In law, filiation is the family relationship that unites a child to his or her parents.

It is one of the most important relationships that exists between 2 individuals. Being the mother or father of a child means making the important decisions that affect him, taking care of his education and his needs. To learn more about this relationship, read our Infosheet entitled Filiation: the legal link between parents and children.

The law only recognizes three types of filiation:

• By blood;
  
• By adoption;
  
• By a parental project of a person or a couple (same-sex or not).

Filiation cannot be based only on the psychological bond that exists between a child and an adult. To learn more about filiation, consult our Infosheet Filiation: the legal link between parents and children.

A parental project is the decision to have a child by using the sperm or egg of another person. That other person must intervene to give his sperm or her egg but his or her participation ends there.

Here are a few examples:

• Two women go to a medical clinic so that one of them can be artificially inseminated with the sperm of a donor;
  
• Two women want to have a child and ask a male friend to help them by having sex with one of them. The “friend” must be fully aware that his sole purpose is to furnish the sperm so that one of the women will get pregnant. He must understand and agree beforehand that these women will be the parents of the baby and that he will not;
  
• Two women “collect” the sperm of a male friend who agrees to give it to them to help them become parents. The collected sperm is then injected into one of the women without the help of medical personnel. The two women look after the process themselves.

It all depends on whether or not you formed a “parental project” with your girlfriend before getting pregnant. If you and your girlfriend formed a “parental project”, she can claim filiation on that basis with the child, once it is born.

However, if you had no parental project with your girlfriend when you got pregnant, you will have to see if she can adopt your child once it is born. Otherwise, your girlfriend will have no filiation with the child.

For more information about adoption, consult our Infosheet Adopting a child in Quebec.

There are four ways of proving filiation:

• By the act of birth of the child. After birth, a document called the “declaration of birth” must be filled and sent to the Registrar of Civil Status. The parents write their names on this document and these names are recorded on the child’s act of birth. This is the main way of establishing filiation.
  
  
• By uninterrupted possession of status. Assuming that there was a common parental project at the onset, if a person’s name does not appear on the child’s act of birth, she can establish her filiation by uninterrupted possession of status. That means that from the time that the child was born she acted like a parent, considered herself as a parent, and was recognized as a parent by her family circle. The possession of status must be uninterrupted for a long enough period of time.
  
  
• By presumption of parenthood. When a child is born of a parental project while a couple is married or in a civil union (or within 300 days of the dissolution or annulment of the marriage or civil union), the married or civil union spouse is assumed to be the parent by the law.
  
  
• By voluntary acknowledgement. If the status of a parent cannot be proven by any of the three ways mentioned above, the person can try to prove it by stating that she is the parent of the child.

Establishing filiation gives the mother’s partner the same rights and duties as the mother. To find out more about this topic, read our Infosheet entitled Filiation: the legal link between parents and children.

No. Psychological parenthood is not recognized by the law. Whether a couple is same-sex (including a couple composed of 2 men) or heterosexual, it makes no difference. Filiation does not come about by the feelings or the relationship that exists between the adult and the child.

For example, Stephanie moves in with Roxanne and her 1 year old son, James. Although Stephanie treats James as her son in every way and James calls her “mommy”, 10 years down the road, she will still not be recognized by the law as James’ mother. Stephanie does not have any filiation with James. If Stephanie wants to be recognized as James’s mother, she should adopt James. She may not be able to adopt James if he already has a father or a second mother. For information about the conditions that must be met to adopt a child in Quebec, consult our Infosheet Adopting a child in Quebec.

Remember that the law does not allow a child to have more than 2 parents.

The fact that there is no filiation between the adult playing a parenting role in the child’s life and the child does not mean that the law will ignore the bonds that were created. See the following questions for details:

“Can custody be given to someone other than the parents?” in our Infosheet Child custody;

“Who can obtain access rights to a child?” in our Infosheet Exercising access rights;

“I have a new spouse. Does he have obligations toward my children?” in our Infosheet Frequently asked questions about child support.

Currently, the only ways that two men can be legally recognized as the parents of a child involve adoption. More specifically:

• one of them adopting his partner’s child;
  
• both of them adopting a child together.

They can’t form a “parental project” because it would involve using a surrogate mother. An agreement with a surrogate mother is invalid in Quebec.

A surrogate mother is a woman who agrees to lend her womb to carry the baby. Sometimes, she also furnishes the eggs necessary to conceive the child. Once she delivers the baby, she gives it over to the people who retained her services.

Since the law does not acknowledge the agreement between the surrogate mother and the two men, the filiation of the child will be with the person who gave birth to him, i.e. the surrogate mother, and with his biological father.

To learn more about surrogate mothers and the law, consult our Infosheet Assisted procreation.

It depends. Remember that the biological father who offered to help with the “parental project” must agree from the onset that he will not be the baby’s father. However, the law gives the biological father who agreed to help with the “parental project” by having sex with one of the women, one year from the baby's birth to change his mind. The biological father can claim his filiation with the child by taking the appropriate steps before that year ends.

The law does not allow a sperm donor to claim his filiation with the child. Only the man who had sex is given this option.

If the biological father decides to establish his filiation before the one year delay is up, the status of the same sex partner of the mother will be put into question.

Remember that by law, a child can only have two parents.

In Quebec, the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation. The sexual orientation of the parents will therefore not be a valid reason to prevent same sex couples from adopting a child in Quebec.

However, this law does not apply outside the borders of Quebec. Foreign countries that have children available for adoption can therefore choose the type of parents that they are looking for in accordance with their own laws. Some countries exclude same sex couples.

For more information, read our Infosheets entitled Adopting a child in Quebec and
International adoption.