Fiscal and Financial Planning Guide 2024-2025
Families > Parental union
On May 30, the Loi portant sur la réforme du droit de la famille et constituant le régime d’union parentale was passed by the Quebec National Assembly and subsequently given assent on June 4, 2024.
The new parental union regime will automatically apply to common law spouses having children together born after June 29th, 2025.
This new measure is not retroactive, so couples with children born before that date will not be covered by the new Act.
The regime will apply to reconstituted families only if the spouses have a child in common born after June 29, 2025.
Purpose of the plan
The main objective of the new Act is to protect children in the event of a separation of common-law spouses.
Indeed, at the time of introducing the bill, Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barette indicated that 65% of children in Quebec are now born out of marriage.
Highlights of the new regime
1) Parental union patrimony
The new plan provides for the creation of a new parental union patrimony, the value of which can be shared 50%/50% between the spouses in the event of separation or death.
Unlike the Loi sur le partage du patrimoine familial or the Regime de société d’acquêts in the case of married couples, pension plans (RRSPs and employer-sponsored pension plans) are not covered by the new parental union plan.
2) Temporary right to use the family home
In the event of separation, the spouse with custody of the children may remain in the family home for a certain period of time, to ensure a smoother transition for the children.
3) Death
In the case of an succession without will (ab intestate), a spouse in a parental union will now be recognized as a legal heir if they have been living together for more than a year.
Note that the value to which the surviving spouse is entitled in the parental union patrimony (e.g., residences, furniture, automobiles) must be paid to him or her first. The remainder of the estate after settlement will be divided 33.33% to the spouse and 66.66% to the children.
Naturally, a will can be drawn up to change the distribution of the residue of the estate according to the wishes of the deceased.
4) Compensatory allowance
The new regime favors payment of a compensatory payment rather than spousal support.
In the event of separation or even death, a spouse may apply to the court for a payment allowance in recognition of his or her impoverishment due to his or her contribution to the enrichment of the other spouse.
The benefit may be payable in cash or in instalments.
For example, a compensatory payment could be payable in the following situations:
- Contribution to the spouse’s business without adequate remuneration;
- Financial support during spouse’s studies;
- Professional sacrifice for the benefit of the family;
- Management and upkeep of joint property, contributing to an increase in its value.
It should also be remembered that spousal support payments for the benefit of the children can be allowed by the court, whether you are married, in a parental union or common-law spouses.
5) Renunciation to the new regime
The spouses will be allowed to renounce by mutual agreement in a notarial deed to the application of the provisions of the new plan within 90 days after the beginning of the parental union (i.e.: at the birth of a child after June 29, 2025). In this case, parental union patrimony is presumed never have been constituted.
Spouses in a parental union will also be able to choose by mutual agreement in a notarial deed to exclude certain assets otherwise included in the parental union patrimony (e.g. residences, furniture, automobiles).
It is important to note that even if a couple has excluded themselves from the application of the parental union patrimony, the spouse in parental union still qualifies as a legal heir (see point 3).