Government, Legal, AdministrationSee also government sites for business in the business section. Unemployment, retirement, diploma recognition: see the job page. Immigration: see the immigration page. Tax: see the tax page. Justice tax when filing a lawsuit: pay online. Health care: see the health care page or the CMU/health care overview page. Administrative regions: see the administrative regions page. Solicitors/Lawyers - who can you trust?In a foreign country where you may not even speak the language, certain locals may consider you an easy target for cheating and fraud. Landlords not refunding deposits or not refunding other dues are such a classic problem that I systematically advise to withhold the deposit in the last rent yourself even if you are not supposed to do it. This minor breach of contract is a lesser evil than two years of court proceedings that may end up costing you as much in solicitors' fees as the money recovered. But don't think such problems only concern expats. The French themselves are victims of cheating and fraud in large numbers. So what can you do to protect yourself? Who will pay your solicitors' fees if you need to take court action? What if the judgement turns out in your favour but does not award you sufficient compensation to cover your solicitor's fees? First of all, take out a legal insurance with a comprehensive cover for all the sorts of disputes that you may face. Make sure that the level of fees covered is realistic. For a basic law suit, you need to consider that the fees will be €1500 to €2000 or more. The insurance should also cover accessory fees such as expert reports and bailiffs. The former can be very expensive. One legal insurance I recommend is AXA Juridica. However, you need their 'double fees' option, as the standard cover is insufficient to the extent that no decent solicitor will work for that. This presently costs about €11 per month, which I consider a modest price for such a protection. French law assures that you are entitled to choose your own solicitor, insurance or not. The insurance must not oblige you to use a solicitor of their choice. When a legal insurance is involved, the solicitor is obliged to elaborate a convention d'honoraires so you know what to expect in terms of fees. Good solicitors are not easy to come by. Do not make the mistake of thinking that because they work with the law, they are white as snow. It is often the opposite, that because they know the law, they know how to get around it and cut corners and when they can usually get away with it unharmed. It may not be socially acceptable to discuss money in French conversations, but I can assure you that French solicitors love money just as much as their American colleagues. They have no moral mission to assist clients who cannot pay their fees. No money, no solicitor. If your income is not high, you may qualify for legal aid, but be warned that the fees paid to solicitors under the legal aid scheme are so low that no experienced solicitor will accept it and that young solicitors mainly accept it in order to gain some experience. Do not expect miracles with legal aid. You get what they are paid for. French solicitors have a particularly annoying way of slowing down court proceedings, making them more expensive, thus wasting your time and money and the court's time and money. They file their pleadings, submissions, summing-up, or whatever you call it, just a few days before the scheduled court hearing so the other solicitor and his or her client simply don't have enough time to consider them and file their own pleadings etc. to reply. The only realistic option left is then to ask the judge to refer the hearing to a later date, in the best case typically two months later. When the solicitors have practised that over several months, the judge may take the case off the cause list and ask the solicitors to get their acts together so the case can be heard without wasting the court's time again. It can easily take six to nine months before the case gets back on the cause list. The client can do nothing else than sit back and watch this disgraceful waste and poor professional practice and conscience. Don't make the mistake of thinking that because someone is a solicitor, then they will behave in an orderly way without forgetting things. It is sometimes up to you to keep reminding your solicitor of reports they should have requested or arguments they should have used. Some French solicitors are just as sloppy and unorganised as the average Frenchman is accused of being in the stereotypes. In the worst cases, the solicitors start lying to the client and working against his or her interests. That may happen in otherwise well-reputed high-profile solicitors' practices, some of those seeming to consider that such a low-life person as you doesn't deserve anything better. It is extremely difficult to identify decent solicitors. You need to search for recommendations, if possible through people you know or solicitors you already know to be good. Two good solicitors I can recommend are Eric Witt. Solicitor of American nationality who has practiced in Marseilles for many years. Despite his web site presently being in French only, he can deal with you in English. Guy Laick. French solicitor in Nimes. Former president of the bar (ancien bâtonnier). A few formalities: French solicitors are always addressed "Maitre". If you write to them, the standard greeting is: "Je vous prie de croire, Maitre, à l'expression de ma considération distinguée." There is no standard translation in French for "Yours sincerely" and "Yours faithfully". The greeting is adapted to the status of the addressee. Just copy and paste the above phrase to avoid unnecessary hiccups in your communication with solicitors. A problem with application of EU law?SOLVIT is an on-line problem solving network in which EU Member States work together to solve without legal proceedings problems caused by the misapplication of Internal Market law by public authorities. Moving to another address?Inform several administrations in one go on Mon.Service-Public. Open government, Access to administrative documents and personal informationDocumentsYou have a right to get access to any administrative document in France, unless overriding reasons make this impossible. You cannot get access to sensitive documents, for example concerning national defense. You cannot get access to documents containing personal information about others. The exclusions that exist are fairly obvious and necessary. You are entitled to request delivery by post or electronic means. The authority may charge you the actual cost of photocopies, although they rarely bother. For further information, including information about how to complain if an authority refuses or doesn't reply (no reply after one month is considered a refusal) to a document access request, go to CADA's website. Personal informationYou are entitled to get access to personal information held about you by public or private entities. The details appear in Article 39 of law number 78-17. Various LinksDictionary
of legal terms in French by the French Ministry of Justice. © Copyright Finn Skovgaard 2001, 2011. All rights reserved. |
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