Eleven years after the affair Eric vs. LolaQuebec is creating a parental union regime that will impose obligations on unmarried parents, including sharing the family home, car and furniture, in the event of a breakup.
Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette tabled, on Wednesday, the largest piece of the family law reform initiated under the previous mandate of the CAQ.
After having regulated pregnancy for others, Quebec now wishes to create responsibilities for de facto spouse parents (see box).
“No child should bear the brunt of the separation of their parents,” argues the Minister of Justice.
However, the new regime will only apply to parents living in a common-law union whose children were born or adopted after June 29, 2025. “It is out of the question to marry people by force, in Quebec,” noted to specify Simon Jolin-Barrette.
For unmarried parents who already have children, they can register voluntarily by completing the procedure with a notary.
- Listen to the interview with Simon Jolin-Barrette, Quebec Minister of Justice on QUB:
Family heritage
The new parental union regime provides that family assets acquired after birth (house, cars, household furniture) must be separated in equal parts in the event of breakdown. The portion of assets paid before the birth of the child is excluded from the calculation.
With this new mechanism, Quebec wants to avoid one spouse owning the house, while the other pays for groceries. In such a scenario, “mister or madam finds himself with his mouth in water, with no assets” during a separation, points out Mr. Jolin-Barrette.
For the same reasons, the payment of a “compensatory benefit” is provided if one of the parents has become impoverished for the benefit of the other during the union, by devoting themselves more to the children, for example.
Quebec also wants to prohibit an angry parent from kicking out their spouse if they have custody of the children, as is already the case for married people.
“This means that a spouse could, for a given time, remain in the family residence even though he or she is not the owner,” explains Minister Jolin-Barrette.
Unlike traditional marriage, however, the reform does not provide for any sharing of other sums of money with the ex-spouse (savings in a current account, RRSP, retirement fund, alimony).
“Those are the protections associated with marriage. We leave the choice to people,” says Simon Jolin-Barrette.
Eric vs. Lola
With its new parental union regime, Quebec aims to respond to the Supreme Court’s judgment in the case Eric vs. Lolain 2013.
In this case, “Lola” demanded alimony, a lump sum of $50 million and access to the financial assets of her billionaire ex-spouse.
The Supreme Court ruled that Quebec’s de facto union regime is discriminatory, since it does not offer the same protection as marriage. However, the highest court in the country left it up to Quebec to modify the law.
Despite the important work of an advisory committee set up by the Marois government, the file had been shelved under Philippe Couillard, before being put back on track by the CAQ members.
A “not shy”
One of the experts consulted at the time, Professor Dominique Goubau, welcomed the “audacity” of Minister Jolin-Barrette to tackle the thorny issue, even if he judges that it is a “ not shy” to better protect more deprived spouses.
“The logical conclusion would have been to give the same protections to common-law spouses [avec enfants] only to married spouses. But that’s not at all what happens,” underlines the man who teaches at the Faculty of Law at Laval University.
For example, he illustrates, a child born before the entry into force of the law may find himself on the street with his mother, while another born after will have the right to remain temporarily in the family residence.
What will change for common-law parents
- The scheme only applies to parents of children born or adopted AFTER the law came into force.
- In the event of separation, they will have to share 50% of the value of the family residence, furniture and motor vehicles used by the family and acquired after the birth of the child.
- Amounts accumulated, for example, in a bank account, an RRSP or a pension plan, will be excluded from the division of property.
- The spouses may decide to evade the law in part or in full, by mutual agreement, through a notarial deed.
- At the time of separation, parents may also renounce all or part of the sharing of family assets.
- The parent who has custody of the children may temporarily stay in the family residence even if he or she is not the owner.
- A compensatory mechanism (payment of a single benefit) is created to compensate a spouse who has become impoverished at the expense of the other, for example, by taking more care of the children.
- In the absence of a will, the surviving spouse will receive one third of the deceased’s inheritance.
- In the case of a family that already has children before the adoption of the law, but which will have another child AFTER the adoption of the law, it will automatically find itself covered by the plan for all of its children.
- Common-law parents with only children born BEFORE the adoption of the law will be able to register or not, voluntarily, by making a request to a notary.