In the absence of dispute and if the spouses have common children in their care, they can settle the consequences of their separation in an agreement that will be presented to the court in a request for the dissolution of a civil union based on a draft agreement. A complete draft agreement will be drawn up, including: child custody, child support, property division, spousal support, compensatory allowance.

If the spouses do not have children in their care, the civil union can be dissolved by mutual agreement of the spouses through a simple joint declaration made before a notary, but on the condition that they have previously settled all the consequences of the dissolution of the civil union, including the division of the family patrimony and the payment of a support obligation. This settlement must be made by notarial act.

The amicable dissolution of the civil union is possible if:

• The spouses agree on all the consequences of their separation, namely:
• child custody
• child support
• property division under the family patrimony, matrimonial regime, and indivision
• spousal support
• compensatory allowance
• They have been separated for more than a year.

Adultery and mental cruelty cannot be invoked.

The spouses can appoint a single legal advisor and therefore, professional fees will be lower.

If necessary, the spouses will need to consult different professionals to assess the tax implications resulting from their separation.

Since civilly united spouses are subject to the family patrimony, it will be necessary to establish the value of the assets included in the family patrimony, taking into account deductible debts and tax debts in order to determine the claim that will be owed to one of the spouses.

In addition, if the spouses are united under the regime of the partnership of acquests, they will have the possibility to request or not the division of the value of the acquests, and therefore, it will be necessary to determine the value of the assets acquired after their civil union, taking into account, if applicable, the rule of rewards established by the Civil Code of Quebec.

When the agreement is completed, accepted, and signed by the spouses, and they have common children in their care, it must be filed with the court in a request for the dissolution of the civil union in order for it to be ratified by a judge and for the dissolution of the civil union to be pronounced.

It will be important to review your testament and power of attorney and to consider the revocation of bank or general powers of attorney as well as the revocation of beneficiary designations for life, medical and dental insurance policies.

We invite you to consult a member of the team at Notaire-Direct^® for the drafting of a clear agreement that respects the terms of the law.

Required documents

To prepare such a file, you will need to have the following documents:

• a copy of your respective birth certificates issued by the Director of Civil Status;
• the original of your civil union certificate;
• if applicable, a certified copy of your civil union contract received before a notary;
• proof of income for each spouse (e.g. notice of assessment);
• any other document related to your assets (e.g. RRSPs, pension funds, properties, stocks, mortgage, etc.).