Only a child’s parents have the obligation to contribute to his needs. A “parent” is someone who has a legally established link with the child… which is not always the case for a biological parent. A person can only be required to pay child support if he is legally recognized as a parent.

In Québec, the legal link between a parent and a child is called “filiation.” Filiation is established when the declaration of birth is signed; the act of birth is drawn up from the declaration of birth.

If a person’s name is not written in the act of birth and if that person denies being a parent of the child, a court can establish filiation. This is because there are other ways, apart from the act of birth, to prove filiation. To find out more, read our Infosheets:

Filiation: the legal link between parents and children
Same-sex parents and the law

Very rarely, a divorced person, who is not the child’s parent, can be required to pay child support for the child (see the question, “I have a new spouse. Does he have obligations towards my children?”).

To get child support, you first have to ask for it! There are three ways to ask for child support:

• Both married and unmarried parents can agree on child support through an agreement.
  
• A parent can ask for child support during the family mediation sessions which take place when parents go to court (e.g., when they make a motion at court). During mediation, parents can negotiate about child support. If the parents come to an agreement, the agreement must be confirmed by the court.
  
• Parents can also ask the court to decide about child support by making a motion at court. The judge examines the circumstances and determines the amount of child support to be paid by the parents.

To find out more about obtaining child support, read our Infosheet entitled Free family mediation and the CôtéCour section on the Superior Court – Family Matters.

Once the amount of child support has been established, it must be paid to the parent who has custody of the child.

To avoid problems in the payment of child support, the Government of Québec passed a law called An Act to facilitate the payment of support. This law allows Revenu Québec to collect the amount of support directly from the parent who does not have custody and to pay it to the parent who has custody of the child.

Parents who would like to opt out of this regime and continue to pay child support on their own must provide certain financial guarantees or have the other parent’s consent.

For more information on this topic, read our Infosheet entitled Collecting support in Québec.

There is no such form! If you are not using a lawyer to ask for or modify child support, you must write and present a motion to the Superior Court on your own.

A motion is a legal procedure. It must be presented on 8½-inch by 11-inch paper. A motion must have a header, a title, allegations, and the conclusions sought.

The header of a motion includes:

• The name of the appropriate court: for child support cases, it is the Superior Court, Family Division;
  
• The judicial district;
  
• The names of the parties;
  
• The court file number assigned by the clerk when the motion was filed.

The title of the motion indicates the type of procedure contained in the motion (for example, “motion to modify child support”). It also indicates the section of the law on which the motion is based.

The body of the motion contains the alleged facts (written in paragraphs) and the conclusions sought. The alleged facts are the relevant facts that will be proven before the judge. The content of these facts and conclusions is different from case to case. This is why it is difficult to find a sample motion. It is also not a good idea to copy a motion without knowing if it works for your situation.

To learn more about motions, read our CôtéCour section.

To see examples of legal procedures and their accompanying documents (note that these are not sample motions for child support!), visit the Justice Québec website. The website also contains the Québec model for the determination of child support payments, also known as the “child support table.”

If the child is less than eighteen years of age, the court bases itself on the Québec model for the determination of child support payments to calculate the amount of support. This is a table that establishes the basic amount that needs to be paid depending on the parents’ income and the number of children. The Child Support Determination Form allows for necessary adjustments to the basic amount; these adjustments can be due to the amount of time each parent has custody of the child, child care expenses and other factors.

To find out more, read our Infosheet called The Québec model for the determination of child support.

You can download the Québec model for the determination of child support payments and the Child Support Determination Form from the Justice Québec website.

If the child is 18 years old or older, consult our Infosheet Support payments for an adult child.

In principle, if there is a judgment about child support payments, parents must follow it. However, it is important to know that a serious decrease in income, just like a significant increase in income, is considered a “significant change in the parties’ circumstances,” which justifies changing the child support order. You would therefore ask the court to review the amount of child support taking into account the new financial situation of the parents.

If there is no judgment, you must ask the court to determine the amount of support that needs to be paid or you must come to an agreement with the other parent about a new amount of support.

To find out more, read our Infosheet called The Québec model for the determination of child support.

A child reaching the age of majority does not put an end to the judgment ordering the payment of child support, nor to the support obligation of the parent. All parents are required to help their children until they are financially independent, as long as the child does not abuse this situation.

