There are two things that prevent a person under the age of 18 from exercising her rights in the same way as an adult: tutorship to minors and parental authority. Practically speaking, emancipation puts an end to these two legal barriers.

Parental authority is the rights (and duties) that parents have toward their child from birth until she reaches the age of majority; specifically, these are rights and duties related to custody, supervision and education of the child. To find out more, read our Infosheet called Parental authority.

Tutorship to minors is the legal regime set up to ensure the protection of persons under 18 years of age. For example, a teenager can’t sue someone for damages, rent a commercial space or buy a car. Her tutor must agree to and represent her in any legal process that can have an important impact on her finances or on her life. (The law calls these legal processes “juridical acts”).

A teenager’s tutor can be:

• Her mother and her father, who act as tutors together (Please note that in this Infosheet, we refer to “tutor” in the singular form for convenience’s sake);
  
• Her mother or her father (this is the case when one parent is dead, incapable, or has had all her parental rights taken away by the court);
  
• The person chosen by the parents in their will or living will (this is the case when both parents are dead or are incapable);
  
• The Director of Youth Protection, if the child was the object of an intervention.

To find out more, read our Infosheet called Tutorship to minors.

There are two types of emancipation: simple emancipation and full emancipation.

Simple emancipation is a legal process that gives a teenager many important rights without conferring full adult status on her.

Full emancipation is a legal process that gives a teenager almost the same rights as an adult. See the question “Does an emancipated teenager have all the same rights as an adult?”

A teenager can apply alone for emancipation if her tutor does not agree to it. See the questions “How does a teenager obtain simple emancipation?” and “How does a teenager obtain full emancipation?”

A teenager who has obtained her simple or full emancipation is called an “emancipated minor”.

There are three ways for a teenager to become emancipated:

• By filing a declaration with the Public Curator;
  
• By getting married;
  
• By asking the court.

In the first two cases, the teenager must be at least 16 years old. As for the application made to the court, the law doesn’t specify a minimum age, but in practice, teenagers who obtain emancipation are almost always 15 years old or older.

To find out more about how to obtain emancipation, see the questions “How does a teenager obtain simple emancipation?” and “How does a teenager obtain full emancipation?”

Simple emancipation puts an end to parental authority: the tutor no longer has the rights and duties of custody, supervision, and education. In practice, the end of the parent’s custody can result in the teenager’s decision to move out of her tutor’s home, without permission. She will not be considered to have run away even if the tutor is against the move.

Simple emancipation also puts an end to tutorship. The simply emancipated teenager is able to perform several acts alone which would otherwise require her tutor’s involvement. These acts include renting an apartment or a commercial space, managing a significant income, or becoming the tutor of her own child.

However, the tutor of a simply emancipated teenager retains the duty to advise and to supervise acts that could seriously affect the teenager’s finances. The tutor will be involved, for example, if a teenager wants to refuse an inheritance or accept a gift encumbered with a charge (such as the gift of a country house that requires the owner to repair the balcony and to clear the access routes every year.)

A simply emancipated teenager cannot take out a significant loan (such as a mortgage) without the court’s permission. The court makes its decision after consulting the tutor.

By asking the court

A teenager can apply for simple emancipation by herself. The request is made to the Superior Court. This happens, for instance, when her tutor does not agree to the request for emancipation. The judge will examine whether the emancipation is being requested for serious reasons and whether it is in the teenager’s best interest to be emancipated. The judge will listen to what the tutor has to say, as well as to the opinion of the tutorship council, if there is one (see below).

Due to her limited income, a teenager is usually eligible for Legal Aid. This provides her with the services of a lawyer to help her with the process. To find out more, visit the website of the Commission des services juridiques.

By filing a declaration with the Public Curator

With the permission of her tutor, a teenager who is sixteen years old or older can file a declaration of emancipation with the Public Curator. This declaration must include the teenager’s written request for emancipation and the tutor’s favorable answer to the request.

The declaration must also include a favorable answer from the tutorship council. The tutorship council is made up of the teenager’s relatives and family friends (or of just one person in some cases). The role of the tutorship council is to supervise the tutor and to make sure that he acts in the best interest of the teenager.

The law requires that a tutorship council be formed in certain specific situations:

• When the tutor is not the teenager’s parent;
  
• When the teenager owns property worth $25,000 or more.

A tutorship council isn’t automatically required otherwise. When a tutorship council doesn’t already exist, it is easier to request that the court decide the issue of emancipation rather than to do it in two steps: have the court name a tutorship council and then file a declaration with the Public Curator. That’s why the parents of a teenager will rarely file together a declaration of emancipation with the Public Curator. They will prefer to ask the court for their teenager’s emancipation.

