Can we agree that there will be no child support?
Short answer
No. In Quebec, child support is a right that belongs to the child and not to the parents: parents therefore cannot waive it between themselves. Any agreement on the amount must follow the calculation method set out by law, and the court can refuse it if the amount is insufficient.
In detail
JuridiQC is categorical: the idea that “parents can agree that there will be no child support” is false, because support “is a right that belongs to the child and not to the parents”.
That does not mean agreements are useless. They are encouraged, and family mediation exists precisely for that. But they have to follow the legal calculation method, and a judge asked to homologate one can refuse an amount that does not correspond to the child's needs.
Two other myths point the same way. A parent cannot stop paying because the other is not living up to their commitments: support belongs to the child and cannot be used as leverage. And the parent who receives support does not have to prove that the money was spent on the child: the calculated amount “is presumed to correspond to the child's basic needs”.
What to document
Any written agreement between you, even an informal one, with its date. The payments actually made or received (transfers, cheques, statements), because that is the only way to reconstruct the history if the amount is reviewed later. And the exchanges in which one of the parents asks for, refuses or attaches conditions to a payment.
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.
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Official sources
- JuridiQC — True or false about child support
- Ministère de la Justice du Québec — The support obligation toward children
Related questions
- Can I stop paying support if my ex prevents me from seeing my child?
- 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?
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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.