A British woman living in the UK is waiting to hear the outcome of her appeal against a court order issued to her and her sister ordering them to pay €100,000 in household expenses for their father. They have had no contact with the father for over 50 years.
Under French law, adult children can be financially responsible to their parents if they are in need.
Samantha Dyke, 53, who is a working mother from Crewe in Cheshire, has never lived in France and does not speak French.
Her father hasn’t been involved in her life since she was two, and all she knows of him is that he moved to France with his second wife.
Read more: “Bill of €100,000 in a retirement home for a father in France, I don’t know”
He is now suffering from dementia and lives in Haute-Vienne.
Ms Dyke says she was ‘bombarded’ with bills for her childcare costs for a year, but ‘he’s a stranger to me: I don’t know him like my dad. He never provided anything for me or my sister.
She does not know how the retirement home found her contact details.
“I was taken to court by the nursing home in my absence [at hearings in March and May 2021]and received a decision “requiring that we both pay approximately €50,000”.
“I sent a letter to the court and to others explaining [in English] that I didn’t really know this man but they ignored it.
She said they were also told to pay around €600/month each for their father’s school fees for the rest of his life.
“I’ve worked hard all my life to buy a house and now I’m afraid they’ll come and take it,” she previously said. The connection.
Ms Dyke’s appeal had a first hearing in a court in Limoges this month, after having all documents relating to the case translated from English to French.
“The judge accepted this on February 9 and I’m just waiting to hear what the next steps are because communication with my lawyer is a bit difficult,” she said. The connection.
“From what I can understand, the next thing to do is to have the original court order overturned” under an exemption to French law that says Ms Dyke must pay the costs.
“It will require another hearing but the judge has accepted that there is an appeal to be heard and the good thing is that I have a lawyer who is local to Limoges.
“I’m still very stressed about it because it’s a real struggle to get all the information. It was just a nightmare from start to finish.
“But now I feel like I’m going somewhere, even if the progress is slow.”
Why was the fee charged to Mrs. Dyke and her sister?
These payment requests relate to France maintenance obligation laws, under which adult children are required to help their parents and grandparents if they are in need, just as parents are required to care for their dependent children.
Article 205 of the Civil Code says: “Children owe support to their father and mother, or to other ancestors who are in need. This means that a daughter has to help her father pay bills such as medical bills and nursing home fees.
If these funds are not provided voluntarily, care homes can ask a child to pay. Failing this, a family court judge will be seized of the matter, taking into account the importance of the parent’s needs and the child’s ability to meet the needs.
However, French law provides that a judge can exempt a child from providing all or part of the funds if their parent has seriously failed in their own obligations towards them, for example by abandoning them.
Retired British barrister and honorary barrister Gerard Barron has previously told The Connexion that the maintenance obligation makes children in the UK liable, although it is uncertain whether English courts would enforce the French judgment, d especially since Brexit has put an end to the reciprocal recognition of judgments.
If Ms Dyke’s appeal were unsuccessful, he said, the home would have to seek enforcement in the English courts, in which case Ms Dyke could again present a defense in the English courts, relying on ” arguments of common law and equity as to the fairness of the judgment”.
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