They love each other and for thirty-nine years, William and Catherine Renault shared the joys of starting a family but also the hardships of a married couple. Eleven years ago, a neuromuscular disease confined this resident in a wheelchair. “The whole Earth is not responsible for my problem, we always got out of it, we always had to fight. But there we can do more, plague this inhabitant of Lavaur, in the Tarn, a municipality of which he is elected.
William and Catherine have taken a radical decision: they are preparing to divorce “for love”, but also to make the voices of thousands of couples like them heard, who share the same difficulties. Because each month, the disabled adult allowance he receives barely covers the necessary expenses he has incurred to change his car or his wheelchair, he lacks 460 euros to cover everything. A reduced allowance because Catherine works and receives a salary. The AAH is thus indexed to the spouse’s income, and can be canceled altogether if the latter earns more than 2,270 euros net per month.
The situation could have changed for the 270,000 couples concerned in France a fortnight ago, when the National Assembly has considered the bill whose objective was to individualize the payment, and therefore no longer take into account the salary of the spouses. “But the government brushed it aside, saying it was going to cost the state finances 20 billion euros. We are citizens all the same, we exist ”, plague William.
The couple made an appointment with lawyers to move the divorce process forward. If they were to separate legally, William would receive an AAH revalued each year of around 6,000 euros. “It’s hard for us but also for the children. We must also think of those who cannot have and raise children together, ”deplores Catherine, who thinks of all couples in the same situation as them and who often choose not to marry for financial reasons.
Sophie Cluzel evokes a reform from next January
Solicited on the case of the Tarn couple during their visit on RTL’s antenna, Thursday, Sophie Cluzel asked them above all, not to divorce. “The reform that I am carrying is to help the couples who need it the most. Thanks to the reform that we are carrying out, we will help the 120,000 beneficiaries of the AAH as couples who need it the most. They will be able to continue to have their AAH at full rate when their spouse is at the minimum wage. In this case Mr. Renault, it will be 120 euros more per month that he will be able to touch thanks to this reform. It is an extremely pragmatic reform, on which we have worked precisely to correct certain situations for those who need it most and which will come into force on January 1, ”replied the Secretary of State for People with Disabilities.
🗣️ “Above all, do not divorce!”, Replies @s_cluzel to William Renault who has decided to divorce in order to continue to receive his Disabled Adults Allowance, the Minister promises a reform for January 1, 2022 #RTLSeight with @ThomasSotto
– RTL France (@RTLFrance) July 1, 2021
“These are promises, you cannot live on promises when you are in debt. She’s going to come and reimburse Mrs. Cluzel? She had the possibility of intervening on the AAH before, why did she not do it? We have to get naked to have something, we don’t want to talk about our privacy, to say that we are disabled, ”insists William Renault. And to quote the conversation he had with his son the day before. “He reminded me by comparison that when an employee is on sick leave, his indemnities are not indexed to those of his spouse. While we do, ”he concludes.