How long civil cases take in France, in figures.

In 2025, civil proceedings on the merits averaged 8.6 months before the tribunaux judiciaires and 17.1 months before the courts of appeal, according to the French Ministry of Justice Source [1] Source [3]. The Cour de cassation dealt with civil appeals on points of law in 17.4 months Source [6]. These averages describe a court’s activity over a year. They do not say how long a given case will last, although duration weighs on every litigation funding decision.

Method.

The figures for the civil courts come from the Références statistiques Justice (RSJ), which the Ministry of Justice draws from the civil courts’ case register Source [1]. The 2026 edition has been published sheet by sheet since June 2026 and covers 2025 Source [5]. As of 21 October 2026, its part on the commercial courts (tribunaux de commerce) is still listed as forthcoming Source [5]. Their data therefore come from the 2025 edition, which covers 2024 Source [7]. Since 1 January 2025, twelve of these courts have also been trialling the economic activity court (tribunal des activités économiques), with wider jurisdiction Source [9].

The courts of appeal sheet defines the measure as the time between the date the case was brought and the date of the decision Source [3]. For the tribunaux judiciaires, the ordinary first‑instance courts, the ministry’s spreadsheet counts up to the moment the court relinquishes the case Source [1]. The published durations are averages, calculated on the cases completed during the year. For three courts, the sheets also give the quartiles, meaning the times within which a quarter, half and three quarters of cases end Source [1] Source [3] Source [4]. The Cour de cassation counts its times from the registration of the appeal Source [6].

The scope of each series shapes its average. For the tribunaux judiciaires, the sheets exclude divorces and special procedures such as payment orders Source [1]. They include cases concerning persons, which account for four in ten new cases on the merits, half of them on the legal protection of vulnerable adults Source [2]. A guardianship application and a dispute between two companies therefore fall into the same average.

None of the sheets breaks cases down by the amount at stake. Each court is measured on its own: the time between a judgment and the appeal, or between an appeal ruling and a further appeal, stays outside these averages. Finally, the European scoreboard relies on a different indicator, defined by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) and drawn from the stock of pending cases Source [8].

Average duration by court.

Each row gives the latest year published as of 21 October 2026 for one civil court Source [1] Source [3] Source [4] Source [6] Source [7].

A court of appeal only hears the decisions that a party challenges. In 2024, 13.2% of the tribunaux judiciaires’ judgments on the merits were appealed Source [3]. The rate reached 10.2% for the commercial courts and 61.0% for the employment tribunals Source [3].

At the Cour de cassation, duration varies with the chamber that hears the case. In 2025, the commercial, financial and economic chamber dealt with its appeals in 18 months and 3 days, the second civil chamber in almost 25 months Source [6]. Duration also depends on the outcome: a civil appeal that ended with a judgment took 20.2 months on average, one closed by an order 8.2 months Source [6]. Before the court, the Code of Civil Procedure sets time limits: two months to lodge the appeal, four for the appellant’s brief, two for the reply Source [6]. A cassation does not always end the dispute: almost nine cassation rulings in ten send the case back to a court that rules on the facts Source [6].

The spread around the average.

An average brings together very short and very long cases. The 2025 sheets publish the quartiles for three courts Source [1] Source [3] Source [4].

For 2024, the ministry also publishes the 95% threshold: before the courts of appeal, 95% of cases ended within 39.9 months Source [10]. One appeal case in twenty thus went beyond three years. The same threshold stands at 27.4 months before the tribunaux judiciaires Source [10].

The stock gives another measure: on 31 December 2025, the average age of pending cases reached 20.8 months in the tribunaux judiciaires and 19.5 months in the courts of appeal Source [1] Source [3]. It exceeds the duration of the cases completed during the year.

Changes since 2021.

First‑instance durations have fallen since 2021. On the merits, the tribunaux judiciaires’ average went from 9.6 months in 2021 to 8.6 months in 2025 Source [1]. The commercial courts’ average fell from 10.0 months in 2021 to 8.1 months in 2024 Source [7]. The employment tribunals went from 18.2 to 15.4 months between 2021 and 2025 Source [4]. Before the courts of appeal, the duration on the merits changed little: 18.1 months in 2021, 17.1 months in 2025 Source [3]. Civil appeals took longer at the Cour de cassation, 17.4 months in 2025 against 16.1 months in 2021 Source [6].

