Avertissement

Le fichier est un contrat de vie commune et un mariage est prévu

Le mariage place souvent le couple sous une autre loi par défaut. Classez l'écrit actuel dans le dossier des conjoints de fait, puis demandez un contrat de mariage.

Deux instruments

S'ils ne sont pas encore mariés, le dossier vivant est la voie de vie commune. La Colombie-Britannique peut déjà les traiter comme des époux. L'Ontario n'égalise généralement pas. Les conjoints de fait québécois sont hors du patrimoine familial.

Changer le titre en prenup la semaine précédant le mariage ne complète pas la forme notariale québécoise.

timingstatute

Family Law Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.3, ss. 53, 55, 56(4)

Timing around cohabitation or a later wedding

A cohabitation agreement signed years into a relationship, or a 'prenup' signed while unmarried just before a wedding, raises classification and transition questions. Marriage usually moves the couple onto the marriage-contract / marital-property statute.

  • If the parties later marry, a cohabitation agreement does not automatically become a marriage contract unless this province’s statute and the document’s form actually support that continuation.
propertystatute

Family Law Act, S.B.C. 2011, c. 25, ss. 3, 81, 92–93

Default property position if unmarried

s. 3 treats as spouses persons who are married or who have lived in a marriage-like relationship for a continuous period of at least two years, or who have lived in a marriage-like relationship and have a child together. Unmarried spouses can have Part 5 property claims. That is not Ontario and not Québec.

  • Do not assume the couple is already in a spouse-like property statute. Read this province’s trigger.
  • Do not analyze BC using Ontario FLA Part I or Québec family patrimony.
propertystatute

Civil Code of Québec, CQLR c. CCQ-1991 (de facto unions; no family patrimony)

Default property position if unmarried

De facto spouses do not enter family patrimony by cohabiting. Property follows title, ordinary contract, and unjust-enrichment ideas a lawyer may assess—not the married spouses’ family patrimony.

  • Do not assume the couple is already in a spouse-like property statute. Read this province’s trigger.
  • Do not apply Ontario FLA equalization, British Columbia FLA unmarried-spouse property, or U.S. UPAA formalities to Québec. French and English versions of the Code are official; this pack cites the English LégisQuébec text.