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The way a caregiving relationship is established and developed plays an important role in ageing and déprise. The purpose of this work is to analyze this process. It is based on the results of two studies carried out in south-west France with 74 elderly people in the first, and 54 informal caregivers in the second. The conceptual framework proposed for the analysis underlines the key notions of negotiation, tacit contract, and relational autonomy. Depending on the strength of the tacit contract and the negotiating abilities of the carer/care recipient couple, the older person may be more or less able to assert his/her relational autonomy. Thus his/her déprise process will be more or less accelerated. Four ideal types can be defined according to the preservation of the respective relational autonomy of the caregiver and the care recipient. The effects of caregiving on ageing are all the more positive for the elderly person as his/her relational autonomy is preserved. But the relational autonomy of the caregiver must also be taken into consideration. Professionals should appropriate this kind of analysis in order to anticipate and thus prevent the risk of rupture of the caregiving relationship.