Sa délivrance n’est pas conditionnée à l’existence d’une plainte pénale préalable.” No prior criminal complaint is required. You can seek protection first and decide about the criminal complaint afterwards, at your pace.

The procedure is built for speed and for frightened applicants. You apply to the family judge of the tribunal judiciaire — in practice the court covering the family home, which for Paris and the inner suburbs means filing at the Paris courthouse, where an English-speaking lawyer or victims’ association can help you complete the official form Cerfa 15458*07, the form the service-public.fr portal makes available for requests for a protection order. The public prosecutor can also apply with your agreement. As soon as your application arrives, the judge summons both sides “par tous moyens adaptés” — by any suitable means, including telephone — for a hearing held in chambers (chambre du conseil, a private hearing, not a public trial), and each side may bring a lawyer; the two hearings can even be held separately if facing him terrifies you. Then comes the statutory deadline: Article 515-11 of the Civil Code orders that “L’ordonnance de protection est délivrée, par le juge aux affaires familiales, dans un délai maximal de six jours à compter de la fixation de la date de l’audience, s’il estime, au vu des éléments produits devant lui et contradictoirement débattus, qu’il existe des raisons sérieuses de considérer comme vraisemblables, y compris lorsqu’il n’y a pas de cohabitation ou qu’il n’y a jamais eu de cohabitation, la commission des faits de violence allégués et le danger auquel la victime ou un ou plusieurs enfants sont exposés.” Note the standard of proof: “des raisons sérieuses de considérer comme vraisemblables” — serious reasons to regard the alleged violence and the danger as plausible. You do not need to prove the violence the way a criminal court does; plausible, documented danger is enough. Bring your medical certificate, photographs, messages, witness statements and any police receipt: each piece makes plausibility harder to deny.

What the order can contain is remarkably concrete. At delivery, the judge may forbid him to meet or contact named persons “de quelque façon que ce soit” — in any way whatsoever — and to enter places you regularly go; order him to hand over any weapons to the nearest police station and ban him from holding or carrying arms (a refusal to impose the weapons ban must be specially reasoned); propose a health, social or psychological programme or an accountability course, with the prosecutor informed if he refuses; rule on the spouses’ separate residence and give use of the family home to the non-violent spouse — “sauf ordonnance spécialement motivée” — even where she has already fled to emergency shelter, with the costs chargeable to the violent spouse; award her the family pet; and settle parental authority and contact on the spot. These are not wishes: breach of a protection order is itself a criminal offence punished with imprisonment, and the police enforce it. The measures run for up to twelve months from notification, and Article 515-12 of the Civil Code states: “Les mesures mentionnées à l’article 515-11 sont prises pour une durée maximale de douze mois à compter de la notification de l’ordonnance. Elles peuvent être prolongées au-delà si, durant ce délai, une demande en divorce ou en séparation de corps a été déposée ou si le juge aux affaires familiales a été saisi d’une demande relative à l’exercice de l’autorité parentale.” Filing for divorce or asking the judge to rule on parental authority during those twelve months therefore extends your shield — one more reason to start the family case early rather than waiting for the criminal trial.

The Court of Cassation confirmed in 2024 how far this shield reaches for mothers. Where a mother credibly endangered by her partner has children, the family judge can restrict the father’s contact with the children to protect her, without proving a separate danger to the children themselves. The First Civil Chamber held: “lorsque le juge aux affaires familiales estime qu’il existe des raisons sérieuses de considérer comme vraisemblables la commission des faits de violence allégués et le danger auquel est exposée la victime et que celle-ci est parent d’un ou plusieurs enfants, il peut, pour assurer sa protection, interdire à la partie défenderesse de recevoir ou de rencontrer le ou les enfants, ainsi que d’entrer en relation avec eux, de quelque façon que ce soit, autrement qu’à l’occasion du droit de visite qu’il lui a, le cas échéant, accordé, et de se rendre au domicile familial où la victime demeure avec eux” (Civ. 1re, 23 May 2024, no. 22-22.600). If he uses child handovers to threaten or control you, show this decision to your lawyer: supervised or restricted contact plus exclusion from the family home is exactly what the order can impose, and the highest civil court has approved it.