However, it is possible to pay child support directly to the adult child:

• If there is no judgment (or agreement confirmed by the court) ordering the payment of support, only the consent of the other parent is required (it is a good idea to confirm this in writing, signed and dated).
  
• If there is a judgment (or agreement confirmed by the court), a motion must be made to the Superior Court, Family Division, to change the conditions related to the payment of child support.

Please note that courts are more likely to approve this kind of request when the child no longer lives with the parent who receives child support.

To find out more, read our Infosheet called Support payments for an adult child.

No. Legally, there is no link between child support and rights of access given to a parent so that he can see the child. You cannot, for this reason alone, deny the children contact with a parent.

If you want your ex-spouse to pay child support and he refuses to do so, or if your ex-spouse must already pay child support and he does not pay it, you have other options.

Read our Infosheet called Your children.

A person living in Québec who asks for child support can follow the rules applicable in Québec.

For example, Jessie lives with his father in Montréal. His mother, who moved away after the divorce, now lives in Ottawa. In order to obtain child support for Jessie, his father can apply for child support in his province, that is, in Québec.

If the parent who has custody does not live in Québec and if it is impossible for him to get child support in his province or country, it is possible for him to apply for child support in Québec (if the other parent lives in Québec).

If one of the parents does not live in Québec and support is requested in divorce proceedings, the federal rules for determining child support will apply to calculate child support. To learn more, read our Infosheet called The federal method of calculating child support.

Such situations can raise complex issues, including whether or not other courts outside Québec have potential jurisdiction over the case and how a legal procedure should be served upon people living outside Québec. It could be useful to consult a lawyer.

In principle, this person has no rights or obligations toward your children. However, he could have access rights after you separate, if, for a long period of time, he treated your children as if they were his own. But a court must decide that giving this person access rights would be in the best interests of the children.

On the other hand, if the spouses who are separating were married and one of them acted as a parent toward the other’s children, he may have to pay child support for them. To determine if a spouse really acted as a parent to the children, the court will evaluate, among other factors, the spouse’s intention to take charge of the children and to actually form a new family with them.

Outside of these specific situations, a person has no rights or obligations toward someone else’s children, other than, obviously, to treat them well and to adequately supervise them when the other spouse leaves the children under the person's care. In short, just because a person is nice and affectionate with his spouse’s children, it doesn’t mean that he is considered to be their parent under the law.

To find out more, read our Infosheet called Break-up myths and realities.

No, such a renunciation with respect to a child would likely be invalid. On the one hand, the right to ask for support belongs to the child. This is easy to forget because it’s always the parent who applies for child support. Except that the only reason why the parent applies is because the child is too young to do it alone!

On the other hand, the parent, following the philosophy of the courts, must make decisions in the best interest of the child. It is difficult to see how unconditionally giving up support for the child would serve the child’s interests.

However, the agreement made by the parents during mediation could provide for a different amount of support than that set out under the Québec model for the determination of child support payments. The parents’ consent to this agreement must be informed and freely given. The agreement must also be compatible with the best interests of the child. Moreover, such an agreement must be confirmed by the court.

Yes. Obviously, the court will consider factors other than the increase in the salary of the parent who pays child support.

Among other things, the court will examine the capacity of this parent to pay given his personal situation. The court will also consider the parent’s behaviour: did he try to hide the increase in salary? Or did he talk about it immediately with the other parent? The court may also take into account other expenses of the parent who pays child support.

For example, Colin pays child support for his two children. He was just promoted and got a big raise. However, because of the promotion, he had to move to another city and now he pays for two apartments, so he can continue to have a place to receive his children. Therefore, the court wouldn’t necessarily modify the child support payments because of the raise.

The maximum period for which a retroactive increase in child support can be requested is one year, in Quebec, except if the parents are getting a divorce or are divorced. There may be other exceptions to the one year rule. To learn more, consult a legal professional.

The person who requests the retroactive increase must prove that she was unable to act earlier (for example, because her ex hid the raise from her).

• On the date indicated in the support judgment, if such a date is indicated;
  
• Upon the death of the child receiving the support;
  
• When a new judgment cancels the support, for example because the child has become financially independent or because the parent who pays child support no longer has the financial means to pay.

When the parent who pays the child support dies, the child who receives support can claim from the succession of the deceased parent an amount equal to six months of support, as long as this amount does not exceed 10% of the value of the succession.