As a parent, you have a legal obligation to provide support for your children. If you separate, child support payments may be required for your children if they are under the age of 18, or over the age of 18 on certain conditions. The obligation applies regardless of whether you were a de facto spouse, married, or in a civil union. You must use the precise rules under the Québec model for the determination of child support to calculate the amount of support that must be paid.
See the sectionChild support for details of the Québec model, and information about the collection, payment and indexation of child support.
Note
If you have dependent children, you are entitled to take part in the Québec government’s family mediation program, free of charge. To determine an amount of child support, the mediator will look at the overall situation of both former spouses. It is important to remember that child support payments are tax-neutral.
