Civil law

Other

Why does one parent often have to pay child support following a separation?

Until a child reaches the age of eighteen, her parents have an obligation to give her food and shelter, satisfy any other material needs, and provide her with an education. This is called a duty of maintenance.

Parents also have a support obligation toward their children. This duty continues even past the age of eighteen if the child is not yet able to provide for his needs because, for example, he is still in school. This will be Marcus’ situation next year.

When parents separate, they continue to have maintenance and support obligations toward their child. So it often happens that one of them will fulfil at least part of their obligation by paying child support. It is generally up to the court to set the exact amount to be paid.

Can Marcus' mother prevent his dad from visiting him if he stops paying child support?

No. Support payments and visitation rights are completely separate things. Marcus' father would have visitation rights even if he weren’t paying child support. The law emphasizes the importance of maintaining a relationship between a child and each of his parents.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that a parent always gets visitation rights. If, for example, the parent has been violent in the past, the judge may decide that it is best that he not get visitation rights. Or the judge may order that the visits be supervised. It is up to the judge to decide what is best for the child.

Will his dad's support payments automatically end when Marcus reaches the age of majority?

The age of majority is not some magic moment when young people suddenly become capable of supporting themselves! Parents must continue to make payments unless a court decision says otherwise.

If Marcus continues to live with his mom and cannot yet meet his needs on his own, she will receive the support payments for him. But if Marcus moves out on his own, his dad can ask the court permission to give him the money directly.

However, the amount of support won’t necessarily be the same once a child reaches majority. His father may ask the court to adjust the amount on the basis of certain factors, such as age, state of health, where and what he studies, level of education, degree of independence, income from part-time jobs, whether he wastes money or acts disrespectfully toward his father, and so on. The court also takes into account the parents' salary and their level of education, so the amount of support can vary quite a bit from one case to another.

To find out more about support payments, read the Infosheet entitled Support payments for an adult child.

Would Marcus have to live with his mother if he decides to go to a Cegep near her house?

No, once a person is 18 years old, he no longer has to live with his parents.

However, the choice of whether to live with one parent or not can affect the amount of the support payment. So if he decides to rent his own place even though his mom lives close to his Cegep, the judge would probably find that Marcus is asking too much and reduce the amount of the support payments.

Does Marcus' mom always have to check with his dad before making any decision about their son?

The law gives both the mother and father the right to make decisions regarding the well-being of their child. This is what we call “parental authority”. The law requires that the parents exercise this authority together, except if one of the parents is dead, has had his parental rights taken away by a court (this means all his rights, not just custody!), or is incapable of expressing an opinion (for example, he is in a coma or went missing).

Of course, they don't have to decide everything together. You can imagine how silly it would be if Marcus' mom would have to call his dad to say, "Listen, the kid's really hungry tonight. Is it okay if he has more dessert?" So that's why the custodial parent is allowed to make day-to-day decisions alone, like approving outings or extra-curricular activities, etc.

But the other parent still has a right of supervision and takes part in major decisions, like choosing a school or those involving the child’s health. However, a parent can make a decision by herself if it is impossible to obtain the consent of the other in time – for example, in the event of a medical emergency.

Can Marcus change his family name?

The parents of Marcus’ best friend, Alex Hover-Harvey, are also divorced. A few years back, Alex had a huge blow-out with his mother and decided to drop her family name. He now goes by Alex Harvey. Marcus is wondering if he could also change his name if he every got fed up with one of his parents.

Well, one thing's for sure - you can’t just change your name because you feel like it!

There are two ways to get a name change, depending on the reasons for the change. If Marcus wants to change his name because the name he usually goes by doesn’t correspond with the one written on his birth certificate, or because it's too difficult to pronounce or gets him teased every day at school, then he must ask the Directeur de l’état civil. That’s how Alex did it, because he hadn’t been using his mother’s last name for over 4 years.

On the other hand, if the person asking for the name change is doing it because she's been abandoned by a parent, she must go before a judge. The youth (or her other parent) can also ask a judge for a name change if a parent has had his "parental authority" taken away by a court (only happens in very serious cases).

To make such a request, a minor under 14 years of age must be represented by his tutor (this just means his representative - usually one of his parents). If he is 14 or older, the child can make the request by himself. This is one of the few cases where you don’t have to be represented by your father or mother. But beware - you can't pick an outrageous name just for the fun of it, or try to escape any debts you have by being reborn under a new identity! A change of name is only allowed if there are "valid reasons" for needing it, and it won’t affect your rights and obligations.