Family law

26 Oct 2021

Quebec ramping up services for victims of conjugal and sexual violence

Victims of conjugal and sexual violence will have access to emergency financial assistance, the latest initiative the Quebec government introduced to help victims of gender-based violence.

Over the past few months, the Quebec government has tabled a controversial bill to create a specialized tribunal for sexual and domestic violence, handed funding to a Montreal legal aid clinic to provide training for legal professionals, and boosted social and legal services to help victims of intimate partner and sexual violence.

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Categories: Family law, Quebec

Tags: domestic violence, sexual violence
26 Oct 2021

Chief Justice of Court of Quebec will establish division to deal with conjugal and sexual complaints

A new divisional court dealing with conjugal and sexual complaints is expected to be launched by the beginning of 2022 by the Court of Quebec, potentially setting the stage for a legal battle against the Quebec government over judicial independence and the administration of justice.

The Quebec government tabled in mid-September a bill that will create a “specialized” tribunal that is expected to take a different approach to dealing with victims of domestic and sexual violence by moving away from the traditional criminal justice framework and have judicial institutions work in collaboration with specially trained jurists and specialized police units in tandem with social and community services to cultivate a victim-centred approach.

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Categories: Criminal law, Family law, Judiciary

Tags: domestic violence, sexual violence
26 Oct 2021

Clash between Quebec executive and judiciary flares up over how to deal with conjugal and sexual violence

An unusually public clash between the Quebec Justice Minister and the Chief Justice of the Court of Quebec has materialized over competing visions on how to deal with conjugal and sexual violence cases, with little signs of abating.

The simmering skirmish between the executive and the judiciary erupted in the open shortly after Chief Justice Lucie Rondeau announced on Sept 28^th the creation of a new division within the Court of Quebec to deal with conjugal and sexual violence offences, two weeks after the Quebec government tabled a bill that would move away from the traditional criminal justice framework to deal with gender-based violence and create a “specialized” court to deal with these offences.

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Categories: Criminal law, Family law, Judiciary, Legal business

Tags: domestic violence, sexual violence
1 Mar 2021

Landmark ruling for trans rights

Quebec, once on the forefront of trans rights, is now joining the ranks of most Canadian jurisdictions after Quebec Superior Court declared unconstitutional several articles of the Civil Code of Quebec that discriminated against trans and non-binary people.

In a long-awaited ruling by trans, non-binary and intersex people, the “critically important” decision affirms that having your identity acknowledged and recognized by the State is a core aspect of the right to equality and the right to dignity, assert legal experts. The judgment, lauded as the most sweeping in its scope in Canada involving the constitutional rights of trans people, found that six provisions of the Civil Code violated rights guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

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Categories: Canadian Charter, Family law, Quebec, Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, Quebec Superior Court, Rulings

Tags: Intersex, Non-binary, Trans
25 Jan 2021

Committee recommends overhaul of Quebec’s youth protection system

A Quebec commission of inquiry is calling for a sweeping overhaul of the provincial youth protection system, including legislative amendments, to deal with children slipping under the cracks, burnt-out staff leaving in hordes, and underfinancing, all of which should be overseen by a newly appointed provincial director.

In a preliminary report, the Special Commission on the Rights of the Child and Youth Protection found that children’s rights are not always respected, observed regional disparities of youth protection cases before the courts, deplored the overrepresentation of Indigenous and black children in the system, and noted that the interpretation of confidentiality provisions served as a “brake” on collaboration.

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Categories: Family law, Legislation, Quebec

Tags: Laurent Commission, Quebec youth protection system
5 Jan 2021

Quebec appeal court ruling opens the door for former common-law spouses to claim unjust enrichment

A wealthy businessman was ordered to pay $2.4 million to his former common law-former partner as he left the relationship with a disproportionate share of the wealth accumulated by the parties’ joint efforts, held the Quebec Court of Appeal.

The appeal court decision, the latest in a slow but steady line of rulings that signals a steady evolution in the way Quebec courts are dealing with legal issues stemming from de facto couples, reaffirms that former common law spouses can make claims of unjust enrichment and be granted monetary awards when they are able to prove that the partners were engaged in a joint family venture, according to family law experts.

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Categories: Family law, Quebec, Quebec Court of Appeal, Rulings

Tags: common-law spouses, joint family venture, unjust enrichment
19 Nov 2020

Little awareness by judges over heightened risks of domestic violence during pandemic, asserts study

Canadian judges have demonstrated very little awareness over the heightened risks of domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, a situation that should prompt judges to attend comprehensive legal training over what the United Nations has described as the “shadow pandemic,” according to human rights and legal aid experts.

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Categories: Covid-19, Criminal law, Family law, Judiciary, Rulings

Tags: Covid-19, domestic violence, intimate partner violence
14 Feb 2020

Right to privacy trumps parental authority, rules court

A father who demanded that his 16-year old son hand in a copy of his passport as well as other personal documents learned the hard way that Charter-protected rights can trump parental authority.

Parents still remain gatekeepers. They still have the rights and duties of custody, supervision and education of their children. Parental authority still gives parents the right to make all decisions necessary to their children’s well-being.

But there are limits.