B. Your Papers, Your Children and Your Divorce: the One-Year Card That Frees You From His Sponsorship

For many British victims, the deepest fear is administrative: your right to live in France comes from your marriage — if you report him or divorce him, will the préfecture take your card away? French law answers with a dedicated residence permit for victims. Article L425-6 of the immigration code (CESEDA) provides: “L’étranger qui bénéficie d’une ordonnance de protection en vertu de l’article 515-9 du code civil, en raison des violences exercées au sein du couple ou par un ancien conjoint, un ancien partenaire lié par un pacte civil de solidarité ou un ancien concubin se voit délivrer, dans les plus brefs délais, une carte de séjour temporaire mention ” vie privée et familiale ” d’une durée d’un an.” A one-year temporary card marked “private and family life”, issued as quickly as possible — and the usual prior-visa requirement (“La condition prévue à l’article L. 412-1 n’est pas opposable”) cannot be held against you. The same article continues: “Une fois arrivée à expiration elle est renouvelée de plein droit à l’étranger qui continue à bénéficier d’une telle ordonnance de protection. Lorsque l’étranger a porté plainte contre l’auteur des faits elle est renouvelée de plein droit pendant la durée de la procédure pénale afférente, y compris après l’expiration de l’ordonnance de protection.” Renewal is therefore automatic while the order lasts, and if you have filed a complaint it continues automatically for the whole criminal case, even after the order expires. Take the protection order to the préfecture immediately, keep copies of everything you file, and if the counter refuses or delays, have a lawyer challenge the refusal before the administrative tribunal (tribunal administratif): a refusal to issue a card the statute says must be delivered “dans les plus brefs délais” is exactly the kind of decision judges overturn, and any removal order (obligation de quitter le territoire français) served while your application is pending must be challenged within its short deadline, as our British OQTF-challenge guide explains.

The children question runs on a parallel track. Parental authority (autorité parentale) is normally joint, but the protection order can reorganise contact at once, and the divorce or parental-authority case that follows will fix residence, visiting rights and maintenance (pension alimentaire) durably. French judges decide these matters by the child’s best interests, and documented violence weighs heavily: the plausibility finding from your protection order, the medical certificates and any criminal conviction travel with you into the divorce file. If he threatens to take the children to England, tell your lawyer at once — France and the United Kingdom are both bound by the 1980 Hague Convention on child abduction, which provides a fast return procedure, but speed is everything, so act within days, not months. Where to file the divorce itself, which country’s law applies and how the French decree gets recognised back in Britain are questions a lawyer should map out with you at the first appointment, asking in particular how the French decree will be recognised back in Britain.

Finally, money and aftermath. Inside the criminal trial you can constitute yourself a civil party and claim damages for physical injury, psychological harm and lost earnings; the judge can also order the convicted person to pay your legal costs. Keep every receipt — medical bills, locksmith and rehousing costs, travel to hearings, unpaid leave — because each becomes a head of loss. If the violence forced you out of work, the job-loss and benefits machinery (sick leave, unemployment rights built up in France, including with credited UK years) still applies to you exactly as to any other resident. And if the marriage ends, the division of property, compensatory allowance (prestation compensatoire) and the fate of the French home follow the divorce track, where the documented violence strengthens your negotiating position on every point from the timetable to the home itself.

Conclusion

French law gives a British victim of partner violence three shields that work together: tonight, the police and the doctor, whose records grade the offence and trigger the aggravated penalties for spouses, cohabitants, civil partners and ex-partners; within days, the family judge, who can remove him from the home, seize his weapons, restrict contact with the children and protect you for twelve months on a test of plausibility, not full proof; and for the year ahead, your own residence card, renewed automatically while the protection or the criminal case lasts, so that papers can never again be used as a leash. Call 17 or 112 in danger, call 3919 for guidance, get the medical certificate, file the complaint, and apply for the protection order with a lawyer beside you — then challenge without hesitation any officer who will not record you, any préfecture that will not deliver your card, and any order that falls short of your safety. Each of these refusals has a judge waiting to overturn it.

Need a quick opinion on your case.

If you are facing violence from your partner in France and need to move fast — protection order, complaint, children, papers or divorce — our firm offers a telephone consultation within 48 hours with a solicitor of the chambers. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22 or contact us via our contact page. We assist British clients throughout Paris and the Île-de-France, in English, from the first emergency steps to the final judgment.