Subsection 1: Common law provisions.

The rules relating to unseizable bank balances are set out in articles R. 162-1 to R. 162-8, R. 112-5 and R. 213-10 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures, reproduced below:

Art. R. 162-1 -For the application of article L. 162-1, in the event of a reduction in the sums made unavailable, the establishment must provide a statement of all transactions that have affected the accounts since the day of the seizure inclusive.

This statement of transactions shall be sent by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt to the seizing creditor no later than eight days after the expiry of the reversal period.

Art. R. 162-2.- No request from the debtor is necessary when the provisions of article L. 162-2 are applied. The garnishee shall immediately notify the debtor that the sum referred to in this article has been made available.
Where there is more than one account, the sum shall be made available on the basis of all the credit balances; the sum shall be deducted in priority from the funds available on demand.
The garnishee shall immediately inform the bailiff or the public accountant in charge of collection of the amount made available to the account holder and of the account(s) to which it has been made available.
In the event of the seizure of accounts opened with different establishments, the bailiff or public accountant responsible for collection shall determine the third party or third parties responsible for making the sum referred to in the first paragraph available, as well as the procedures for making it available. He shall inform the garnishee(s) thereof.

Art. R. 162-3 -A debtor may only benefit from a new availability of funds in the event of a new seizure taking place at the end of a period of one month following the seizure that gave rise to the previous availability of funds.
During this period, the sum referred to in article R. 162-2 remains available to the debtor.

Art. R. 162-4 -When the sums that cannot be seized come from claims that fall due periodically, such as remuneration from work, retirement pensions, sums paid as family allowances or unemployment benefits, the account holder may, upon providing proof of the origin of the sums, request that they be made available immediately, after deduction of the transactions debited to the account since the last payment of the claim that cannot be seized.
If, on expiry of the fifteen-day period provided for in article L. 162-1 for regularising outstanding transactions, the amount of the sums requested by the debtor on the grounds that they cannot be seized exceeds the balance still available in the account, the remainder is deducted from the sums that are unavailable to date. The garnishee shall inform the creditor of this deduction at the time of his request for payment; failing this, the creditor shall have a period of fifteen days to contest this deduction.

Art. R. 162-5 -When the sums that cannot be seized come from a debt that does not fall due periodically, the account holder may, upon providing proof of the origin of the sums, request that the amount thereof be left at his disposal, after deduction of the sums debited from the account since the day on which the debt was entered in the account. <The funds may not be made available before the expiry of the fifteen-day period for regularising current transactions. If, on that date, the balance available in the account is not sufficient to make available to the account holder all of the sums requested by the latter due to their unseizability, the garnishee withholds the remainder from the unavailable sums on the same date. The garnishee shall inform the creditor of this deduction at the time of his request for payment.
The sums withheld in this way are made available to the account holder if the garnishee declares that he has no objection or if he raises no objection within fifteen days of his request for payment. At any time, the account holder may apply to the enforcement judge to request, after the creditor has been heard or summoned, that the sums withheld be made available on proof that they cannot be seized.

Art. R. 162-6.-The request to make unseizable sums available shall be made before the seizing creditor has requested payment of the seized sums.

Art. R. 162-7 -Sums relating to maintenance made available to the account holder pursuant to articles R. 162-2 and R. 213-10 are deducted from the amount of unseizable claims whose payment may subsequently be requested by the account holder pursuant to articles R. 162-4 and R. 162-5, or obtained by the account holder pursuant to article R. 112-4.
Unseizable sums made available to the account holder pursuant to articles R. 162-4, R. 162-5 or R. 213-10 are deducted from the amount that is left available pursuant to article R. 162-2.

Art. R. 162-8 - Without prejudice to any criminal penalties that may be incurred, the account holder who is provided with a sum greater than that to which he is entitled pursuant to the articles of this chapter shall return to the creditor the sums wrongly received or made available to him. In the event of fault on his part, he may also be ordered, at the creditor's request, to pay damages.

Art. R. 112-5 -When an account is credited with the amount of a claim that cannot be seized in whole or in part, the amount that cannot be seized is transferred to the balance of the account.

Unseizable receivables shall be made available to the account holder by the garnishee under the conditions set out in articles R. 213-10 and R. 162-7 and in Chapter II of Title VI of this book.

Art. R. 213-10.-When an account funded by remuneration from work is the subject of a direct payment procedure on the basis of this chapter, the garnishee shall in any event leave at the disposal of the debtor, without any request being necessary, the sum set out in Article R. 3252-5 of the Labour Code in application of Article L. 3252-5 of the same code. </p>If there is more than one account, this sum is deducted from only one of them.