A CAF overpayment
These texts are templates and information. This is not legal advice.
An overpayment is a sum the CAF asks you to return. Fleuris prepares three letters, depending on whether you contest the rule that was applied, ask for a remission, or propose to pay in instalments. You send them, to the address written on your notification. Fleuris cannot tell you that the debt will be cancelled.
The sum is still owed
Service-Public.fr says family benefits paid in error by the CAF or the MSA have to be repaid. The CAF or the MSA can ask for them for 2 years, and for 5 years if the award came from fraud or false declarations. After those limits, it can no longer ask. Repayment is in one sum, or in instalments taken from later benefits. In a fraud case, the penalty can reach €16,020, and €48,060 if it happens again. For the activity bonus, Service-Public.fr also says, on the page for that bonus, that the repayment can be asked for during 2 years.
Family benefits paid in error, Service-Public.fr
Source: Service-Public.fr, page checked on 27 June 2026
Contest the rule that was applied
If you disagree with the rule that was applied, the CAF pages say you have 2 months from receiving the notification to write to the friendly-appeal board. For the activity bonus, Service-Public.fr gives the same 2 months, and then a case before the administrative court if the reply does not satisfy you. The addressee is not the same for every benefit. The CAF du Nord, in a document of 16 April 2025, sends family benefits and the activity bonus to the chair of the friendly-appeal board, housing aid to the CAF director, and the RSA first to the chair of the departmental council. The CAF du Gers also says an RSA contest goes to the departmental council, that the board replies within 2 months, and that silence after that counts as a rejection. Those addresses belong to those departments. Yours is on your notification. The first letter is that contest.
Activity bonus, the appeal, Service-Public.fr
Source: Service-Public.fr, the CAF du Nord document of 16 April 2025, and the CAF du Gers
A remission or instalments
If you accept the debt but cannot pay, the national CAF page and several local offices say a remission or instalments can be asked for at any time. The CAF des Pyrénées-Atlantiques says a remission request means you accept the debt, and that you can no longer contest it afterwards. The CAF du Doubs says repayment is suspended while a remission is examined, and that the decision can be a full remission, a partial one, or a refusal. The national page says you can ask to pay in several instalments, and that the CAF can refuse if it finds the monthly amounts too small. The form enclosed with the notification, or a message in Mon Compte under “Question sur vos remboursements/retenues”, is how those requests are made. The next two letters are the remission and the instalments. They do not replace a contest.
Source: caf.fr, the Repaying the CAF page, the CAF des Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the CAF du Doubs
Correct a piece of information
If a piece of information that was used is wrong or incomplete, a CAF document gives a right to correct it within 20 days of the debt notification. That is not a contest of the rule. The national page describes that right as well, alongside the contest, the remission and the instalments.
CAF document, appeals and remission
Source: caf.fr, document on appeals and debt remission
The contest letter
The letters are in French, because they go to a CAF office in France. Fleuris does not send them. The recipient number stays in the letter, on your device, until you copy it.
Nom Prénom : Adresse : Numéro d’allocataire : Prestation : Date de la notification : Montant indiqué : Date : Objet : contestation d’une notification de dette Madame, Monsieur, J'ai reçu le [date de réception] une notification de dette. Je ne suis pas d'accord avec la règle appliquée à ma situation. Je vous demande de réexaminer cette décision. Je forme ce recours dans le délai de deux mois à compter de la réception de la notification. Le destinataire est celui qui est indiqué sur cette notification. Les motifs sont les suivants : Je joins une copie de la notification et les pièces utiles. Je conserve une copie de ce courrier. Cordialement, Signature :
The debt-remission letter
This letter accepts the debt. It does not contest it.
Nom Prénom : Adresse : Numéro d’allocataire : Prestation : Date de la notification : Montant indiqué : Date : Objet : demande de remise de dette Madame, Monsieur, J'ai reçu une notification de dette. Je ne conteste pas cette dette. Je ne peux pas la rembourser dans ma situation actuelle. Je demande une remise totale ou partielle. Je joins les justificatifs de mes revenus et de mes charges de logement. Ma situation est la suivante : Je conserve une copie de ce courrier. Cordialement, Signature :
The instalment letter
This letter accepts the debt and proposes a pace of repayment.
Nom Prénom : Adresse : Numéro d’allocataire : Prestation : Date de la notification : Montant indiqué : Date : Objet : demande de paiement en plusieurs fois Madame, Monsieur, J'ai reçu une notification de dette. Je ne conteste pas cette dette. Je ne peux pas la régler en une seule fois. Je propose de la rembourser à raison de [montant mensuel] par mois. Je joins les justificatifs de mes revenus et de mes charges de logement. Je conserve une copie de ce courrier. Cordialement, Signature :