When the Other Parent Blocks Everything: School, Passport, Medical Care

Parental authority is exercised jointly, but the law offers concrete solutions when a parent refuses to sign or stops answering.

Sophie and Karim separated three years ago. Their son Adam, twelve, lives mainly with his mother in Gatineau and sees his father every other weekend. In February, the high school opens registration for a sports-study program Adam has been waiting on for two years. Sophie sends the form to Karim. Silence. She follows up. Three weeks later, she learns he objects: too many training hours, he says. Meanwhile, she has booked a trip down south for spring break, with her mother and Adam. The passport needs renewing. This time Karim answers, and it is a no. Can Sophie simply sign alone? Sometimes yes, often no — and never without consequences.

Two parents, one parental authority

The Civil Code of Québec is crystal clear: the father and mother, or the parents, exercise parental authority together (art. 600 C.c.Q.). Parental authority is the power to decide the major orientations of a child’s life: education, health, religion, place of residence. It belongs to both parents until the child comes of age, no matter how many nights the child spends at each home.

This is the most widespread confusion. Custody — or parenting time, in the Divorce Act’s vocabulary since March 2021 — answers the question “where does the child sleep?” Parental authority answers the question “who decides?” A parent who sees their child every other weekend keeps a full right to take part in significant decisions. The Code says so expressly: regardless of who has been awarded custody, the parents retain the right to supervise the maintenance and education of the child (art. 605 C.c.Q.).

There are exceptions: under the Divorce Act, the court may allocate decision-making responsibility to a single parent; a parent may also be deprived of parental authority, or stripped of one of its attributes, on serious grounds (art. 606 C.c.Q.). As long as no judgment says otherwise, however, the rule remains joint exercise.

The frequent trap: assuming that the “custodial” parent decides alone. A unilateral decision can be called into question and leaves a mark on the file.

Article 603: why the school does not always call the other parent back

If everything had to be done with two signatures, daily life would be impossible. The Code therefore creates a presumption: with regard to third persons in good faith, the parent who performs an act of authority alone with respect to the child is presumed to be acting with the other’s consent (art. 603 C.c.Q.).

In concrete terms, the school, the clinic or the soccer club can rely on the parent standing in front of them: a registration made by one parent alone is valid as far as the institution is concerned. Quebec’s Education Act, for that matter, nowhere requires two signatures; it simply defines “parent” as the holder of parental authority.

Watch the real scope of this rule: it protects the third party, not the parent. Between the two of you, it settles nothing — and it falls away as soon as the third party is no longer in good faith, for instance because it has received a letter flagging the disagreement.

The frequent trap: treating article 603 as a licence to act alone. Quietly enrolling the child in a new school is precisely the kind of move a judge does not forget.

Passports and travel abroad: where the presumption stops working

For passports, the Passport Program rules are much stricter. For a child under sixteen, every parent or legal guardian must take part in the application, sign the form and be reachable. If an order or agreement exists dealing with custody, decision-making responsibility, parenting time or mobility, it must be provided. Where decision-making responsibility is exclusive, only the person who holds it may apply; where it is joint, either parent may do so. A parent who fears a passport might be obtained behind their back can have the child’s name placed on a watch list.

As for the trip itself, the famous consent letter is not required by Canadian law. It is strongly recommended, however, whenever a child travels without both parents, and foreign border authorities as well as airlines may demand it. The Government of Canada publishes a free template. Signing before a notary is not mandatory, but it is strongly recommended: a notarized letter is far harder to challenge at the check-in counter at five in the morning.

The frequent trap: buying the tickets before having the written consent. If the other parent refuses without a valid reason, you must go to court, and the judgment will stand in for the consent — but that takes time.

Medical care and the age-14 rule

The Civil Code draws a sharp line at fourteen. Before that age, consent to care required by the child’s state of health is given by the holder of parental authority (art. 14 C.c.Q.). From fourteen on, the young person may consent alone to such care; if their condition requires them to remain in a health facility for more than twelve hours, the parent must nonetheless be informed.

For care not required by the state of health — cosmetic surgery, taking part in research — a minor fourteen or over consents alone, unless the care entails a serious risk to health and may cause grave and permanent effects: the parent’s consent then becomes necessary (art. 17 C.c.Q.). Under fourteen, the parent consents, with the court’s authorization in cases involving serious risk (art. 18 C.c.Q.).

Article 16 C.c.Q. completes the picture: the court’s authorization is required where the person entitled to consent unjustifiably refuses care required by the state of health. It is also required to impose care on a teenager of fourteen or over who refuses it, except in an emergency where their life is in danger or their integrity is threatened.

This is the framework that fuelled very real litigation between 2021 and 2023 over childhood vaccination, when one parent was in favour and the other was not. The courts drew no automatic rule: each case turns on the child’s best interests. The same goes for religious or extracurricular activities: the judge does not weigh the worth of a belief, but looks at the activity’s concrete effect on the child — sleep, fatigue, social discomfort, conflicts of loyalty.

When nothing gives: the court, and urgent cases

Article 604 C.c.Q. is the way out: where difficulties arise in the exercise of parental authority, the holder of that authority may apply to the court, which will rule in the child’s best interests after encouraging the parties toward conciliation. Note the order of the words: conciliation first. A school disagreement is often settled in a single family mediation session.

When the calendar shows no mercy — a registration deadline, a departure in three weeks — there is the safeguard order: a temporary order that fixes the situation while the merits are being debated. The courts may, at any time and in all matters, grant injunctions, protection orders or orders to safeguard the parties’ rights (art. 49 C.p.c.). As a case-management measure, the Code provides that such an order may not exceed six months (art. 158 C.p.c.).

The frequent trap: pleading urgency for a problem you saw coming six months away. Urgency of your own making rarely persuades. Document your requests from the outset: a polite, dated email setting out the decision to be made and the deadline is worth its weight in gold.

Key takeaways

Parental authority is exercised jointly until the child comes of age, whatever the division of parenting time.
Article 603 C.c.Q. protects the school or clinic that relies on the parent present — it does not authorize you to decide alone.
For a child’s passport, all holders of parental authority must take part, and any relevant order must be provided.
The travel consent letter is not mandatory under Canadian law, but use the official template and have it signed before a notary.
At fourteen, your child consents alone to care required by their state of health.
At an impasse, ask for mediation, then apply to the court under article 604 C.c.Q. — and do not wait until the eve of the deadline.