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Freedoms within a couple
This sheet helps you understand your fundamental rights. It also helps you understand and know your freedoms within a couple.
Key points of the sheet
- A couple is the union of two people of different sex or of the same sex who share a life together. Each partner has fundamental individual freedoms recognised by law.
- These rights exist in cohabitation (concubinage), in a PACS or in marriage. They protect the autonomy of each partner.
- In France, everyone is free to choose their spouse, whatever their sex. Everyone is free to cohabit, to enter a PACS, to marry, or not to do so.
- Free consent is an essential condition for a marriage to be valid. This is article 146 of the Civil Code.
- Each partner can also end the union. Divorce ends a marriage without any need for a fault, a PACS can be ended at the town hall (mairie), and cohabitation can stop at any time.
- Each person in the couple is free to have or not to have a child. Contraception and abortion (IVG) are available without the partner's permission.
- In a couple or alone, you have the right to become a parent through adoption. It allows you to adopt a minor or an adult, French or foreign.
- You can also become a parent through medically assisted reproduction (PMA). Since 2 August 2021, it is open to all women, in a couple or alone, thanks to the bioethics law.
Words to know
- cohabitation (concubinage)
- It is a form of couple life that can stop at any time, without formalities.
- civil partnership (PACS)
- It is a form of union that can be ended by a simple visit to the town hall (mairie).
- free consent (consentement libre)
- It is an essential condition for a marriage to be valid, according to article 146 of the Civil Code.
- freedom in married and couple life (liberté conjugale)
- It is the freedom to choose one's spouse, to live as a couple or not, and to end the union.
- divorce
- Divorce ends a marriage, without any need for a fault.
- abortion (IVG)
- Abortion (IVG) is available without the partner's permission.
- medically assisted reproduction (PMA) (PMA (Procréation Médicalement Assistée))
- It is open to all women, in a couple or alone, since 2 August 2021.
- right to adopt (droit à l'adoption)
- It allows a person to adopt a minor or an adult, French or foreign.
Test yourself: 3 questions
How can a PACS be ended?
In French, the language of the exam: Comment peut-on rompre un PACS ?
A PACS can be ended by a simple visit to the town hall (mairie).
What is an essential condition for a marriage to be valid?
In French, the language of the exam: Quelle est une condition essentielle de la validité du mariage ?
Free consent is an essential condition for a marriage to be valid (article 146 of the Civil Code).
Since which year has PMA been open to all women?
In French, the language of the exam: Depuis quelle année la PMA est-elle ouverte à toutes les femmes ?
PMA is open to all women, in a couple or alone, since 2 August 2021.
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Questions on the ministry's list that rest on this sheet
- About the right to marry in France, which statement is correct?
- Is it always possible to divorce?
- What does PMA stand for?
- Under what conditions can a woman have an abortion in France?
- Which freedom does PMA refer to?
- Who can ask for a divorce in a married couple?
More in this topic (Fundamental rights)
- Presentation of the main texts (3/3): the Charter for the Environment (Charte de l'environnement)
- Presentation of the main texts (2/3): the Constitution of the Fifth Republic
- Presentation of the main texts (1/3): the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Source
Sheet “Les libertés au sein du couple” of the French Ministry of the Interior: formation-civique.interieur.gouv.fr. Content published under the Etalab Open Licence 2.0. This page is a plain-language adaptation made by Hexaciv, which is not an official site: if in doubt, the ministry's text is the one that counts.
Ministry sheet read on 23 October 2026, still identical on 25 October 2026.