In the event of your spouse’s death, you are entitled to a compensatory allowance if you can provide proof that, during your marriage or civil union, your personal contribution was so significant that it contributed to your spouse’s enrichment in property or services (for example, you made a regular contribution to a business and did not receive a salary). The benefit may be a sum of money or property. You must submit a request for a compensatory allowance to the succession within the year following the death. In the event of a disagreement, you must consult a legal advisor.
A compensatory allowance may be paid to one spouse as compensation (in the form of money or property) for having helped to enrich the patrimony of the other spouse (in property or services) during their marriage or civil union.
An application for a compensatory allowance may be made following:
- an annulment of marriage, a divorce or a legal separation;
- the dissolution or annulment of a civil union;
- the death of one of the spouses.
An application may also be made during a marriage or civil union, if one the spouses has cooperated regularly in an enterprise of the other spouse and the enterprise is sold, dissolved or liquidated.
The value of the compensatory allowance is assessed by a judge of the Superior Court. It takes into account
- the partitioning of the family patrimony;
- the couple’s marriage or civil union contract;
- the couple’s matrimonial regime;
- the value of the contribution made by each spouse during the marriage or civil union.
The objective is not an equal division of property between the two spouses.
The judge may award:
- the payment of an allowance in cash or by instalments;
- a right of ownership or occupancy in the family residence.
Clientele
Spouses who have contributed to the enrichment of their spouse.
Condition
Prove that they have contributed to the enrichment of their spouse.
Civil code of Québec , 1991, chapter 64, art. 427 to 430
