In 1965, at age 90 and with no heirs, Calment signed a deal to sell her apartment to lawyer André-François Raffray, on a
contingency contract. Raffray, then aged 47 years, agreed to pay her a monthly sum of 2,500
francs until she died. Raffray ended up paying Calment the equivalent of more than $180,000, which was more than double the apartment's value. After Raffray's death from cancer at the age of 77, in 1995, his widow continued the payments until Calment's death.
[2] During all these years, Calment used to say to them that she "competed with
Methuselah".
[8]