Can you prevent your spouse from incurring reckless expenses?

Verified 10 April 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

If your husband or wife makes reckless expenses and you want to protect your family's wealth, you can take legal action if the expenses are manifestly unreasonable. You can also decide to divorce. We present you the information to know.

If you are married, each of you receives and freely disposes of his earnings and wages after having paid the marriage expenses.

Each one decides alone for his personal property.

Each of you can also spend on a joint account.

So you're independent of each other.

However, measures are possible when one of you 2 seriously endangers the interest of the family. Possible actions depend on your situation:

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You want to stay married

The judge may intervene if one of the spouses seriously fails to fulfill his duties and his actions jeopardize the interests of the family.

Endangering the interests of the family

You can take legal action provided that your spouse's expenses endanger your family's wealth.

To consider that certain expenses are manifestly excessive, you should take into account the following:

  • Lifestyle of the family
  • Usefulness of the expenditure concerned.

The Family Court Judge (Jaf) can take urgent action if your husband or wife is seriously failing in his duties, for example in case of non-compliance with his/her duty of relief.

The Jaf may prohibit your spouse from making, without your consent, acts of disposition on the following goods:

  • Its own property (furniture or real estate)
  • Property of your couple.

It can be used if your spouse engages excessively in consumer credit, at the risk of over-indebtedness.

The judge can prohibit your spouse from emptying a bank account or selling real estate alone, including in the following cases of addiction:

This prohibition must be limited in time.

The duration is fixed by the judge, without being able to exceed 3 years (including possible extension).

Recourse to the judge

You must refer the matter to the Family Court Judge (Jaf) of court of law of your common home.

The use of a lawyer is not mandatory.

Please note

If you are separated, the competent court is the court of residence of the spouse who spends recklessly.

To act quickly, you can use the repository, which allows the Jaf to take urgent action.

To enter the Jaf, you must send him a letter. You and your spouse must indicate the following:

  • Surname and first name
  • Date and place of birth
  • Address.

You must specify the reason for your request.

You must file your application with the court office of the place of residence of your couple in one of the following ways:

  • On site
  • Mail RAR: titleContent.

Warning  

You must prove the situation. You must attach copies of all supporting documents useful.

You can inquire at a place of access to the law.

Who shall I contact

You want to divorce

You can filing for divorce in court. You must get a lawyer. He will address the Family Court Judge (Jaf).

Who shall I contact

The purpose of the orientation hearing is to guide the case and set a schedule.

You can ask the judge to take provisional measures to protect the family patrimony, at this hearing.

The Jaf may, for example, prohibit your spouse from making, without your consent, acts of disposition on your couple's property or on the family home.

The Jaf may also prohibit your spouse from emptying a bank account or selling real estate alone, including in the following cases of addiction:

FYI  

Some specific devices are provided for in the event of domestic violence.

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