Third-party assistance: compensating human help

The assessment is based on the actual needs recorded at the medical examination, regardless of the help actually provided (often by the family).

• Number of hours: hours of help per day, depending on the degree of dependency (occasional help, active help, or permanent presence).
• Nature of the help: "active" help (acts to be performed) or "supervisory" help (presence to prevent danger).
• Hourly cost: based on the real cost of a service provider, charges included — not the minimum wage, under settled case law of the Court of Cassation.

For the period after consolidation, the award is capitalised: the annual cost of the help is multiplied by an annuity factor that accounts for age and life expectancy.

• Where the disability is permanent, the help is in principle owed for life.
• The capitalisation table used has a major impact on the final figure — a key point of negotiation.
• The award is in principle not reduced merely because the help is provided free of charge by a relative.

For severe disabilities, third-party assistance is often the single largest head of the whole award — sometimes several hundred thousand euros or more. It is also the head most systematically under-valued in insurers' amicable offers, which tend to minimise both the number of hours and the hourly cost. A technical discussion, grounded in the medical assessment and case law, is essential.