In 2025, the tribunaux judiciaires received more cases than they completed, and their stock rose by 8.1% to 1.2 million cases Source [1]. The courts of appeal’s stock grew by 1.3% Source [3].

France in the European scoreboard.

The European Commission compares Member States in its EU Justice Scoreboard, published on 4 June 2026 Source [8]. It uses the CEPEJ’s disposition time. The scoreboard describes it as “the estimated minimum time that a court would need to resolve a case while maintaining its current working conditions” Source [8]. It is calculated as the number of unresolved cases divided by the number of resolved cases at the end of a year, multiplied by 365 Source [8].

For litigious civil and commercial cases, meaning disputes between parties, the 2024 data give these estimates Source [8].

The French estimate reaches 488 days at third instance, and rose from 354 to 434 days at first instance between 2023 and 2024 Source [8]. These figures cannot be compared with the ministry’s. The scoreboard estimates the time needed to clear a stock, within the scope of disputes defined by the CEPEJ. The ministry measures completed cases, court by court Source [1].

Enforcement of the judgment.

Court statistics stop at the decision. Payment comes afterwards, when the losing party complies of its own accord or under enforcement measures. The Ministry of Justice’s series count the applications brought before the enforcement judge, without measuring the share of civil awards actually paid or the time it takes to recover them Source [2]. Part of enforcement even bypasses the courts: since 1 July 2025, a creditor goes directly to a commissaire de justice (judicial officer) to garnish a debtor’s earnings Source [2]. The court only steps in if there is a dispute Source [2].

Payment finally depends on the solvency of the losing party. When a company that has stopped paying its debts clearly cannot be rescued, the court opens its judicial liquidation Source [11]. This procedure is designed to end the business or to realise the debtor’s assets Source [11]. In 2024, the courts issued 70,700 decisions opening insolvency proceedings Source [11]. The commercial courts closed 37,722 judicial liquidations that year, on average 26.9 months after the case was brought Source [7]. For an unpaid judgment, the insurance and enforcement page sets out what Hello Justice funds.

What duration means for a funded case.

The funder pays the lawyer’s fees as the proceedings go on, and its return waits for the outcome. Each extra month lengthens the period during which the capital committed earns nothing. An appeal or a further appeal pushes back the outcome, and a cassation with referral sends the case back to the trial judges.

Public averages place a court, without predicting the length of a given case. That length depends on the court hearing the case and its stock, on appeals, on any expert assessment and on how the parties behave. A settlement can end the dispute at any stage, as our article on settlement explains.

Before accepting a case, Hello Justice reviews the amount at stake, the opposing party’s solvency, and the length and cost of the proceedings, as the risks page sets out. Our reading of listed funders’ accounts shows how time weighs on their published results. The guide to litigation funding in France describes the overall mechanism, and the article on the cost of a lawsuit details the costs of proceedings.

Hello Justice reviews civil and commercial disputes with at least €100,000 at stake. The online eligibility test and submitting a case are free of charge. Outside the Swiss franc loan programme, the case analysis that precedes any funding costs €1,500 excluding VAT (€1,800 including VAT), whatever the opinion. For an accepted case, Hello Justice pays the lawyer’s fees and receives a commission of 14 to 30% including VAT of the sums recovered, only on success. If the case is lost, the client repays nothing, and the agreement settles how the procedural indemnity under article 700 is handled. A Swiss franc loan is checked free of charge, and the programme, in French, has its own terms.

Frequently asked questions.

How long does a civil case take in France?

In 2025, proceedings on the merits lasted 8.6 months on average before the tribunaux judiciaires and 17.1 months before the courts of appeal Source [1] Source [3]. A civil appeal took 17.4 months at the Cour de cassation Source [6]. A case that goes through several levels adds up these stages, plus the time limits for lodging each appeal.

How long do proceedings take before a French commercial court?

In 2024, the commercial courts decided their contentious cases in 8.1 months on average and issued their summary orders in 2.6 months Source [7]. The 2025 figures had not been published as of 21 October 2026 Source [5].

Why do the European figures differ from the ministry’s?

They rest on a different indicator, an estimate drawn from pending and resolved cases Source [8], while the ministry measures the duration of completed cases Source [1]. Their scopes differ as well.

Can a funder predict how long a case will last?

Not with certainty. Public statistics place a court, and the case’s lawyer knows its documents, its parties and the court hearing it. For a dispute with at least €100,000 at stake, the eligibility test lets you present it to Hello Justice.