Selling a protected adult's home in France: the judge's authorisation

Your mother is under tutelle (guardianship) or curatelle (a lighter protective regime, with assistance rather than representation), and you are her guardian. She has just moved into a care home, her house in France is empty, and the care home costs more than her pension. You want to sell to pay for her care, but the notaire (French civil-law notary) has told you that the judge’s authorisation is needed, and the court registry has mentioned valuations to be supplied. This guide explains the procedure, what the judge checks, and what a desktop valuation or an expert report brings to the application.

What happens in practice

A protected person’s home is an asset apart. The law wants it to remain available to her for as long as possible, even after a move into a care home, because a return is not ruled out and because her memories are there. Selling is therefore not an ordinary act of management: it is a decision the judge must authorise.

The guardian prepares an application to the juge des contentieux de la protection (the protection judge of the tribunal judiciaire, who has taken over from the former guardianship judge). It sets out why the sale is necessary or in the person’s interest: cost of the care home, income, outgoings on the empty house, no prospect of a return. It is accompanied by documents: a doctor’s opinion where the purpose of the sale is the person’s admission to a care home, one or more valuations of the property, often a draft sale agreement conditional on the authorisation, the protected person’s own view where she can express it, and sometimes that of close relatives.

The judge rules by order. The judge authorises the sale, sets the minimum price or reserve price, and may attach conditions to the authorisation. The guardian then signs the deed before the notaire, in the protected person’s name. Under curatelle, the protected person signs, assisted by the curator. The price is paid into an account in her name, and the guardian accounts for it.

A sale concluded without authorisation is liable to be set aside (article 465 of the French Civil Code). The notaire will not sign without the order.

What French law says

The home is protected. The protected person’s home and the furniture in it are kept at her disposal for as long as possible. If it becomes necessary, or in her interest, to dispose of it by sale, termination or grant of a lease, the act is authorised by the judge or by the family council if there is one. If the purpose of the act is the person’s admission to a care home, the prior opinion of a doctor on the list held by the public prosecutor is required (article 426 of the Civil Code). This rule applies to all measures: tutelle, curatelle and family authorisation (habilitation familiale).

Acts of disposal under tutelle. The guardian cannot perform an act of disposal in the protected person’s name without the authorisation of the family council or, failing that, of the judge. The authorisation sets the terms and, where applicable, the price or reserve price at which the act is made (article 505).

Prohibitions. The guardian cannot, even with authorisation, buy the protected person’s assets or lease them (article 509, 4°), and a conflict of interests calls for a substitute guardian or an ad hoc guardian (article 455).

Curatelle. A person under curatelle cannot perform an act of disposal without the assistance of the curator (article 467). The judge’s authorisation for the home is added, under article 426.

The judge. The protection judge sits within the tribunal judiciaire (Code of Judicial Organisation, articles L. 213-4-1 and following). The competent court is generally that of the protected person’s place of residence.

A tax point to check with the notaire. The capital gain on the main home of a person who has moved into a care home may remain exempt if the sale takes place within two years of the move and certain income conditions are met (article 150 U, II, 1° ter of the General Tax Code). That time limit can weigh on the timetable.

What a valuation report changes

The judge must set a minimum price. The judge does not visit the house and does not know the local market. The judge relies on what is supplied. The Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter) distinguishes the desktop valuation, which states a value without demonstrating it, from the expert report, which justifies and demonstrates it by a method and engages its author’s liability (6th edition, November 2025, Title I, § 1.1).

Two levels are possible. The desktop valuation, without an inspection, prepared from the documents and photographs, with the list of documents received and missing and its reservations (Charte, Title II, § 8.6). It is often enough where the property is ordinary and the judge asks for a second estimate alongside that of a notaire or an estate agent. The expert report with an inspection, which describes the actual condition of the property, its defects, its works, and compares it with identified sales. It is required where the property is unusual, where the family is divided, or where the prospective buyer is a relative.

In either case, the document is independent of the sale: I am neither instructed to sell nor interested in the price, which meets the requirement of impartiality that the Charte imposes (Title I, § 4.1.3) and that the judge expects.

What the report does not do: it does not replace the medical opinion, it does not say whether it is wise to sell, it does not set the price, which is for the judge, and it does not find a buyer.

A worked example

Mrs L., eighty-eight, under tutelle, her daughter as guardian. Her house in PONT-L’ABBÉ has been empty for eight months. The care home costs €2,400 a month, her pension is €1,500: the monthly shortfall of €900 is eating into her savings, and the empty house still costs property tax, insurance and frost-protection heating.

An estate agent has given an opinion at €210,000 “negotiable”. A son offers to buy at €180,000, pointing to the works needed. The two other children are worried. The guardian asks for an expert report with an inspection. The report describes a 1970s house on 800 m² of land, with a roof to be redone costed from a quote at €14,000, and adopts, from seven comparable sales in the town, a value of €225,000 after deduction of the works.

The judge authorises the sale at a minimum price of €215,000. The house is sold for €222,000 to a third party, or to the son if he matches the price, with the judge’s agreement. Compared with the initial offer of €180,000, the protected person keeps €42,000, nearly four years of the monthly shortfall covered. The report cost €975 travel not included, and it avoided a family argument that the guardian could not have settled on her own.

Common mistakes

• Signing a firm sale agreement before the authorisation. An act done without authorisation is void. A sale agreement must contain a condition precedent of the judge’s authorisation.
• Selling to a relative at a convenient value. The judge checks the price, and the other presumptive heirs may challenge it later. An independent valuation protects everyone, the buyer included.
• Clearing the house before the decision. The furniture and personal belongings are kept at the protected person’s disposal, and some have a sentimental value the judge protects.
• Supplying a single estate agent’s estimate. An opinion without a method does not allow the judge to set a minimum price; the judge will ask for a second document, and the file will be delayed.
• Forgetting the two-year tax limit. The capital gains exemption on the main home may be lost if the sale drags on.

What to gather

• The judgment opening the protective measure and, where applicable, the decision appointing the guardian or curator.
• The title deed, the property tax notice, available surveys, plans.
• Recent photographs of every room, the outbuildings and the land.
• Quotes for works, if any.
• The care home’s certificate and a simple budget: income, outgoings, cost of accommodation.
• The medical opinion required by article 426 where the sale is linked to the move into a care home.
• Any offers already received and the notaire’s contact details.

Timeframe and fee

Two services, depending on what the judge expects. The desktop valuation, without an inspection: about 5 hours, from €325. The market value report with an inspection, in the guardian’s presence: about 15 hours, from €975 travel not included, with the report usually delivered three weeks after the inspection. Travel is charged at €65 per hour or part hour from PONT-L’ABBÉ, there and back. A 50 % deposit on ordering, paid by the guardian in the protected person’s name, and an invoice made out in her name for the management account. VAT not applicable, article 293 B of the French General Tax Code.

The Market value page describes the report and the Fees page gives the full scale. The quote is free and can be attached to the application for the judge’s information.