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In industrialized countries, the demographic and financial constraints associated with aging are converging, making family carers a central actor in the care of the elderly. In France, in a care system that supports professional home help, the recognition of a status and of rights for people coming to assist elderly people with decreased autonomy has long been avoided. It was only in 2015 that a law on the adaptation of society to an aging population recognized their status and developed some of their rights (respite, leave). But before this legal recognition, different systems were put in place at subnational levels to help these carers. The result was a territorial diversity in the supply of services, which this article proposes to study. Based on a monographic study of three French departments and the use of two surveys (the 2015 Survey of Residential Facilities for the Elderly, and the 2014 Everyday Life and Health Survey), we will describe and characterize these territorial disparities and the access to respite services.