Role and responsibilities of the tutorship council

One of your first obligations is to immediately INFORM the tutor, the child (if they are 14 or older) and the Curateur public of the name and address of each member of the tutorship council and the secretary, and of ANY CHANGE in these details.

As the tutorship council, your role is to ensure:

that the child's tutor (father, mother or dative tutor) is acting in the child's best interests;
that they are making the right decisions in managing the child's assets;
that they are fulfilling their obligations under the Civil Code of Québec.

This page gives an overview of your function.

Exercising the child's rights

The (legal or dative) tutor must, for example, take steps to defend the child's rights, accept an inheritance or receive an indemnity on the child's behalf. You should make sure they do so at the appropriate time.

In addition, you should see that whenever possible, and taking into account their degree of discernment, the child is consulted about decisions affecting them. At the very least, make sure they are informed if they are 14 or older.

Documents required
for your supervision

To fulfil your duties properly, you must receive a copy of the following documents:

inventory of the child's property, within 60 days after the tutor's administration begins;
confirmation of the security;
annual management report;
final administration report.

Supervising the tutor's administration

Your mandate as tutorship council is mainly to monitor the administration and assist the tutor. You should verify the documents that the tutor has to submit to you annually. If you have any questions about the tutor's administration, you may also consult the supporting documents.

Decisions you have to make

Among others, your authorization is required for:

Before authorizing the acceptance of a donation with a charge, you must ensure that the obligation involved is not too onerous, and that despite this charge, the donation will ultimately result in a net profit for the child.

deciding what security is to be provided by the tutor, changing the type or amount of security, or cancelling it;
using the patrimony in exceptional cases to cover expenses related to the minor's education, health or job integration;
selling or mortgaging a major item worth $25,000 or less (real estate, etc.);
accepting a donation with a charge (e.g. a mortgaged building);
consenting to an act on behalf of the child, if the tutor is in conflict of interest.

Curateur public

The Curateur public plays a supervisory role, monitoring the child's tutorship. It may ask for any of your authorizations, decisions or advice in writing.

Advising

You have to give your opinion:

to the tutor, notably concerning simple emancipation of the child;
to the court, for example, about
- remunerating the legal tutor (parent) or dative tutor;
- the sale of real estate worth more than $25,000.

Replacing the tutor

If the tutor dies, is no longer able to perform their duties or does not fulfil their obligations, it is your duty to ask the court to appoint a new tutor.

Reviewing your decisions

Any interested adult may, for a valid reason (e.g. a decision going against the child's interests), ask the court to review a decision of the tutorship council; this is usually done within 10 days of the decision.

As tutorship council, you play a key role. Therefore anyone in the child's circle may, for valid reasons, ask that all members of the tutorship council be replaced.