Family Law Lawyer in Gatineau and the Outaouais

Situations we can help with

• You have just separated and you do not know where the children are supposed to sleep this week.
• Your ex is not following the parenting time schedule set out in the judgment.
• You want shared custody, or you want to oppose it because it does not work for your child.
• Your ex is not paying child support, or has never paid it in full.
• Your income has dropped and the support set years ago is no longer affordable.
• You suspect the other parent is understating income.
• Your ex is planning to relocate to Ottawa, to Montreal or out of province with the children.
• You were common law partners, the house is in your ex’s name, and you paid for it for years.
• You became a parent on or after June 30, 2025 and do not know what the parental union regime changes for you.
• You want a divorce, but your spouse refuses to sign anything.
• Your child is pulling away from you and you believe they are being influenced against you.
• You are worried about your safety or your children’s and you need an order quickly.

Our family law services

• Assessment consultation: your rights, your obligations and a realistic plan.
• Negotiating and drafting an agreement on custody, parenting time and support.
• Joint divorce application on a draft agreement where settlement is possible.
• Application to institute proceedings for divorce, separation from bed and board, custody or support.
• Urgent relief: provisional measures, safeguard orders and restraining orders.
• Child support calculation and preparation of the support determination form and the statements required by the court office.
• Applications to vary a judgment following a change of circumstances.
• Division of the family patrimony, the matrimonial regime and the parental union patrimony.
• Claims between former common law partners: unjust enrichment, undeclared partnership, claims of ownership.
• Relocation applications and oppositions to relocation.
• Enforcement of judgments: collection of arrears and, where warranted, contempt proceedings.
• Representation at hearings and before the Court of Appeal of Québec.

Quebec family law: what it means for you

Children: the best interests test governs

Every decision about a child in Quebec rests on the child’s best interests and rights. The court looks at needs, age, stability, school routine, the bond with each parent, each parent’s real availability and each parent’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other. There is no automatic presumption in favour of shared custody or in favour of either parent. The Divorce Act now speaks of parenting time and decision-making responsibility, while the Civil Code of Québec continues to use custody and parental authority. The vocabulary differs; the compass does not.

Child support and spousal support

Child support follows structured rules. Where both parents reside in Quebec, the Quebec determination model applies, including in a divorce: it accounts for both parents’ incomes, the number of children, the custody arrangement and certain specific expenses such as childcare or costs linked to a child’s special needs. Where one parent lives outside Quebec, the Federal Child Support Guidelines may apply instead. Spousal support answers a different question: it addresses the economic consequences of the marriage and its breakdown. It does not exist between common law partners in Quebec, a significant contrast with Ontario, where spousal support can be claimed after a qualifying period of cohabitation.

Married, civil union, common law, parental union

Spouses who are married or in a civil union share the family patrimony: family residences, the furniture in them, vehicles used by the family, RRSPs and pension plans accumulated during the union, and earnings registered under the Québec Pension Plan. Since June 30, 2025, the parental union regime applies automatically to common law partners who become parents of a child born or adopted on or after that date. The parental union patrimony rests on an exhaustive list: the family residences or the rights that confer use of them — a lease, for example — the furniture in those residences used by the household, and the motor vehicles used for family travel. Only property received by gift or succession is excluded by the text itself. RRSPs, pension plans and QPP earnings are simply not part of the list, so they are not shareable on that basis. Partners may withdraw from the patrimony, but only on precise conditions: by mutual agreement and by notarial act en minute, on pain of absolute nullity, at any time during the parental union (art. 521.33 C.C.Q.). The withdrawal takes effect on the day of the act. If it is made within 90 days of the beginning of the parental union, the patrimony is deemed never to have been constituted. The 90-day period runs from the beginning of the parental union — that is, from the birth or the adoption where the partners were already living together (art. 521.20 C.C.Q.), or from the moment the parents of a same child begin living together. One partner cannot withdraw alone. Made after that deadline, the withdrawal applies only for the future: the value accumulated up to that point remains shareable (art. 521.35 C.C.Q.). And withdrawing from the patrimony does not take you out of the regime — the protection of the family residence (art. 521.24 C.C.Q.) and the compensatory allowance for the impoverished partner (art. 521.43 C.C.Q.) remain, and cannot be waived. Common law partners outside that regime have no automatic sharing of property; their claims run through unjust enrichment or similar routes, which demand detailed evidence.

How the file actually moves forward

Family files are heard by the Superior Court. Before the case can be heard, the parties must normally have attended an information session on parenting and mediation (art. 417 CCP). The requirement is not limited to files involving children: it also covers the family or parental union patrimony and the division of de facto spouses’ property. Exemptions exist, notably in a context of family violence, and provisional or safeguard measures remain available before the session. Provisional measures or a safeguard order can often be obtained fairly quickly to stabilize the situation pending the merits. A judgment can be varied later where there is a significant change in a parent’s or the child’s circumstances. The appeal period is generally 30 days from judgment; some judgments may be appealed as of right, others only with leave of a judge of the Court of Appeal.

Why bring your file to Virtulex avocats

• A family litigation practice: we plead regularly, at first instance and before appellate courts.
• Sustained experience in complex files where family law meets contract law, real estate or a family business.
• Me William Desrochers teaches at the École du Barreau du Québec and is an accredited family mediator; where settlement is realistic, we pursue it first.
• A modern, remote-friendly practice: video meetings, online booking, follow-up by email.
• Full service in English and French, including for Ottawa-area families whose file falls under Quebec law.
• A candid read of the file at the first meeting: what should be litigated, what should be negotiated, and what costs more than it returns.