A creditor (professional, administrative or private) may implement a wage attachment procedure against an employed person. This procedure provides for a refund which will be directly deducted, to a certain extent, by the employer from the net salary of the employee.

Wage attachment is subject to several changes from 1^er July following a decree of February 12, 2025. The new provisions are part of the Department of Justice's 2023 Policy and Programming Act.

The attachment retains a specific regime of protection for the debtor because the sums have a maintenance character (salary, regular income of the debtor). The reform does not affect the rules for calculating seizable quotas.

The main changes of the reform

• With this reform, the wage attachment procedure is “diverted”. There will no longer be any prior intervention by the judge of the execution of the Judicial Tribunal. It is now entrusted to the Commissioners of Justice (formerly appointed bailiffs). The judge's control is maintained, but a posteriori. One dispatching justice commissioner is designated to follow or resume a payment procedure.
• The stages and the documents of the procedure shall be recorded in a numerical register of wage attachments. This register lists all seizures, which must be entered by the Commissioners of Justice who initiate this procedure. The National Chamber of Commissioners of Justice is responsible for maintaining this controlled and secure register.

To learn more about the wage attachment process, you can consult the Service-Public.fr : Wage attachment (or “wage attachment”).