Can I stop paying support if my ex prevents me from seeing my child?
Short answer
No. In Quebec, child support is a right of the child: it cannot be suspended because the other parent is not meeting their obligations. Failure to respect access rights is dealt with through its own recourses, such as contempt of court or an application to change custody.
In detail
JuridiQC lists this idea among the falsehoods: a parent cannot stop paying if the other fails to live up to their commitments, “support being the child's right”.
The two questions are legally distinct. The child's right to financial support does not depend on the other parent's behaviour, and the child's right to have contact with both parents does not depend on support being paid. Confusing the two generally backfires on the person who does it.
If your access is not being respected, the recourses provided for do exist: discussing it, sending a mise en demeure (formal notice), applying for contempt of court, or applying to change custody. Stopping payment, on the other hand, triggers the collection measures of Revenu Québec (Quebec's revenue agency).
What to document
Two separate files, kept in parallel: on one side the support payments (dates, amounts, proof); on the other the log of missed access (date, time, place, what happened, messages exchanged). Mixing them weakens both.
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
Open the application Up to 3 files, no card · see the plans
Official sources
Related questions
- Is child support taxable in Quebec?
- Until what age do you have to pay child support?
- How do you get child support changed?
- My ex is not paying child support — what do I do?
- Do I have to give my income information to my ex every year?
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.