Compensatoire

Compensatoire is a French adjective meaning relating to compensation or designed to compensate. It is used across legal and professional contexts to denote measures that restore a prior economic position or offset losses.

In family law, the prestation compensatoire is a sum or arrangement intended to compensate for the economic disparity created by divorce or separation. It may be paid as a lump sum or as periodic payments (an annuity), and it can be revised under certain circumstances. The aim is to balance living standards and future earning prospects, considering factors such as marriage duration, age, and career prospects.

In civil liability, damages compensatoires (or indemnité compensatoire) are sums awarded to restore the victim to the position they would have occupied before the harm. They are meant to compensate actual losses and missed opportunities, and are distinct from punitive damages, which are limited or prohibited in many French contexts.

In employment and contract law, indemnité compensatoire may refer to compensation for the early termination of a contract, such as indemnité compensatoire de congédiement, intended to offset income loss during the transition to new work.

Etymology: compensatoire derives from compensation, via the suffix -oire, from Latin compensare.

See also: compensation, damages et intérêts, prestation compensatoire, indemnité.