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THE SEPARATION FROM BED AND BOARD IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC

An application for separation from bed and board may be presented by both spouses or either of them.

Proof that further living together is hardly tolerable for the spouses may result from the admission of one party but the court may require additional evidence.

An application for separation from bed and board releases the spouses from the obligation to live together.

The court may order either spouse to leave the family residence during the proceedings.

It may also authorize either spouse to retain temporarily certain movable property which until that time had served for common use.

The court may decide as to the custody and education of the children.

It fixes the contribution payable by each spouse to the maintenance of the children during the proceedings.

The court may order either spouse to pay support to the other, and a provisional sum to cover the costs of the proceedings.

Provisional measures may be reviewed whenever warranted by any new fact.

The court may adjourn the hearing of the application for separation from bed and board if it considers that adjournment can foster the reconciliation of the spouses or avoid serious prejudice to either spouse or to any of their children.

The court may also adjourn the hearing if it considers that the spouses are able to settle the consequences of their separation from bed and board and to make agreements in that respect which the court will be able to take into account.

Reconciliation between the spouses occurring after the application is presented terminates the proceedings.

Either spouse may nevertheless present a new application on any ground arising after the reconciliation and, in that case, may invoke the previous grounds in support of the application.

Resumption of cohabitation for less than ninety days does not by itself create a presumption of reconciliation.

Separation from bed and board releases the spouses from the obligation to live together; it does not break the bond of marriage.

Separation from bed and board carries with it separation as to property, where applicable.

Between spouses, the effects of separation as to property are produced from the day of the application for separation from bed and board, unless the court makes them retroactive to the date on which the spouses ceased to live together.

Separation from bed and board does not immediately give rise to rights of survivorship, unless otherwise stipulated in the marriage contract.

Separation from bed and board does not entail the lapse of gifts made to the spouses in consideration of marriage.

However, the court, when granting a separation, may declare the gifts lapsed or reduce them, or order the payment of gifts inter vivos deferred for such time as it may fix, taking the circumstances of the parties into account.

The court, when granting a separation from bed and board or subsequently, may order either spouse to pay support to the other.

In any decision relating to the effects of separation from bed and board in respect of the spouses, the court takes their circumstances into account; it considers, among other things, their needs and means, the agreements made between them, their age and state of health, their family obligations, their chances of finding employment, their existing and foreseeable patrimonial situation, evaluating both their capital and their income, and, as the case may be, the time needed by the creditor of support to acquire sufficient autonomy.

Separation from bed and board does not deprive the children of the advantages secured to them by law or by the marriage contract.

The rights and duties of fathers and mothers towards their children are unaffected by separation from bed and board.

The court, in granting separation from bed and board or subsequently, decides as to the custody, maintenance and education of the children, in their interest and in the respect of their rights, taking into account the agreements made between the spouses, where such is the case.

Separation from bed and board is terminated upon the spouses' voluntarily resuming living together.

Separation as to property remains unless the spouses elect another matrimonial regime by marriage contract.

Marriage is dissolved by the death of either spouse or by divorce.

Divorce is granted in accordance with the Divorce Act of Canada. The rules governing proceedings for separation from bed and board enacted by this Code and the rules of the Code of Civil Procedure apply to such applications to the extent that they are consistent with the Divorce Act of Canada.

This text is not a legal opinion. No decision should be taken before you consult with a lawyer.