Married couples beware – you cannot take money from your spouses French bank account without their consent.

That was the decision of a recent hearing in the French supreme court, the Cour de Cassation, after a husband brought an action against his bank for allowing his wife to make withdrawals from an account he held in his sole name!

His wife made numerous withdrawals from the account, despite the fact that her husband had given the bank no authorisation for her to do so..

In the initial court hearing to consider the case, the local tribunal decided in his favour, and that he should be entitled to reimbursement from the bank.

As a result the bank brought an action against his wife for the money they had paid out to her.

The wife contested their demand, arguing that the pension that was paid into the account formed part of the joint assets of the couple, and that she was entitled to withdraw from the account.

This was not an argument finally accepted by the Cour de Cassation, who drew on the French civil code to decide that each party to a marriage was entitled to their own account for their personal use.

As a result, the bank was entitled to recover from the wife the sum they paid to her.

We have no information on whether they have been successful in doing so, or on the state of the marriage!