Guardianship of an elderly parent, a brother, or a sister with a disability: the burden is heavy, daily, and yet the question of the remuneration of the family guardian remains unclear for most concerned families. The term “salary” itself is misleading, as the family guardian is not an employee in the labor law sense.
Family guardian and professional representative: two statuses, two remuneration logics
The distinction is fundamental. A judicial representative for the protection of adults (MJPM) practices a regulated profession, with a diploma, an oath taken before the court, and a defined salary framework. According to the job sheet published by France Travail in 2026, job offers for this position predominantly propose a gross monthly salary between 1,863 and 2,328 euros.
You may also like : Everything You Need to Know About Real Debrid Pricing and Its Associated Services
The family guardian, on the other hand, receives neither salary nor fees. Their mission is based on a principle of gratuity enshrined in the civil code. When searching for the salary of a family guardian in France, one encounters this reality: the law provides for a possible allowance, not remuneration in the classical sense.
This asymmetry poses a concrete problem. A family guardian often dedicates several hours a week to managing accounts, attending medical appointments, and communicating with administrations. The time invested is comparable to that of a professional, without systematic financial compensation.
Read also : Everything You Need to Know About the Ban on Leaflet Distribution in 2025 and Its Impacts
Allowance and compensation for the family guardian: what the civil code provides
The guardianship judge can authorize two types of compensation for the family guardian.
- The reimbursement of expenses incurred in the exercise of the measure: travel, correspondence, administrative costs. These expenses are covered by the assets of the protected person, upon presentation of receipts.
- A complementary allowance, which the judge sets based on the complexity of the management and the income or assets of the person under guardianship. This allowance is not automatic: a formal request must be made to the judge.
- In rare cases, a bonus may be granted if the measure requires particularly heavy investment (real estate management, complex assets, multiple interlocutors).
The amount of this allowance is not capped by a national scale. The guardianship judge assesses on a case-by-case basis, which generates significant disparities from one court to another. Some family guardians receive nothing for years, either due to not having made a request or through ignorance of their rights.
Income of the protected person and funding of the measure
The funding of the protection measure relies on the resources of the protected adult. When these resources are modest, the family guardian effectively bears part of the costs related to management. The public community can intervene for the funding of measures entrusted to professional representatives, but this mechanism does not apply to the family guardian.
A family guardian managing the guardianship of a parent with low income finds themselves in a situation where the theoretical allowance has no real source of funding.
Compensation of the family guardian by a responsible third party: a recent evolution
Since 2023-2024, several appellate court decisions have opened a breach. When the guardianship results from an accident caused by a third party (road accident, medical error), the insurer of the responsible third party may be required to compensate the family guardian for the workload related to the management of the measure.
This legal evolution incorporates the management burden into the compensable harm.
In practice, this means that a family guardian can, in this specific context, obtain financial compensation that far exceeds the classical allowance set by the guardianship judge. Field feedback varies on this point: not all insurers spontaneously recognize this item of harm, and legal assistance is generally needed to assert this right.
Concrete steps to request an allowance from the guardianship judge
The request for an allowance is made by application addressed to the guardianship judge of the competent judicial court. The family guardian must attach proof of the expenses incurred and precisely describe the tasks performed within the framework of the protection measure.
- Gather management account statements, travel invoices, correspondence sent to administrations and organizations.
- Write a detailed report of the guardianship activity: frequency of visits, nature of procedures, time spent managing the assets.
- Send the application to the court registry, specifying the amount requested and the reasons for the request.
A family guardian who waits several years before making their request risks not being able to recover the amounts corresponding to the elapsed years. It is therefore preferable to make this request as soon as the burden becomes significant.
Information and support services for family guardians
Departmental structures have been organized to assist family guardians in these procedures. Information and support services for family guardians (ISTF), such as Aspam 49 in Maine-et-Loire, offer telephone support and individual appointments to help with the preparation of management accounts and compensation requests.
These services remain unevenly distributed across the territory. Not all departments have an active ISTF, leaving many family guardians without a dedicated contact for complex administrative and legal questions.
The term “salary” applied to the family guardian remains therefore inappropriate. The legal reality is based on a principle of gratuity accompanied by possible but never automatic compensations. Between the allowance set by the judge, the reimbursement of expenses, and the new avenues of compensation by insurers, situations vary considerably.
A family guardian who wishes to have their workload recognized has every interest in documenting their activity precisely from the start of the measure, without waiting for the financial question to become a point of family tension.