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Categories: Family law, Quebec, Quebec Superior Court, Rulings

Tags: parental authority, right to privacy
23 Sep 2019

Only two parents in Quebec, not three as elsewhere, rules Quebec Court of Appeal

A child in Quebec can legally only have two parents named in a birth certificate but that does not preclude a third person from parenting, ruled the Quebec Court of Appeal.

In a ruling that underscores the need for legislators to pay heed to societal changes, the Quebec Court of Appeal confirmed the “sharp” distinction between who is a legal parent by virtue of filiation and who may exercise parental authority, reasserts that there is “plenty of space in Quebec law” for a genetic father to be active in the life of a child without legally deemed to be a parent, and seems to indicate that an agreement signed by three individuals over parenthood may not necessarily be binding, according to family law experts.

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Categories: Family law, Quebec, Quebec Court of Appeal, Rulings

Tags: filiation, parental authority, parenthood, parents
13 Sep 2019

Mother denied shared custody because of cannabis use

A mother of a three-year old child addicted to marijuana was denied shared custody after Quebec Superior Court held that her cannabis consumption compromised her parental skills.

In a ruling widely expected by family lawyers to be among the first of many the courts will hand down following the legalization of cannabis, Justice Jérôme Frappier held that the mother’s cannabis’ addiction, coupled with her anxiety attacks, represented a “serious risk” because she would be unable to adequately respond to the needs of her child if she had shared custody. Justice Frappier awarded custody to the father, and granted the mother visitation rights two out of every three weekends but only if she is not under the influence of cannabis or any other drug in the presence of her child.

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Categories: Family law, Quebec, Quebec Superior Court, Rulings

Tags: cannabis, custody, drug consumption, parenting
9 Aug 2017

Ex-wife of wealthy businessman author of her own misfortune

In the end she was done in by spite, and greed.

She is the ex-wife of a wealthy Quebec businessman who had sought to maintain an exceptionally privileged and luxurious lifestyle, and fought tooth and nail. She hired and fired more than half a dozen lawyers all the while waging a relentless, and ultimately, vain legal battle to find hidden assets ostensibly stashed away by her husband. She frittered away about $4 million in legal and expert expenses, only for the case to be heard ex parte. She did not show up at trial nor was she was she represented by a lawyer.

“The execution of said conclusion would put an end to a battle which lasted almost six years,” said the judge in language that would do proud to legalese aficionados. “It is time for the parties to go on with their separate lives,” the judge added more plainly.

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Categories: Family law, Features, Quebec, Rulings

Tags: divorce
1 Jun 2017

Family law reform dropped by Quebec government

A government-mandated committee report that called for sweeping reforms of Quebec’s family law regime has all but been sidelined, making it the second the comprehensive report that the Quebec government has quietly shelved over the past month.

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Categories: Family law, Legislation, Quebec

Tags: family law, reforms
15 Mar 2016

Quebec court rules that religious marriages do not necessarily carry any legal obligations

A controversial Quebec Superior Court decision that ruled that religious marriages do not necessarily carry any legal obligations under civil law may have alarming and sweeping consequences, according to family law experts.

The “disturbing” ruling creates a new category of civil status in Quebec, undermines long-held views of religious marriages, and will possibly expose women to vulnerable situations where they will be pressured into celebrating a religious marriage without the protection afforded by civil law, cautioned family lawyers.

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Categories: Canadian Charter, Civil Code of Quebec, Family law, Quebec, Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, Quebec Superior Court, Rulings

Tags: civil status, marriage, religious marriages
12 Aug 2014

Ruling extends spousal immunity to common-law spouses

The common law rule against spousal compellability must be extended to common-law spouses because otherwise it would result in “blatant discrimination” that cannot be countenanced in the age of the Charter, held the Alberta Court of Appeal in a ruling that will most likely have persuasive authority in spite of a bill introduced in Parliament that will abolish spousal immunity, according to legal experts.

In a unanimous ruling described by legal observers as very well-written and well-reasoned, the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld a lower court decision that concluded that the existing common law rule was discriminatory and inconsistent with modern values of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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Categories: Canada, Canadian Charter, Family law, Rulings

Tags: Alberta Court of Appeal, Bill C-32, Canada Evidence Act, common-law spouses, incompetent and non-compellable witnesses, spousal compellability, spousal immunity
24 Dec 2010

Quebec to appeal ruling allowing common-law couples from seeking alimony

Quebec will ask the country’s highest tribunal for permission to appeal a controversial court ruling that has opened the door for common-law couples in the province to seek alimony and may lead to a surge in co-habitation agreements, triggered deliberations over the definition of common-law couples, and spurred debate over the role of the judiciary.

“The Quebec Court of Appeal is not giving choices to the legislator,” said Quebec Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier. “We have to see if we have more room to manoeuvre than what the court of appeal is saying, just to be sure to adapt the right solution for a situation lived by more than one million people.”

In a ruling that touched off a storm of heated debate that is still raging in the province, the Quebec Court of Appeal declared that s. 585 of the Civil Code was unconstitutional because it discriminates against common-law couples by denying them the same recourse to spousal support as people who are married or in civil unions.

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Categories: Civil Code of Quebec, Family law, Quebec Court of Appeal, Rulings, Supreme Court of Canada

Tags: alimony, Civil Marriage Act, co-habitation agreements, Common-law couples, Lola, Lola vs Eric