When individuals apply for or receive benefits under the Social Assistance Program, the ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale assesses whether those individuals should receive a contribution from their parents to help provide for their needs. A parental contribution may be required under obligations that parents have toward their children. Children may continue to be dependent on their parents even once they reach full age.
Dependent childPersons who depend on their father, their mother or an adult other than their father or mother for their basic needs and who:
- If they are less than 18 years old:
- Have not been fully emancipated by a court judgment
- Are not married or in a civil union
- Are not the parent of a dependent child
- If they are at least 18 years old:
- Attend an educational institution full time or part time
- Are not married, in a civil union or the spouse of another person
- Are not the parent of a dependent child
ClientelePersons applying for or receiving social assistance benefits.
Conditions Applicants and recipients must be dependent on their parents. They are not recognized as dependent children in the following situations:
- They have provided for their own needs and resided elsewhere than at the domicile of their father or mother for at least two years, excluding any period during which they attended an educational institution on a full-time basis
- They have not been a full-time student for at least seven years since ceasing to be subject to compulsory school attendance
- They have, for at least two years, even if residing with their father or mother, held remunerated full-time employment or received benefits for such employment:
- Under employment insurance
- Under parental insurance
- Through the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail
- Through the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec
- Under salary insurance
- They are or were married or in a civil union
- They live together in a de facto union with another person of the opposite or the same sex and have cohabited with that person for a period of not less than one year
- They have or had a dependent child (see definitions)
- They hold a bachelor’s degree
- They are at least 20 weeks pregnant
Restrictions Applicants and recipients are not deemed to be receiving a parental contribution in the following situations:
- Their father and mother are untraceable, unknown or deceased
- Their parents are recipients under the Social Assistance Program or Social Solidarity Program
- Their parents refuse to provide for their needs, and they do not live with their parents
- Their parents committed acts of violence against them (physical or psychological)
- They have or have had a court decision in which support payments were required of their parents
Parental contribution amounts are determined based on the gross income of both parents. The 12-month reference period starts on July 1 every year.
Deductions are made from parents’ gross income depending on whether they live together:
| Situation |
Deduction |
| Parents living together |
$17,606 for both parents |
| Parents not living together |
$12,349 for each parent |
| A parent who is untraceable or deceased |
$12,349 for the other parent |
Parental contributions are equal to 40% of the amount arrived at after the deduction. That amount is divided by 12 to determine the monthly contribution and divided again by the number of children to which the parental contribution applies.
Parental contribution amounts reduce the social assistance benefits of the individuals receiving the contributions.
The social assistance benefits granted to children who are recognized as dependent on their parents are calculated in light of the financial or material assistance that the children’s parents must normally provide based on:
- Their income
- Their marital status
- The number of dependent children receiving social assistance
Parental contributions are considered in the calculation of social assistance benefits for a period of up to three years. Contributions are reassessed every year.
The concept of parental contribution was introduced on August 1, 1989, when the Act respecting income security came into force.
