When a commissaire de justice (bailiff, formerly known as a huissier de justice) carries out a seizure on your bank account, panic can quickly set in. The fear of being left without any resources to cover essential daily expenses—such as food, housing, or healthcare—is entirely legitimate. Fortunately, French law strictly regulates these procedures to guarantee the dignity of debtors. This comprehensive article explains in detail how the Solde Bancaire Insaisissable (SBI, or unseizable bank balance) works, your rights when facing a seizure, and the concrete steps you must take to protect your resources.
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A bank account seizure, most commonly taking the form of a saisie-attribution (third-party attachment order) or a saisie administrative à tiers détenteur (SATD) (administrative attachment order, formerly avis à tiers détenteur), is a civil enforcement procedure. It allows a creditor holding an titre exécutoire (enforceable title, such as a court judgment or a notarised deed) or the tax administration to block available funds on a debtor's bank accounts in order to obtain repayment of a debt.
As soon as the seizure is served on the bank, the banking institution is legally obliged to block the credit balances of the debtor's accounts (current accounts, savings accounts) up to the amount of the claimed debt. However, this blocking is not absolute: the law requires that a minimum sum of money be left at the account holder's disposal to live on.
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The Solde Bancaire Insaisissable (SBI, or unseizable bank balance) is a public policy legal guarantee. Its objective is to ensure that the debtor has a minimum means of subsistence, regardless of the amount of the debt claimed.
The principle of the unseizable bank balance is governed by the Code des procédures civiles d'exécution (French Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures), and more specifically by Article L. 162-2, which states:
> “When the accounts of a debtor who is a natural person are seized, there shall be left at his disposal, without any prior process, a sum of an amount at least equal to that of the revenu de solidarité active (active solidarity income) for a single beneficiary.”
Article R. 162-2 of the same code specifies the terms of application and calculation of this balance.
The amount of the SBI is indexed to the flat-rate amount of the Revenu de Solidarité Active (RSA, the French minimum income benefit) for a single person with no children.
This amount of 635.71 € is fixed and universal: it does not depend on your household composition (whether you are single or married, with or without children), nor on your usual income level.
1. Automaticity: The bank has a legal obligation to leave this amount of 635.71 € at your disposal automatically. You do not need to take any steps with your bank to benefit from it.
2. Uniqueness: The SBI is allocated per debtor and not per bank account. If you hold several accounts in the same bank or in different banks, the SBI of 635.71 € will only apply once, on a single account (generally the active current account).
3. Available balance: The SBI can only be allocated if your account balance was in credit at the time of the seizure. If your account has a balance of 200 € at the time of the seizure, the bank will leave this 200 € at your disposal, but it will not "credit" you with the difference to reach 635.71 €.
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Apart from the SBI, certain sums paid into your bank account are, by their very nature, completely unseizable because they are intended for maintenance or social support. These benefits cannot be seized by a creditor.
These unseizable resources include:
Please note: Unlike the SBI, the protection of these funds is not always automatic after a seizure. To recover them if they have been blocked, you must provide your bank with supporting documents proving the origin of these funds within a very short timeframe.
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To better understand how the seizure mechanism works and how the SBI interacts with unseizable benefits, here are two simulations.
Thomas owes 2,500 € to a former landlord. The landlord instructs a commissaire de justice to carry out a saisie-attribution on Thomas's account.
On the day of the seizure, Thomas's current account has a credit balance of 1,800 €.
Sofia, a single mother with two children, is subject to a saisie administrative à tiers détenteur (SATD) by the Trésor Public (French Treasury) for unpaid taxes amounting to 1,200 €.
At the time of the seizure, her account shows a balance of 950 €. This balance consists of her part-time salary of 400 € and 550 € in family allowances and APL paid by the CAF.
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If you notice that your bank account is blocked, you must act quickly. Here is the step-by-step protocol to follow:
As soon as you notice a blockage (declined bank card, limited account access), contact your bank advisor immediately. Ask them:
Within a maximum of 8 days after the seizure is served on your bank, the commissaire de justice must notify you of the seizure by a formal bailiff's deed (called the dénonciation de la saisie). For an SATD by the tax administration, a notification is sent to you simultaneously.
If you receive unseizable benefits (CAF, AAH, etc.) and their total amount is higher than the SBI (635.71 €), you must ask your bank to unblock them.
If you believe the seizure is unjustified (debt already paid, statute of limitations/prescription, procedural defect), you can challenge it.
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The seizure procedure involves blocking periods and significant costs for the debtor.
During a seizure, accounts are not emptied instantly for the benefit of the creditor. There is a conservatory blocking phase that lasts 15 days.
During these 15 days (known as the regularisation period), the bank calculates the final balance of the account, taking into account transactions currently being processed (checks issued before the seizure but not yet debited, card payments already authorised). It is only at the end of this 15-day period that the seizable balance is definitively fixed.
The bank charges fees for the administrative processing of the seizure (processing fees for a saisie-attribution or SATD). These fees are regulated by the Code de commerce (French Commercial Code, Article A. 444-191).
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When faced with a bank account seizure, certain instinctive reactions can worsen your legal and financial situation. Here are the pitfalls to avoid:
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No. The Solde Bancaire Insaisissable only applies if your account balance is positive (in credit) at the moment of the seizure. If your account shows -150 €, the bank will not pay you 635.71 €. The seizure will simply be declared unsuccessful (or néante) by the bank, as there are no funds to seize.
Yes, a joint account can be seized if one of the co-holders is the debtor of the debt. However, the seizure can, in principle, only apply to the share of the funds belonging to the debtor. By default, the law presumes that the funds belong half to each co-holder. The non-debtor co-holder can therefore prove that the funds belong solely to them (for example, by providing their pay slips) to request their immediate return. The SBI of 635.71 € also applies to the joint account if the debtor receives their income there.
Yes. Savings accounts (Livret A, LDD, LEP, CEL, PEL) are seizable in the same way as current accounts. However, the SBI rule is global: the amount of 635.71 € is left on your deposit account (current account) as a priority. If the current account is empty but your Livret A contains 1,000 €, the seizure can be carried out on the Livret A, but the SBI must be preserved there if no other account has benefited from it.
This is an illegal practice. If your bank blocks the entirety of your positive account without giving you access to the 635.71 €, you must immediately send them a formal notice (mise en demeure) by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt (lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception - LRAR) demanding the immediate release of the SBI, citing Article L. 162-2 of the Code des procédures civiles d'exécution. You can also contact the bank's mediator or report this practice to the commissaire de justice in charge of the seizure.
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