Also, a tutor will not request emancipation if he agrees with the legal acts that the teenager wants to do. Normally, the tutor will perform these acts for the teenager, instead of emancipating the teenager so that she could do them herself. It is a simpler, less radical method of achieving the same result as emancipation.

Full emancipation also ends both tutorship and parental authority. It gives the teenager full legal capacity. The fully emancipated teenager becomes almost like an adult in the eyes of the law. She can sue her parents for support, draw up her will, sign a lease, buy, rent, sell or take out a mortgage, just like an adult.

However, not all of the teenager’s rights are affected by her emancipation. See the question “Does an emancipated teenager have all the same rights as an adult?”

Marriage

A teenager who gets married is automatically fully emancipated. This doesn’t mean that a teenager can run off and get secretly married just to gain the same freedom as an adult. By law, a teenager must have the agreement of both of her parents in order to marry. She must also be at least 16 years old.

By asking the court

A teenager may also apply for full emancipation by herself. The application must be submitted to the Superior Court. This happens, for example, when the teenager’s tutor does not agree to her emancipation. The judge will examine whether the emancipation is being requested for serious reasons and whether it is in the teenager’s best interest to be emancipated. The judge will listen to what the tutor has to say, as well as to the opinion of the tutorship council, if there is one (See the question “How does a teenager obtain simple emancipation?”).

Due to her limited income, a teenager is usually eligible for Legal Aid. This provides her with the services of a lawyer to help her with the process. To find out more, visit the website of the Commission des services juridiques.

It goes without saying that there must be very good reasons to give important rights to someone who isn’t yet an adult. The law does not simply emancipate teenagers who are upset about their curfews or those whose parents forbid them from dating certain people!

Emancipation exists in order to protect a teenager’s rights in very specific circumstances. Consider the following examples, which are either made-up or inspired by real cases:

• Myra is 17 years old. She works full-time and is completing her high school diploma on a part-time basis. She also takes very good care of her 10-year-old sister, Charlotte, because her mother is very ill. Myra’s mother dies without having named a tutor for her daughters. Nobody that they know is interested in assuming this role. Myra applies for emancipation so that she can become Charlotte’s tutor and continue to care for her during the few months that separate her from the age of majority.
  
  
• 15-year-old Stella is pregnant. Her parents want nothing to do with her. She is placed under the custody of the Director of Youth Protection. Stella wants to be emancipated so that she can sign a lease, apply for social assistance payments and become her child’s tutor.
  
  
• Huan is a responsible and mature 16-year-old. Since his parents died, his aunt Zheng has been looking after him and his finances. Huan is starting CEGEP next year in a new city. At Huan’s request, and with the approval of the tutorship council, Zheng files a declaration of emancipation with the Public Curator. That way, when Huan moves to the new city, he will be able to sign a lease to rent an apartment and to manage the funds that have been put aside to cover his education and basic needs. Zheng will continue to advise him as much as possible.
  
  
• Federico is under the tutorship of the Director of Youth Protection. He will soon be 18 years old and will have to leave his group home and look after his own needs. He is asking for his emancipation so that he can sign a lease and other types of contracts. This will make it much easier for him to start looking for an apartment, a job, etc.
  
  
• A 17-year-old wants to get her driver’s license. According to her testimony at court, the Société d’assurance-automobile du Québec (SAAQ) insisted that she had to get her parents’ signatures in order to get her driver’s license. The SAAQ refused to accept the signature of the Director of Youth Protection (DYP), in their stead. It was impossible for her to get her parents’ signatures since her mother was dead and her father’s whereabouts were unknown. The judge emancipated her to allow her to get her driver’s license. (Please note that this example is based on a case from 2003. The SAAQ now accepts the signature from a representative of the DYP if it is accompanied by proof that the teenager is under the DYP’s protection).

As can be seen from the examples given above, emancipation is a radical solution intended to deal with very particular situations, which often have to do with youth protection. It is generally conferred upon older teenagers (those that are almost adults) who demonstrate a lot of maturity and who can show that they are able to take on important responsibilities.

No. An emancipated teenager only obtains the rights found in the Civil Code of Quebec and certain laws of a social nature: signing contracts, living away from her parents, writing her will, suing someone in court, receiving social assistance payments, obtaining a driver’s license without her parents’ permission, etc.

Emancipation has no effect on the teenager’s rights under other laws. An emancipated teenager does not have the right to vote, buy cigarettes, go out to bars or rent movies rated 18 and up. She will not be tried as an adult if she is charged with a crime.